Be On The Alert

Last week we got a call from someone purporting to represent American Express who asked if we would like to apply for an American Express Card. We were initially taken aback by this telephone call but went along with the caller (when we should have immediately hung up the phone without another word) who stated that an American Express representative would come to our residence and take the application and then, upon approval, actually deliver the cards to our door. The caller set up an appointmnet to come to our house this morning within a set two hour time frame. Then the caller started asking such questions as our birth dates and RFC Numbers and the request for our RFC Numbers rang an alarm bell since this call was beginning to make no sense. One can apply for an American Express Card quite easily on line and have that card delivered to an address in Mexico no sweat by FedEx , UPS or DHL. Why would a credit card firm striving to automate everything on the internet revert to sending sales reps door-to-door to seek new card holders and even agree to personally deliver the cards upon credit approval?

We tried to call American Express both in the Unites States and American Express de Mexico at their 800 numbers to confirm whether or not they actually had such a marketing campaign underway. Of course,we could not get through to a human for some time and then the human we reached knew nothing about anything.

We will not answer the door if this person actually shows up but, quite frankly, I imagine the idea is to get enough information over the telephone to perform some sort of identity theft so we don´t really expect anyone to show up.

The reason we don´t already have an American Express Card which I had carried since 1969, was that last year I thought my wallet had been stolen (I had actually simply missplaced it) and I had called AmEx to request a replacement card. Those replacement cards were to be sent to me via FedEx and I received them without noting that customs had opened the packet containing the cards. I then received a call from someone purporting to be with AmEx who asked if I had gotten my cards and I replied that I had (my mistake). During the coming days, I received three e-mail notices from AmEx. The first indicated that my request for a $5,000USD cash advance on the new card had been approved (this was something I had never requested in 40 years as a cardholder), the second notice indicated that they had received my request to change my address to Texas and the third notice was to acknowledge that we had changed our e-mail address. Of course, none of this was true and I was able to intervene with AmEx to stop this fraud before they were able to spend the $5,000USD advance as was clearly their intent.

Now, I don´t know if that call we received at our home was legitimate or not but I just wanted to alert readers here that it is a bad idea to say the least to give out any personal information whatsoever over the telephone to anyone who calls you claiming to represent any credit card company. If by chance this was not a legitimate call, someone may be working this area so be aware of that possibility. They can steal your identity and defraud you and/or the credit card company with ease.

By the way, the appointment time has expired and no one showed up as I had expected. What the hell, we wouldn´t have opened the door anyway. Our pea brains finally caught up with our flapping lips.

Thanks for the heads up!

Always appreciated.

Hi Hound dog....I had something similar happen a few years ago and was told by the credit card company that they, nor any bank, would ever call you. YOu can call them to apply or do so online, but these companies as a matter of course do not EVER call to solicit business. Only thieves do this.
THey also will NOT email you asking for personal information or to discuss your account. THose emails are also fraudulant.

Houn'dog ~ Ab-so-balutely NO way will a bank or CCCompany contact anyone by phone with such an offer. I have been given much the same info as 57chev. They were adamant on that point.
Congrats on picking up on it...and thanks for the heads-up. Lizzy

I am glad you picked up on this and they didn't get any information It is hard sometimes to live in this day and age....I grew up being able to just trust and assume people have good intentions....crime is different now a days.

Got an e-mail from the IRS asking for our social security number and I deleted the e-mail without opening any links.
A friend got a trojan the other day from FedEx.

I got the same email Hensley. It appeared to be from Social Security but was about taxes and it was in my Spam folder. It said they were going to lock the SS account. So I called Social Security to see if there was a problem - no problem. I also received a second email similar and their graphics are very similar to Social Security.

So be careful!

Pretty high shipping cost with FedEx for one Trojan!

You naughty boy! (Funny, though)

Within the last few months, the latest thing was a "UPS" scam, complete with tracking number, a FEDEX scam and finally, a home grown ESTAFETA scam. Beware is right.

A year ago, one came from our NOB bank. Didn't open it, emailed the bank and of course, they had sent nothing.

I have gotten quite a few of those with the guise of Wells Fargo Bank. It was not Wells Fargo. Can't be too careful these days and they will try to extort you any way they can, or infect your comuter

Got a funny call from Banamex today, something about a card and I said no, the caller ID showed: 003057604610