Scammers Are Using Your Old Credit Card Numbers

You can say one thing about scam artist, they are creative.  The latest scam is no exception with scammers stealing your credit card numbers and sending you unexpected packages from online retailers!  In particular, some Amazon customer have been receiving weird packages they never ordered, yet are getting charged.  Apparently they are using old, expired credit card numbers and testing them on Amazon to see if they work.  The purchases are generally small at first but if the number works, the purchases get bigger and as they arrive at your address, the scammers dispatch porch pirates to pick up the delivery before you're able to notice it.  The problem is two-fold. Online retailers, such as Amazon, store credit card information for multiple cards.  Over time those card expire but as you know, your expired and current credit card share the same account number. The only difference is the Card Verification Value (CCV) number.  It's meant to prevent unauthorized charges.  However credit card companies like to play nice with their retail customers and make purchasing easy as possible.  So if a merchant has an arrangement with a card issuer and agrees to take on the risk, that CVV number is not requested when purchasing.  While it sound counterproductive, the merchant and credit card company know there is going to be a certain amount of fraud but compared to the potential loss of revenue from making purchasing inconvenient for customers to always have to enter the CVV number, they play the odds. You can prevent this scam from occurring by using only one credit card for all online purchases. Consider using one-time credit card numbers.   Many credit card companies offer "virtual" card numbers that only work once and therefore prevent any additional purchases.

SOURCE: Lifehacker

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