Credit Card Scams

What was the first thing you did when you got your first salary?

Eat out? Shopping? Put them in savings? I did all that and also, got myself a credit card heh. 

All I wanted in life was to work and pay my own bills so I can feel like a grown up, independent and empowered.

Who knew owning a credit card would bring bad people to your life.

This happened to me few times actually. The first incident I remembered getting a weird call from a private number saying that they were from the bank and they said I needed to make some 'mandatory' payments for using the credit card.

So the gullible 22-year-old me just said okay and naively passed on my details through the phone thinking "Oh, this must be a standard operation or something."

After I hung up, I sensed that there was something fishy about that call. I called the number at the back of the credit card and spoke with the operator if there was really the need to pay some fees to the bank.

Long story short, I found out it was a scam when the bank said they would never ask their customer's credit card information. Ever. The operator quickly terminated the credit card and offered me a replacement.

I was so, soo thankful that I've managed to realize it was fraud before they could go on a shopping spree at my expense. At that time, I felt I was a smart girl.

Then another different incident happened to me once again few years after that when I applied for a different credit card. I know, I know.. like why the heck do I need two credit cards right. This was before GST was implemented, so really I didn't have to pay anything to get another card and plus, this card had the movie discount benefit so I just had to get it!

Anyhoo, not long after that I got a phone call from someone who asked me to listen for few minutes. I said yes and that's when he starts to pitch about safety, liability, accident, bla bla so you guess that's right it's insurance. I can't exactly remember the details but somehow in the end I said okay. And they charged freaking RM300 to my credit card. I don't even remember if it was my credit card or my savings but that 300 bucks just went out of my pocket. 

The thing is, this wasn't really a scam. But it's really unnecessary insurance if you ask me. You should be spending your money on medical insurance like Prudential, ING etc. Not the accidental insurance. After that, there wasn't even a guide available on how to claim this insurance if something ever did happen to you. I was only left with a bill, that's it. In a way, I felt I was scammed.

So guys, if you plan to get a credit card, just be prepared to get these kind of calls. First rule of thumb, never ever give your credit card details to anybody. These include your name, the front number of card, the expiry date and the 3 safety codes at the back. No matter how convincing they sound, just say no I'm not interested, hang up and call the bank to get more information. This way you won't give them the opportunity to persuade and convince you further.

And if it was the insurance telemarketer, be firm and say you're not interested. They will try to persuade even at the last minute. Just quickly dismiss the conversation so you don't get pulled in deeper by them. 

So yeah that's about it. Just wanted to share this little advice with you guys. Had a friend who just started working and got duped by some people. Sigh, crazy world...