Think Your Credit Card Is Safe On The Phone? Think Again.

I once read that the easiest way to get somebody else's password is just to ask for it. Pretend you're somebody from a tech admin position or somebody with authority then ask people for their password because you'll need for some maintenance or something. It used to work but not anymore.

Sadly, it is much like the same thing when one deals with credit cards over the phone. When customers call in to buy whatever on the phone talking to somebody else who (most probably) outside your country, they are giving out their "password" for their credit cards to people they don't know. In order to make a purchase over the phone, the customer must give out their full name, billing address, credit card number, expiration date and the all important Credit Card Verification number (CCV) or Credit Card Security code (CCS) depending on which credit card they are using. Those are the same information that are required to make an online purchase. The same information that can start a whole lot of trouble of unauthorized purchases and online withdrawals.

Having been a call center manager, I have witnessed or heard about a lot of fraud cases in my time. About a year ago, we had a call center agent use credit card information he collected from his customers to send money to his own Paypal account. He was dumb enough to use the company's facilities, his own computer password and his own paypal account for the crime. A few days after his misdeed, a group of NBI agents along with some U.S. fraud prevention authorities busted his ass while he was at the middle of his shift. He collected about $1000 from the credit cards he used. Which was no big deal really. But about a year ago also, there was this one guy from India who siphoned, believe it or not, over 1 million British pounds to his own bank account. Apparently he had access to thousand of credit card accounts and he was able to pool that much money to his bank account in just one day! He got caught by cops in less than two days after he did the crime. This is the biggest call center fraud that never did hit the news. HSBC, which was the bank involved, went to great lengths to cover up the story as if nothing happened.

Giving out credit card information over the phone has never been safe. Right now some customers are giving out their information over the phone to perfect strangers. These strangers are happily collecting their credit card information which they may use themselves or sell it to willing fraudsters. Security measure implemented by call centers have never been effective. In my time, I've seen co-workers walk out of work with a sizable list of customer credit card information. There's always a work around for those who really have bad intentions.
If you give out your credit card info on the phone, you might as well be giving them your wallet.

Posted in: CallCenter Issues