Recently a federal grand jury in Puerto Rico returned indictments of eight people accused of operating a debit card scam in which they visited elderly clients of a local bank posing as either federal agents or officers of the bank and told their victims that their bank accounts had been compromised by identity thieves.  They then told their victims that in order to remedy the problem, they needed their victims to provide their debit cards to the scammers as well as tell the scammers their PINs.  The victims who fell for the scams had their debit cards used by the scammers to steal more than $619,000.

TIPS

Remember my motto, “trust me, you can’t trust anyone.”  If your bank account was compromised, no bank or law enforcement officer would ask for your debit card and they certainly would have no reason to ask for your PIN.  Never provide personal information to a stranger.  If you have reason to believe that your bank account, or debit card has been compromised, you should contact your bank directly rather than trust someone who comes to your door posing as either a law enforcement officer or a bank employee.

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