SCAM ALERT!

Fwd msg ...

Please take a bit of time to read it:

This scam is actually very cleverly worked out that you will not suspect of anything wrong:

The following is an account of the incident.

Wednesday a week ago, I had a phone call from someone saying that he was from a company called: "Express Couriers," He asked if I was going to be home because there was a package for me that required a signature .

The caller said that the delivery would arrive at my home in roughly an hour. Sure enough, about an hour later, a uniformed delivery man turned up

with a parcel and a bottle of wine. I was very surprised since there was no special occasion, and I certainly didn't expect anything like it. Intrigued, I inquired as to who the sender was.

The courier replied, "I don't know, I'm only delivering the package."

Apparently, he said the sender would want to give you a surprise and a card would be sent separately... , it happened that my birthday was on the way also, so we thought could be from a distant friend. There was also a consignment note with the gift.

He then went on to explain that because the gift contained alcohol, there was a $7.50 "delivery/ verification charge," providing proof that he had actually delivered the package to an adult (of legal drinking age), and not just left it on the doorstep where it could be stolen or taken by anyone, especially a minor.

This sounded logical and I offered to pay him cash. He then said that the

delivery company required payment to be by credit or debit card only, so

that everything is properly accounted for.

He added they also don't carry cash to avoid loss or likely targets for

robbery.

My husband, who by this time was standing beside me, pulled out his credit card, give to him to swipe the card on a small mobile card machine with a small screen and keypad and asked to key in the verification code.

Frankly at this point we never suspect anything ad normal and a receipt was printed out and given to us, he then wished us good day and went off as normal,

To our horrible surprise, between Thursday and the following Monday, $5000 had been charged/withdrawn from our credit account at various ATM machines.

Apparently the "mobile credit card machine," which the delivery man carried had all the info necessary to create a "dummy" card with all our card details, of course with the verification code.

Upon finding out about the illegal transactions on our card, we immediately notified the bank to stop payment, but already too late.

We went to make a Police report, and was confirmed quite a number of households had been similarly hit.

WARNING: Be wary of accepting any "surprise gift or package," which you neither expected nor personally ordered, especially if it involves any kind of payment as a condition of receiving the gift or package. Also never accept anything if you do not personally know or there is no proper

identification of who the sender is.

Above all, the only time you should give out any personal credit card information is when you yourself initiated the purchase or transaction!

PLEASE Pass this on, it may just prevent someone else from being swindled.