This is the opinion of Patrick Henry, retired executive director of the Collegeville Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research. I – sadder (and poorer) but wiser – know it. The fiendishness: By persuading me I am the victim of identity theft, the scammers make me their thief.ġ3. Next day I go to the bank and learn that every bit of it was a con. I stop driving around (the ‘agent’ assures me the next stop’s gift card limit is $5,000), go home, sleep little.ġ1. This launches my suspicion: Maybe this isn’t all as it seems. Finally (and fortunately before I go any further), one store’s manager brings me a handwritten note of warning. When I periodically ask, “Why can’t I tell the credit card agent why I am doing this?” I am told, “Oh, we are separate departments at the bank, and we don’t share information.”ġ0. They have a rejoinder for every question. These scammers get inside your head, inducing frenzy, panic. There is something about the way the delusion feeds on itself – a sort of addiction. At this point you’re saying, “How could you not see what was going on?” Of course he immediately transfers the funds into something very different from the ‘account’ he had said he would set up ‘for me.’ĩ. After each of the three purchases I tell the ‘agent’ the IDs and PINs. At three stores I collect six $500 gift cards from two national companies. These stores have daily limits on gift card sales, so while they are skeptical, they accept my lie about why I need them.Ĩ. I am not to buy their own gift cards, but cards from one or more of five national brands. Thwarted at the national store, the ‘agent’ directs me to local stores. I have already lied about why I am buying the cards, and, I think, “How could it be a scam if I am following my bank’s instructions?” So, I lie again: “No one is telling me to do this.”ħ. Do you know there’s a scam? Is somebody telling you to do this?” While he connects me to the credit card agent, a store manager comes and says, “We can’t make such a sale. I go outside to ask the ‘agent’ what to do (he warned me never to talk to him in hearing distance of any store employee). He sends me to a nearby major national department store to buy 10 $1,000 gift cards. I am so bamboozled that the absurdity doesn’t register: my bank is instructing me to lie to merchants and to itself.Ħ. Do not tell them what you are doing – use the same story about needing many family gifts.”
If your card gets a ‘decline’ notice and you need to talk to the bank’s credit card company to lift it, I will connect you. Say you have big family events coming up and require several large gift cards. “Don’t tell anyone what you’re actually doing. His urgency blots out my knowledge that credit card charges, unlike debit card ones, are instantaneous. He explains that to prevent the money’s transfer at midnight to the ‘authorized’ charges, I must purchase ‘dummy gift cards’ with my credit card, then read him the IDs and PINs so he can deposit the sums in a new account for me at the bank. Do exactly as I say, or you will lose all that money.”ĥ. The only person at your local branch who can deal with this has left for the day. “I want to go to my bank to confirm this,” I say. The bank’s ‘agent’ assures me he is doing everything possible to prevent my losing the sums. “Oh, this means the scammers stole your identity and have access to your email.”Ĥ. “But we sent you an email earlier today about the charges, and you replied with authorization.”
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