A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by an individual by telephone claiming to be a member of the Visa credit card company.
He claimed Visa was going to lower the interest rate I paid to them to 0.995 per cent.
I thought it was about time.
Shortly thereafter I was contacted by another individual who said he needed to confirm my information and because I thought this was a logical request, I gave him my account number and other personal information. A few days later I received an email over my computer claiming Visa was holding an amount off my Visa account until I confirmed it.
I immediately became alarmed. The last time I had used my card to charge anything was at the Walmart store and I was pretty sure they would have contacted me immediately if the entry did not go through. I went to the CIBC and sure enough, I had been fooled.
When the local CIBC phoned the Visa company it turned out they were holding a US$1,000 item. They had to cancel my existing card number and issue me a new account and card.
I’m asking to have this letter printed in the local newspapers in order to warn people to please be careful and always contact the Visa company or your local bank or credit union if you are ever alarmed.
