Knoxville woman avoids interest-free credit card scam: What to do if you get a scam call

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — For those of you with credit cards, we have a warning about a new scam.

Recently, a Knoxville woman was told she was eligible for a special interest-free program. Naomi Prator said it sounded good at first, until the details were revealed.

The caller claimed Prator won’t have to worry about any interest charges on her existing credit card balances, ever, because she’s a senior. Once she answered the phone, that was the central pitch from the scammers as she was transferred from one person to another.

The caller ID on Prator’s phone caught her attention. It said “United States.”

“So, I answered it. I thought this must be an important call. They said ‘You live in Knoxville, Tennessee don’t you?’ I said, ‘yes’. They said, ‘Someone is trying to open up a credit card in your name’,” said Prator.

She said the guy on the phone, a mild-mannered Steven Marshall, claimed it was a Master Card.

“Someone was trying to open up a $2,000 credit card in my name in North Carolina. He said, ‘You don’t live in North Carolina, do you?’ I said, ‘no’. And I said, ‘I don’t know how they can do that’, [he said] ‘Well let me transfer you.’ So they transferred me over to a woman,” said Prator.

Now that the scammers had Prator’s attention by telling her someone was trying to open up an account in her name, a new voice took over.

“She said ‘Yeah, we see someone is trying to open up some credit. That’s not you, is it?’ I said, ‘No, it’s not me.’ She said ‘Let me transfer you over to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.’ So then this Erika Griffin came on,” said Prator.

Erika would be the third voice to speak.

“She said the way they got your credit was through Amazon where they had a credit breach last year,” said Prator.

The most recent Amazon data breach occurred not last year, but in October 2021 when a hacker leaked data pertaining to the streaming platform Twitch.

“She told me my Social Security Number. She told me my date of birth, my home address, and, every credit card I had,” said Prator.

Prator said Erica told her she could see outstanding balances with hefty interest rates on her cards.

“[She said,] ‘You get all your credit cards out and I will take care of them because senior citizens have this new thing that senior citizens don’t have to pay interest on anything.’ I said, ‘I never heard of it.’ She said, ‘I need the numbers off of all your credit cards so I can take care of it.’ She kept talking and then she said, ‘I need your credit card number so I can wipe out your interest on all of them.’ I said, ‘I don’t think so. This is a scam.’ Then she got upset and said, ‘It is not, and said I am trying to help you’,” said Prator. ” And I said ‘You are not getting any more information and forget it’. She hung up on me.”

The Federal Trade Commission said scammers may gain your personal information through data breaches which would include email addresses, phone numbers, and order details. Scammers can use all sorts of tricks to figure out which bank you use through social media messages, internet activity, or just by guessing a major bank in your community. Prator disconnected the call just in time.

“Don’t give them any info, don’t give them any info on anything. And, just say you are scamming me and hang up,” said Prator.

How do you protect yourself from credit card scams? If you live by the rule of “never give sensitive information over the phone,” you’re probably not going to fall for a credit card scam. However, nearly $9 billion was lost by consumers due to credit fraud in 2022, the latest reporting period.

If you think your card has been compromised, you should freeze your account. If you see unauthorized charges on it, immediately notify your issuer, so it can credit the money back to you, void your current card number, and send you a new card.

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