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CONSUMER AFFAIRS OFFICE Township of Livingston DIRECTOR: WALTER D. LeVINE Director’s Office: (973) 377-3313 CONSUMER ALERT: TWO NEW SCAMS Posted January 4, 2007 Here are two new scams I have heard about, verified, and which I want to alert our residents and the media to. The first is the jury duty scam. Someone calls, stating they are a representative of the Courts, indicating that an arrest warrant has been issued for failure to reply to a jury summons, or failure to appear on the scheduled date. If you protest that you never received a summons for jury duty, the scammer asks you for your Social Security number and date of birth so he or she can verify the information and cancel the arrest warrant. Sometimes they even ask for credit card numbers, stating there is a fee to negate the warrant. Give out any of this information and bingo, your identity just got stolen. This scam has been reported so far in 11 states and many Courts have reported this on their websites. This scam is insidious because the caller uses intimidation over the phone to try to bully people into giving information by pretending they're with the court system. If you get one of these calls, before you give any information, call the Court itself and verify the accuracy of the claim. The second scam regards stolen credit card information, which may take place in a number of ways: At the local gym or spa, you notice your locker is open. Suspecting possible theft, you quickly check your wallet/purse and see nothing has been taken. Then you get a huge bill, contact your credit card issuer and tell them the card was not stolen. When you look at your card, to verify it was not taken, you find that the thief actually switched your card with a similar card (probably stolen from someone else). Not reporting a theft, you are probably liable for the charges. You charge your purchase and a card is returned, usually upside down. Without looking, you return it to your wallet/purse. Oops, it is a similar but expired card belonging to someone else, again probably stolen. You never checked before replacing it, that is was actually your card. Be sure all cards are signed on the back. The person swiping your card is also on their cell phone. You think nothing of it, but they have actually taken a picture of your card. They then reproduce a new card with your information, or just use the information for Internet purchases. Aren’t camera cell phones wonderful! Many stores/restaurants record your full account number on your receipt, not just the last four numbers. Throw away the receipt and, again, your information can be stolen. If this is the case, shred the receipt!