The following scam has been confirmed by the Police Liaison Officer for National Westminster Bank as a scam involving both VISA and MASTERCARD.

You receive a telephone call reportedly by someone working from the Security and Fraud Department at VISA and they give you their “badge number”. They then go on to explain that your card has been flagged up for an unusual purchase pattern and they are calling to verify. They explain that this would have been on your VISA/MASTERCARD which was issued by (name of bank) did you purchase an Ant-Telemarketing device for £497.99 from a marketing company in London? When you say ‘No’ the caller states that they will be issuing a credit to your account. They ask you to confirm your address. Once this has been done they inform you that they will be starting a Fraud Investigation and that if you have any questions you should call your bank and ask for security and that you will need to refer to a control number. The caller then gives you a six digit number.

The caller then states that they need to confirm that you are still in possession of the card and will ask you to confirm the three security numbers on the reverse of the card. That is the ONLY number that they require as they already have the other details.

Neither VISA nor MASTERCARD will ring asking you to confirm the numbers on your card, they already have them.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Wiltshire Police on 0845 408 7000