PSA: Ignore phone calls claiming to be Visa

David from Redwood

Just got a call from an Australian number, a robot announced that Visa had detected $1600 of gift cards had been bought with my credit card - press 1 to decline, 2 to confirm.

So, I pressed 2. It put me through to a very polite gentleman who had no idea what to do if the person they’re trying to scam says they did spend all that money on the gift cards, and after a very confused attempt to convince me I didn’t buy all the gift cards, he hung up. They maybe need to improve their script.

Just an FYI - Visa won’t call you directly about suspicious activity on your card, that’s the job of your bank. If you get a call like that and you really can’t be sure it’s a scam, hang up and call your bank with whatever number is on their website and get them to confirm.

I knew the scam was a scam instantly, because I have set the limit on my credit card as low as it can go, so it is actually impossible to buy so many gift cards with it. Always set your credit limit as low as you can handle to limit your risk if you do fall for a scam.