![]() ![]() “However, some local phone exchanges may display our number differently. “Actually, we want our calls to display as Capital One on caller ID, and that’s the way they are programmed,” she replied. So Cap One is saying it’s more “Repo Man” than “Fatal Attraction.” “As a last resort, we may go to a customer’s home after appropriate notification if it becomes necessary to repossess the sports vehicle,” Girardo said. Cap One has partnerships with makers of gear like Jet Skis and Snowmobiles. The exception to that, she said, is when it comes to big-ticket sporting goods. “Capital One does not visit our cardholders, nor do we send debt collectors to their homes or work,” Girardo said. Pam Girardo, a company spokeswoman, told me that Cap One isn’t quite as much like Glenn Close in “Fatal Attraction” as the company’s contract lingo might suggest. “Now more than ever, consumers need to be able to trust companies,” she said. It’s weird, to say the least, for this practice to be so publicly adopted by a major credit card issuer.Įmily Rusch, executive director of the California Public Interest Research Group, a consumer advocacy organization, said it’s especially troubling for Cap One to declare itself a spoofer as people grapple with recent security breaches involving Target, Neiman Marcus and other businesses. Such corporate spoofing is employed primarily by telemarketers. As I’ve written before, the federal Truth in Caller ID Act makes it a crime to use a phony number or caller ID message to commit fraud or cause harm to others.īut it’s not against the law to engage in what courts have called “non-harmful spoofing,” which includes businesses wearing digital disguises to penetrate a consumer’s phone defenses. This is known as spoofing, and it’s perfectly legal. Cap One is saying it can trick you into picking up the phone by using what looks like a local number or masquerading as something it’s not, such as Save the Puppies or a similarly friendly-seeming bogus organization. “We may modify or suppress caller ID and similar services and identify ourselves on these services in any manner we choose.” The company’s contract update also includes this little road apple: Incredibly, Cap One’s aggressiveness doesn’t stop with personal visits. A credit card company, in theory, could reserve the right to visit your home or office without a court order, Kann said.īut he emphasized that there are laws against harassment, not to mention stalking, and Cap One could be held accountable under such statutes if, say, it took to inviting itself over for dinner or hanging around your cubicle. Maybe by recounting the message out loud, you'll realize how suspicious it sounds.He explained that the amendment applies primarily to searches and seizures by law enforcement, not civilians. If you ever get a message or email that you're tempted to return, ask a friend or relative or co-worker what they think.It's easy to spoof a number or impersonate the phone number of a particular company or person. My skepticism applies even in cases when your caller ID might say the call is coming from XYZ Bank or the IRS or someone you know.(We no longer have a landline, so there's no, "Is Teresa there? Oh, I'll get her," and I don't answer my cell phone with my name.) If I got a phone call I wasn't expecting from someone claiming to be from one of my credit cards or bank accounts or investment firms, I wouldn't even confirm my name.And we shouldn't reply to emails we weren't expecting or click on links in emails out of fear that something bad is going to happen. ![]() We certainly shouldn't return phone calls we weren't expecting. It's getting to the point where we shouldn't talk to anyone who calls if we weren't expecting the call.It's the threat that the police are coming to arrest us for back taxes, or that our computer is going to blow up because of a virus, or that our grandchild is out of town and needs money, or our bank account is going to be frozen. Bad guys try to get us to put aside our reservations or doubt by saying we have to do something now.(If an old card was compromised in a data breach, we likely canceled it.) What they may not have is our bank account information or the account number of an active credit or debit card. ![]() They often have our names, dates of birth, phone numbers and addresses and even our Social Security numbers.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |