Paying for things with plastic sure is convenient, isn’t it? Instead of carrying around wads of cash, all we need is a debit or credit card, and we can shop until we drop. Or until we run out of money, whichever comes first.
But let’s say we go to pay for that new must-have item, only to find that we don’t have enough in our account to cover the purchase. Upon further investigation, we discover that $500 has been withdrawn from our checking account—but we didn’t withdraw it. It looks like we’ve been hit—nay, struck—by a smooth criminal. This smooth criminal somehow got their mitts on our PIN or other account info, and they used that info to steal our money. This is known as “PIN cashing,” and it’s become a pretty big problem in our post-cash consumer world.
Using some combination of data breaches, hacking, card readers, and good old-fashioned scam tactics, these nefarious PIN cashers somehow get access to our PIN, or to the info they need to change it. Then they either create a new fake card with our account information, or just use our info online, and before we know it, they’ve wiped out our account and made off with our personal identifying information, or PII.
Legislators, retailers, and financial institutions do what they can do combat this phenomenon, like adding microchips to credit and debit cards for verification, but they haven’t managed to completely eliminate the threat.
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Finance: What are Phishing Scams?8 Views
Finance a la shmoop what are phishing scams? all right you know when you're out [Woman on fishing boat with Dad]
on the lake with dad just the two of you trying to haul in some trout when one of
the fish pulls a fast one on you and hangs one of these things on your line [Fishing line with boot attached]
yeah total scam we're telling you you cannot trust anything that breathes
through the side of its face anymore these days really okay so that's a not
quite a phishing scam although the general idea is similar it's someone
trying to make you believe something that isn't exactly true with a phishing
scam the venue switches from the great outdoors to cyberspace never gotten an [A wooden hut appears]
email from a Nigerian prince who's temporarily down on his luck and if
you'll just wire him three hundred bucks in cash immediately well immeasurable
riches await you it sounds like a little good to be true there right yeah and it [Man gives thumbs up in room]
is well usually that Nigerian prince is an overweight balding guy named Jerry
living in his mom's basement in a suburb just outside of Cleveland he'd love
nothing more than to hook a sucker you and take that 300 bucks [Jerry on his computer]
off your hands but many times the scam is much more intricate than that often
its identity thieves who are trying to con you into releasing private
information such as your social security number or credit card information mm-hmm
that's out there well they might try to convince you that
their Amazon support or your bank or your long-lost uncle Yusuf who just [Person flicking through e-mails]
needs a few personal details before he can FedEx you your large inheritance
don't fall for any of it anytime you're randomly asked to divulge any sensitive
information or pop a wad of cash in an envelope stop for a second and ask
yourself whatever you might be well a fish and then ask yourself whether you'd [Cash burning]
like all your hard-earned money to be sauteed or flame-broiled good stuff...