Winhall Police are warning local businesses that scammers are using a new twist on an old scam in Southern Vermont.
On Monday The Stones Lodge Restaurant in Bondville told police they had received several calls through a TTY Relay Service from a person wanting to order $1,500 and charge it to a credit card.
The relay service is a system that allows hearing and speech impaired people to communicate over telephone. In this new twist, the caller placed an order with the restaurant, then asked the staff to add $500 to the bill, charge it to the card, and wire the “extra” to their driver, who would be picking up the food, according to police. The “extra” money would be for the drivers’ expense and would ‘save the caller from having to incur more charges on his card.’
The Stones Lodge Restaurant refused to place the orders; the manager said they had received about five of these scam calls.
Winhall Police investigated and found that one of the scammer numbers was a landline in New York City, but the origin could not be traced. Police also found other cases with the same method of operation in the Western and Southern United States, but not in the New England area. Target businesses include restaurants and auto repair services.
The Winhall Police Department offers the following advice to business owners and operators:
* If the customer is using a TTY relay operator, ask the customer for his/her full name, address and telephone number.
* Ask the customer to provide the name of the issuing bank and its toll-free customer service number as printed on the back of all credit cards.
* Ask for the three or four digit Card Verification Code found near the account number on the back or front of a credit card. If the card number is stolen, this number will be unknown.
* Tell the customer you will check with the bank and call them back. When you do that, keep good notes. Verify all information the customer provides. If a customer objects, explain that these procedures are for their protection as well as yours.
* If the customer still objects to providing any of the above information, abandon the conversation and tell him you are not prepared to do business this way
The Vermont Attorney General’s office of consumer fraud has been contacted and the investigation is continuing in Winhall.
