Oakes woman Jennifer Booth warns of Florida holiday credit card fraud

Nov 20 2009 by Barry Gibson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

JENNIFER Booth was delighted when she was told she had won an all-expenses paid holiday to Florida.

But joy turned to suspicion for the Oakes mother as the mystery caller asked for her credit card details.

And it turns out 50-year-old Mrs Booth has probably been targeted by fraudsters running a nationwide scam. She is believed to be the first person to speak out to warn others.

The fraudsters claim to work for Barclaycard and Mrs Booth’s advice to other potential victims is simple.

“Just put the phone down,’’ she said.

Mrs Booth received the suspicious call at 4.40pm on Tuesday.

“It was someone saying they were calling from Barclaycard Visa and claiming I had been entered into a draw because I’d used my card,’’ she said. “They said I had won a holiday in Florida, staying in Orlando and Fort Lauderdale.

“He said that Barclaycard were picking up all the expenses – for flights, transfers, hotels and clothes.”

Mrs Booth – who is a full-time carer for her son Anthony, 33, who has special needs – couldn’t believe her luck.

“I would certainly have liked to go to Florida,’’ she said. “It would have been absolutely fantastic.”

The caller then put Mrs Booth through to his ‘senior manager’.

She said: “He congratulated me and then asked to check some details. He knew my name, address, postcode and phone number and just asked me to confirm the details.”

But Mrs Booth became suspicious when the man asked for details of her credit card.

She said: “He told me that, in order to complete the process, he needed the seven-digit ‘reference number’ on the back of my card. I told him that was the security number and I would definitely not give it over the phone.

“I told him that if it was a choice between giving him that number or losing the holiday, I would lose the holiday.”

Mrs Booth then phoned her credit card company.

She said: “I rang Barclaycard straight away because I was quite shocked. They told me that the scam is ongoing and their fraud department is working on it but they haven’t sent out any warnings to their customers.”