New Phone Phishing Scam

Most of us probably bring he same skepticism to our home phone that we do to our e-mail inboxes. But some do not, and scammers are taking advantage of it.

"We know as a general public that there's a lot of fraudulent activity on credit cards and debit cards, so when we start hearing ... your financial institution calling you ask you for specific information and providing information that nobody else should know, it brings down our wariness," said McCormick, who is with the organized fraud section.

He said investigators are seeing a steep increase in reports of a scam in which a caller names an unusual big-ticket item and asks if the customer has recently purchased it.

When the customer says no, the caller says the company involved has been cropping up in a lot of suspicious transactions.

The caller provides a reference number for the customer's file and give the customer a 1-800 number to call.

He or she also asks the customer to confirm that they still have the card by providing the three-digit security code marked on the back.

Remember, if your bank or credit card company EVER asks for your card number when THEY call YOU, then chances are it is fraud.