This text turned up on my phone recently, sent from an email address claiming to be “postmaster” at “getorderupdates.com.” It claimed a $599.99 charge had been made to my Visa card and offered up an order number for this alleged purchase. Handily, it also included a number to call if I had any questions.
A lot of folks might panic when they get a message like this. Nobody wants to pay $600 for something they didn’t order, so the first instinct might be to contact the customer care number or to respond to the text.
However, if you do, it’s a good bet these scammers are going to ask for your credit card number in order to refund your purchase. And, if they get their hands on that, they aren’t going to be refunding anything.
That’s why it’s important not to panic if you get a message like this. If you’re worried that you’ve been mistakenly charged for something, what you need to do is ignore this text. Open up a browser and log onto your credit card statement or bank account to check for transactions, or call customer service for your bank to double-check.
No business needs your credit card number to reverse a transaction, they can simply hit a refund button.