OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill. -- Call me gullible. Just not completely gullible.
So I get this automated voicemail on my cellphone last week saying the Internal Revenue Service is about to sue me and this was their final notice.
I ignored it initially, thinking I’ve never done anything remotely dishonest regarding the IRS and believed they would probably have mailed me something if it were true. Well, the next day, I got the same voice message. That’s when I got nervous.
I called the number. A male voice answered and I explained that I had gotten this message from the IRS. He asked for my phone number, and because I was calling from one of our office lines, I told it to him. Then he asked my name.
That’s when my logic kicked in. I asked him who the IRS was looking for. He paused and said “Rodney” somebody. I said, “I’m not Rodney.”
“Yes, you are.”
“No, I’m not. My name is Angel. There must be a mistake.”
“Well, we’ve already sent the police to your house. They’re going to arrest you, you [explicative].”
Then he hung up.
Wow. OK.
The experience got me a little nervous, but it also played into recent data-security themes I’ve been hearing within the convenience-store technology community about protecting people’s information—all information—not just credit-card numbers.
Recently, I was on the phone with Barry Kouns, CEO of Risk Based Security Inc., Richmond, Va., who was telling me not to use my debit card at the pump. Why not? I thought to myself, as I use debit in part to help retailers because I know that it’s a cheaper transaction for them to process. Kouns said that data thieves will often place tiny cameras above gas pumps to catch people entering their personal identification numbers (PINs). Working in tandem with a skimming device, a would-be thief could suddenly have access to my money.
Yowza!
Retailers have the burden of informing customers to do things like use their free hand to hide their motions when they’re entering PIN numbers, he said.
After hanging up with him, I remembered seeing such a decal stuck next the key pad at the pump when I filled up last. It actually told me to cover up my PIN number with my free hand. Honestly, I remember thinking it was silly. No one was standing next to me. I was good.
Apparently not.
I got to thinking how I need to start playing a more active role in protecting my own information, and not just payment-related stuff. Data thieves can compile enough personal data on me or anyone else to order a new credit card and go to town using my identity. Giving my cell number and first name to that dubious “IRS employee” made me nervous, thinking about it later, but it also empowered me.
While I did get duped into calling, I stopped to ask, “Are you who you really say you are?”
With that one question, I took control. I was no longer a victim. I changed the game, squelched his sinister intent.
So while retailers may feel burdened by the new task of educating their customers on ways to reduce data theft, it’s an important effort. Once enlisted, customers can become enthusiastic, motivated soldiers in a retailer’s own data-security army.
For more information on how to report bogus IRS scams, click here.
Angel Abcede, who writes the Mobile 2 Go blog, has covered technology in the convenience-store industry for more than two decades. Share your thoughts with Angel at aabcede@winsightmedia.com.
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