Been busy with other things at the moment and the dead line is Friday. Haha. So had to push my other projects aside first and finish up with this, thus the absence from blogging again. Oh well, wanted to finished it yesterday but something else again came up. Haha. Oh well. It’s all good.
Ok, as the title speaks for itself. Last week, I received not 1 but 2 calls from someone stating that I was one of the few selected people being offered this VIP card which gives you travel privileges, discounts, insurance and a heck lot of other things which I was not aware of. And this was only offered to Visa and Mastercard credit card holders. Never the less, they said they were calling from a KL card Company which will be sending me this card.
First person who called I think was Nancy or Liza either one with the phone number of +60162625648, said they were in the “Proses Penghantaran” or rather in the process of sending my so called VIP card and need to verify my details. So they asked me for my address, and then I gave it to them. In response they verify my IC number, which I’m surprised to find out where they got it from in the first place. After that, they asked me which bank card I am still currently active with. That was when I thought something was very wrong, and began to switch to very cautious mode. And I told him I was with a certain bank (which by the way I was lying lol), and then they asked me for the 16 registration number in front of my credit card. SO that’s what they call it now, instead of credit card number but rather registration number. So I declined in giving them that number, and that was when things started to get very interesting. Below is the conversation that pretty much happened after that.
Caller : Sudah ramai orang telah memberikan 16 nombor pendaftaran kad kredit itu. Jangan risau, ini hanya untuk memastikan encik adalah orang yang kami ingin memberikan Kad VIP tersebut.
(A lot of people had already given their 16 digit registration number, and you don’t need to worry as we want to verify that you are the person we would want to give this card to.)
Me : Kalau begitu, sila beritahu saya apakah 16 nombor yang ada bersama dengan kamu sekarang, dan saya boleh mengenal pasti bahawa kad tersebut adalah kad saya.
(If that’s the case, please give me the 16 digit numbers that you currently have, so that I can verify with you that the card number you have there belongs to me)
Caller : Kami telah memberikan nombor kad pengenalan encik, untuk mengenalpasti. Jadi sekarang adalah giliran encik untuk memberikan nombor kad tersebut untuk dikenalpasti.
(We have already given your identification number, so it’s your turn to give us the card number just to verify who you are.)
At this point, I was like thinking why in the world do I need to take turns in verifying myself to you. And after that, I kindly declined the offer and was not interested in it anymore so the person was pretty much upset and said she will block my credit card and hang up after that. So the next day, this time a different caller using the number +60162275916 called me up and to pretty much continue to pick up from where we left off yesterday.
Caller : Encik, kami dari (some company which I forgot what was the name already. Lol) ingin menghantar VIP Kad untuk Encik. Kad encik adalah dalam proses penghantaran, jadi kami ingin mengenal pasti tarikih luput kad kredit bank abc encik.
(We are in the proses of sending the vip card to you, and would like to verify the expiry date of your credit card with bank abc)
Me : Oh. Kad itu lagi. Saya sudah memberitahu rakan sekerja anda, bahawa saya tidak ingin kad itu.
(I told your colleague that, I wasn’t interested in that card)
Caller : Ini bukan tentang kamu bahawa kamu nak atau tak kad tersebut. Kami ingin menghantar kad tersebut kepada kamu sekarang, tapi sila memberi tarikh luput kad kredit kamu.
(It’s not a matter if you want the card or not, we would like to send the card to you but please give us the expiry date of your credit card).
Me : Saya telah memberitahu rakan sekerja awak, saya tidak minat dalam kad itu..
(I told your colleague that I wasn’t interested in the card….)
This was when she cut me off halfway and then again repeated stating it’s not the matter if I want card or not, as it was pretty much like that our conversation for the next few minutes, and she was getting kinda heated up. So in the end I kinda told her off.
Me : Saya dah kata, saya tak nak kad tersebut. Mengapa kamu orang ni ingin memaksa saya untuk mendapatkan kad ini? Kamu dah kata, kad tersebut adalah percuma. Hantar saja kad tersebut kepada saya, dan apabila saya mendapat kad tersebut, saya akan telefon kamu untuk aktifkan kad VIP itu. Adakah ini cara kamu semua orang bagaimana untuk bekerja? This is very rude.
(I told you that I was not interested in the card. Why do you keep on forcing me to get this card? Since you said it was for free, why don’t you just send it over to me first. And when I get card, I’ll call you all to get it verified. Is this the way how you all work? )
Caller : Nanti I saya tanya manager saya dulu, dan tunggu keputusan dia.
(I’ll check with my first and see what he say.)
This was when she just hang up, without saying anything at all. So trying to see what is this card all about, I went and did a little search on Google. And apparently, I found 2 links regarding this issue. One took me to Lowyat’s Forum (http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/723862) and another one took me to Cyberpartygirl blog post (VIP Card From Menara Kuala Lumpur). Do check up her comments as she got a lot of people who actually fell for it.
From the forum, apparently they said it’s not a scam but rather the VIP card itself cost RM499-599. So I would imagine the horror of forking out RM500-600 for discount coupons and whatsoever things. Lol. Anyway, moral of the story. Never give out your credit card details through phones, as you could be a victim of being scam one way or another. So hopefully this would enlighten all of you.
Hehehe… I was sort of “scammed” few years back, the travel card thing. Was told that I’m lucky Visa user to enjoy the card with such price and getting more than RM1000 freebies if signing up for it. I agreed to sign up to it because I could get discount on hotel stay if i book with the card, well… It did just that later I found out that it’s not that convenient to use. It’s more suitable for those based in West Malaysia. They told me it’s lifetime.
Then few years later, they called me again, asked me to upgrade. I told them I don’t want to because I didn’t use the card at all. Then I shot them, “I’m being told the card is lifetime one, no need to upgrade and I could enjoy the discounts, now you tell me I must upgrade?!?! Besides, I don’t use the card for years already, no point anymore to upgrade. Doesn’t suit my need.”, the guy kept asking me to upgrade and ask for my credut card number. I just told him I didn’t want to and just thanked him for his offer. Good thing he didn’t push further.
Then few months later, same company again, this time lady. Very WTF! She wanted me to upgrade, I said I didn’t want to. Then she asked me whether I’m still using the same credit card as few years back so that she could ease the process of upgrading by using my previous card detail. Good thing the card expired long time already *LOL* She insisted me to give her the number, so I thought of playing with her, I gave her the old card number ;p Then she asked for the 3 number at the back, I didn’t want to give. I told her since she got the card number already, she could just proceed but she said she want to double check to ensure that it’s correct. I didn’t want to give, she kept insisting and she got irritated. I just cut the line ;p Then moments later she called back, I told her I didn’t want to upgrade, no point to upgrade, I didn’t use the card at all, I changed my mind. Then she kept insisting again asking me for the 3 digits, I told her I change my mind already, I didn’t want and guess what she told me.
She said, fine, if I didn’t want to give the number, she will ask the bank to block my credit card because they have link to the bank and she suspected that I’m holding some other people card that’s why I didn’t want to give her the 3 digits at the back to verify against the record she had. I didn’t care and cut the line again and she never called back.
Hmm… What and where is the logic? So funny.
Lol yeah. But I doubt they can actually block your card even though they claimed they are close to the banks. The bank would at least need to verify with you first even before they do that.
Anyway, I think it’s one of their method to try and scare you in giving out your card number. Oh well. Next time they call me up again and say that, I’ll probably tell them I’m gonna make a police report instead. Hehe
just got the call a few minutes ago.. saying she got discount card to give. special for 3000 visa card holder. i said i don’t have any credit card. she paused and said, “how about atm card with visa logo” and continue to explain the benefits of the discount card; the traveling, the airlines ticket, towing charge, mechanic fee, clinics and hospitals etc.. she said she need my address to send the card and brochure and ask RM499 for a lifetime membership. i ask her how to make the payment? she said, it will be auto debit from my account. she ask for my address and i said, “16, Jalan…err..can u call back later? my battery is running low.” and i hang up. i search the internet for her “offer” and confirmed that it was a scum. thank you for sharing with me your story. if not, i’ll end up become 1 of the victims..
hahaha…just right after i finish type this comment, she call me back.