Do crooks pose as delivery drivers to skim your debit card? Fact Check

Messages online describe a type of scam whereby a crook posing as a delivery driver will deliver a package containing alcohol and ask a recipient to swipe their bank card to prove they are over 18 in order for the crook to steal the recipient’s card details.

TRUE BUT OUTDATED

Below are examples of these messages, both originally collected from 2013.

Hi everyone,
I want to let you all know that Frank and I have been the victims of credit card fraud this week and felt I should warn you all about the clever scam. It works like this:
Last Wednesday I had a phone call late morning from Express Couriers to ask if I was going to be home as he had a delivery for me. He said he would there in roughly an hour. He turned up with a beautiful basket of flowers and wine. I expressed my surprise as I wasn`t expecting anything like this and said I was intrigued to know who was sending me such a lovely gift. He said he was only delivering the gift and the card was being sent separately (the card has never arrived). There was a consignment note with the gift.
He went on to explain that because the gift contained alcohol he has to charge the recipient $3.50 as proof that he has actually delivered to an adult, and not left it on a door step if the recipient is out, to be stolen or taken by children. This seemed logical and I offered to get the cash. He then said that the company required the payment to be by Eftpos so he`s not handling cash and everything is properly accounted for. Frank was there and got his credit card and “John” swiped the card on this small mobile machine that also had a small screen upon which Frank entered in his pin number. A receipt was printed out and given to us.
Between last Thursday and Monday $4,000 was withdrawn from our credit account at ATM machines in the north shore area. It appears a dummy credit card was made using the details in the machine and of course, they had Frank`s pin number.
The Bank has stopped our cards and I`ve been to the Police this morning, where they confirmed that it is a definite scam and many households were hit during the first 3 days of October.
So PLEASE be wary of accepting a gift you`re not expecting especially if the card is not with it. We`ve all received gifts like this and would never dream that it could be such a despicable act. Please also let other female friends and relatives know. Hopefully, these fraudsters have ceased this activity by now but you never know. I wanted to warn all my friends.
P.S. I don`t think I`ll ever drink the wine – I`d probably choke on it!

Another scam doing the rounds. A delivery company calls and asks if you are going to be in as they have a parcel for you. Within the hour a driver appears with a basket of flowers and a bottle of wine, no idea who it’s from but there is going to be a card to follow. He asks for £3.40 so he can prove the delivery has been made to an adult as there is alcohol in it. He can’t take cash as the transaction had to be prove able so he produces a hand held card reader. You put your card in and type the PIN and get a receipt from the machine for £3.40. A couple of days later your account has been cleaned out. Clever and affective. Unless you know who it is from beware of unexpected deliveries. Pass it around folks the more who know the harder it is for the scum.

 
The messages describe a crime whereby a crook pretending to be delivering a package tricks a victim into producing their bank card by claiming that because their delivery contains alcohol, they need to swipe their card against the crooks portable card machine, which is actually a card skimmer (a device that steals information on a card so a criminal can obtain it at a later time.)

The warnings do describe a genuine crime, albeit many variants of the warning also contain misleading or inaccurate information.

Most notably, while many of these copy and paste warnings state or imply that this is a new type of scam “doing the rounds”, it isn’t. In fact the warnings most likely spawned after a crime fitting this description occurred in Sydney, Australia back in 2008.

That’s when a man identified as David John Hennessey was found to have stolen over $30,000AUD after posing as a delivery man, and was arrested after a traffic stop and found to be in possession of a number of card skimming devices. Hennessey was caught and arrested only weeks after committing the crimes.

Of course it is also worth pointing out that card skimming devices are real as well. Such devices can copy the data from your card and store it so a criminal can access it at a later date. Such devices are used in a plethora of different crimes.

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With that said, taking aside the 2008 incident described above where the criminal was soon apprehended and convicted, crimes matching the description of these social media copy and paste warnings appear to be thin on the ground.

While it is feasible that the same (or very similar) crime could reoccur, we were unable to locate any other reports describing such a crime elsewhere. As such, any suggestion or implication that this is a new or trending type of crime would be inaccurate.

You’re more likely to effectively protect yourself and others my passing on general safety advice than you are passing on outdated and specific warnings like the one above. Be sceptical of unexpected visits from anybody that you do not know and always verify the authenticity of such callers before complying with any requests. Especially if those requests involve your credit card!

And if you’re not sure, don’t let them in, and don’t let them near your bank card.

This not only applies to courier agents, but also police officers, gas inspectors, electricians, plumbers and any profession that could involve someone turning up at your doorstep.

Since these warnings do describe real scam that occurred in 2008, but fail to mention the date, and also imply or state it is a new or trending type of scam, we rank this claim true but note that it is outdated.