Fraud Warnings - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Fraud Warnings

We have a couple of frauds to alert you to, tonight.

The first one involves an unsolicited phone call that people have been getting on landlines and cellphones alike.

It claims - in a computer generated voice - that your Gate City debit MasterCard has been locked and you should press one to unlock it.

If you press one, you are asked for your card number.

Minot Gate City Manager Peggy Johnson says the office started getting calls about the scam late yesterday and by mid-day today, workers had fielded over 400 calls from people wondering about the scam.

She stressed that you should simply hang up on such a call - and never release information about your credit card in an unsolicited phone call.

You are asked to call the Federal Trade Commission at 1-877-382-4357 to file an official complaint.

The second scam comes from the town of Surrey where police say someone has been offering to rent a house in Surrey.

The problem is that the house is not for rent - but for sale.

The scammer says you can rent the house for 550 dollars if you send a deposit to an address in Africa.

Surrey Police Chief Pete Schneider reminds you to always check carefully into a rental offer before putting down any money.