ASTAR Travel Attempting to obtain credit card details for fraudulent holiday offer. Claim To Be In The US - Calling From Within Australia Tampa Florida

Much like other stories that have been posted online about this company, I received a phone call last Friday morning from a guy with an exaggerated american accent who claimed that I had won some fantastic holiday to Florida. As my mobile number was only connected a few days before and the guy had my mobile number and name and address details, I was immediately very suspicious about the phone call. So, I let him talk hoping to find out where this company got my details from.

The sales guy claimed to be David Hernandez, calling from ASTAR in the U.S. He went on and on and on and ON about the holiday package, part of which included a cruise to the bahamas etc... I asked him what the catch was several times and he talked so much I stopped listening for about 10 minutes.

Finally he got to the part where he wanted to "verify" my credit card details to cover the additional cost of taxes and other associated costs for the trip - he actually said something like "now, we have a direct link with VISA and MASTERCARD, I have your details right here, if you could just verify them for me - I see here that your VISA card number begins with a 4, is that right?" - I'm not sure just HOW stupid he thinks people are, but anyway... I told him that I don't give out my credit card details to anyone over the phone without knowing exactly who they are - this is when he started to throw a little tantrum and tried to convince me that they were a trusted company etc... I told him I had to go to work and that I didn't have time to discuss it then.

Two hours later, my mobile rang again and it was the same guy wanting to obtain my credit card details for verification - I told him I was busy and he hung up. BUT this time, the guy was more dumb than I thought - he'd called me from an AUSTRALIAN MOBILE NUMBER. His caller ID came up on my phone, he must have forgotten to hide it before he rang.

The following morning, the same guy called me AGAIN from a different AUSTRALIAN MOBILE NUMBER. I told him I was not interested and hung up.

I have reported this to the Australian Police who have said that they'd follow it up. This guy clearly claimed to be calling from the U.S. I don't know if the guy that called me is an Aussie using a scam to operate his own scam, but I'll update this with further info if I find out anything more.

Jane
Townsville
Australia