Discover Card is giving angry Xbox scam victims my phone number

What could Discover Card want with me? Xbox scam answers!

Let me preface this post by saying I’m no pro on blog traffic and internet marketing. I love learning about how websites tick, how to drive traffic, make conversions, etc. etc. But one needs to really immerse themselves in the art almost everyday in order to truly succeed. I have made some expensive mistakes in how to learn these strategies, but it’s funny how some of the greatest ways to drive people to your blog is right under your nose. But sometimes, it can backfire. That’s what this blog post is about.

The best way I’ve found to drive traffic is to solve a problem. A few years ago when I saw Microsoft had billed my credit card three times for charges equaling about $90.00, the first move I made was to Google. I wasn’t satisfied with the solutions because there really weren’t any. I did piece together enough info from forums that lead me to track down the fact that some Xbox ‘gamer’ had got ahold of my credit card number and bought points for his little gaming adventure. I later found it was a bigger problem than I anticipated.

I wrote a blog post about my experience. I simply copied the code on my credit card bill and used it as the title of the blog thinking if people searched that term, it would show up. Well, it did. In fact, the blog post is the most popular on my blog with more than 100 comments. What’s better is I’m helping people figure out how to get their money back and stop the scammers.

The side story to the Xbox scam

But this happy tale has a strange side angle. It seems that there are victims will all types of credit card. I started getting phone calls a few weeks ago to my company phone number I list online. The first call was from Debbie and went something like this:

Debbie:

Hi, I’m calling about these charges on my credit card…for the XBox!? I want them off right away. Can you please explain yourself?

Me:

Uhhhhhh….Who gave you this number?

Debbie:

Discover…my credit card company.

So you can understand my surprise. I went on to explain to Debbie that, I too, was a victim and simply wrote a post to help others. Somehow my number I listed online has made it’s way to Discover’s call center as A) a source for help, or B) the source of the scam (which I suspect).

Or it could be that Discover is giving people my web address and they are finding the number on my site in order to get immediate satisfaction. I don’t blame them. I was livid when I saw the charges. And to this day, I still haven’t figured out how they got ahold of my information.

I have received a few calls and emails from victims of this scam by way of Discover. I haven’t reached out to them yet. At least it’s a new way to meet people and try to help them out. When they first call, they’re angry. When they hang up, they seem to be in a much better mood.

But the power of the Internet is quite amazing. Whether you’re the scammed or the scammer, there’s help (or opportunity) online. There’s also a pipeline of web traffic as well. Traffic you may not necessarily want. Sure I like people reading my blog, but calling me? Not especially. But if you do, I’ll do my best to be nice and explain there’s hope against these scammers.

Ruining a scammer’s day puts a smile on my face.

Want to read the blog post that started all this madness? Click here to learn more about the Xbox scam and how you could see the charges on your credit card some day (hopefully not). Thanks for reading the post.