(WFRV) – With a new Visa and Mastercard scam sweeping the Midwest, Wisconsin officials are urging residents to be wary of callers posing as credit card companies.

According to the Minocqua Police Department, there has been an uptick in cases involving scammers calling victims and pretending to be the security and fraud department at Visa.

These scammers claim to have detected an ‘unusual purchase pattern’ and are calling to verify that the suspicious activity was not the victim.

Officers note that oftentimes, the scammer will tell the victim that the suspicious activity involved a purchase of an Anti-Telemarketing Device for $497.99 from a marketing company based in Arizona.

Once the victim denies having made said purchase the scammer will tell them that they have been watching this company for some time and they will be issuing credit to the victim’s account. They also assure the victim that they will be starting a “fraud investigation.”

The scammer will then ask the victim to confirm that they are the cardholder and will ask the victim to tell them the three-digit pin number located on the back of their card.

Police note that the scammers will not ask for the victim’s seven-digit card number because they already have it, they just need the three-pin security number to gain full access to the card and its funds.

The scammer will then end the call by telling the victim to call back with any more questions and then hangs up.

Seeing how this scam has worked several times, officials are now warning residents to not give out their three-digit pin to callers claiming to be with Visa or Mastercard, instead, residents are urged to call the Visa or Mastercard number on the back of your card directly for verification of the said transaction.

Additionally, authorities remind residents that actual Visa or Mastercard representatives will never ask the cardholder for any information about the card as they already have the information in their system. This means a red flag should be raised if a caller asks the cardholder to divulge any personal information.