There is a new and clever credit card scam - be wary of those who come bearing gifts. Please circulate this to everyone you know, especially your family and friends.

It works like this: (Here is one person's account of what happened to her)

Wednesday a week ago, I had a phone call from someone who said that he was from some outfit called "Express Couriers" asking if I was going to be Home because there was a package for me, and the caller said that the delivery would arrive at my home in roughly an hour. And sure enough, about an hour later, a Delivery man turned up with a beautiful Basket of flowers and wine. I was very surprised since it did not involve any special occasion or holiday, and I certainly didn't Expect anything like it.

Intrigued about who would send me such a gift, I inquired as to who the sender is. The deliveryman's reply was, he was only delivering the gift package, But allegedly a card was being sent separately; (the card has never arrived!). There was also a consignment note with the gift.

He then went on to explain that because the gift contained alcohol, there was a $3.50 "delivery charge" as proof that he had actually delivered the package to an adult, And not just left it on the doorstep to just be stolen or taken by anyone.

This sounded logical and I offered to pay him cash.

He then said that the company required the payment to be by credit or debit card only so that everything is properly accounted for.

My husband, who, by this time, was standing beside me, pulled out of his wallet his credit/debit card, and 'John', the "delivery man", Asked my husband to swipe the card on the small mobile card machine which had a small screen and keypad where Frank was also asked to enter The card's PIN and security number. A receipt was printed out and given to us.

To our surprise, between Thursday and the following Monday, $4,000 had been charged/withdrawn from our credit/debit account at various ATM machines!

It appears that somehow the "mobile credit card machine" which the deliveryman carried was able to duplicate and create a "dummy" card(?) with all our card details, After my husband swiped our card and entered the requested PIN and security number.

Upon finding out the illegal transactions on our card, of course, we immediately notified the bank which issued us the card, and our credit/debit account had been closed.

We also personally went to the Police, where it was confirmed that it is definitely a scam because several households have been similarly hit.

WARNING: Be wary of accepting any "surprise gift or package", which you neither expected nor personally ordered, especially if it involves any kind of payment as a Condition of receiving the gift or package. Also, never accept anything if you do not personally know and/or there is no proper identification of who the sender is.

Above all, the only time you should give out any personal credit/debit card information is when you yourself initiated the purchase or transaction!

They are especially targeting seniors.  If you have a senior citizen in your family, please alert them to this tricky theft scam. It’s not only elder abuse directed toward our aging parents. Anyone can fall for it. Alert your other friends and family too. The flowers and wine are a distraction from what is going on. The modest “delivery charge” doesn’t sound bad. Or does it?Think about what the delivery person is asking you to do: give them money to give you a “gift”. That should set off an alarm bell in your head immediately. The SENDER would pay the delivery charges if there really were a sender. If you order a package and send it to someone, they don’t bill the recipient for delivery charges ever. They bill the person who ordered the gift, who always has to pay shipping and handling. (Don't we all love free shipping?) So here’s the takeaway:

1. Do not accept delivery of anything from an unknown source, unrecognized courier or unknown sender. If someone wants to surprise you, they should do so through the good old US Postal Service, or other known delivery method.

2. Do not ever give your credit card to someone at your door unless YOU asked them to come and you expected to pay at your door. (Not a good idea in the first place!)

3. If it seems odd it probably is so avoid giving out information to anyone that you were not prepared for in advance. If they call in advance and the call is odd, it may be a trick.

Please pass this on to those you know, especially family during the holiday season. Scammers are clever and can fool almost anyone. Package delivery is frequent at this time of year and it gives thieves an additional opportunity to steal. Keep yourself and your loved ones safe.