SAT Scam Hits Denver Metro Area

DENVER (CBS4) - A new scam is sweeping through the Denver metro area  that centers around the SAT test.

Bernadette Whitney said she got a call saying that her son had ordered SAT prep materials. The caller said that they were preparing to send the material to her home address, and gave her the correct address. The caller said that the CDs were free, but that they would need Whitney's credit card number in order to put a $216 "hold" to guarantee the CD's were returned.

When Whitney asked what a "hold" meant, the caller said that they would charge the card $216 and then refund it when the CDs were returned. Whitney told them, "No."

When she checked with her son, who is a junior in high school, he said that he hadn't ordered any SAT prep materials. Whitney said that the call seemed legitimate on several levels.

"No southern accent, no foreign accent. It was a female voice and very credible. The red flag didn't go up until she said, 'We're putting a hold on your credit card,'" Whitney told CBS4.

The caller also had a good bit of personal information on Whitney's family.

"They had his name, and they had our home address, and, of course, they had my phone number. They also called my husband, and they called my mother-in-law," Whitney explained.

The number on her caller id was a local 720-number lending even more credibility to the call.

Whitney wants to make other people aware of the calls. She's worried that others may fall for it.