On the whole I would always say do not give your credit card number to ANYONE, and I mean anyone. I would be reluctant to give out my number to almost anyone who rang. Even if you think that you are 100% sure that the caller is who they say they are, they may not be. Anyway if your bank rang why would they want your credit card number. Surely they would be able to access it without your help if they needed to.
So first things first:-
Determine why your bank needs your credit card number. They may legitimately need it but I doubt it so be very wary. It could be a bank employee operating a scam or fraud after all you never know these days. There are so many scams that I am starting to feel that I could not trust anyone who rang me re any financial information.
Are there any security checks which you could use to identify that it is really your bank calling? Do you have any data such as your first school or mothers maiden name logged with them for identity checking. If so they should be able to answer these questions.
Do you know the telephone number of your bank so that you can ring back and make sure it’s your bank legitimately calling. If you are going to ring your bank back take the name of the person calling first. When you ring back try to speak to someone else and tell them the name of your caller. This may help you to determine if the call is legitimate or not.
All of the above may or may not work but I think, overall, the thing to remember about your credit card number is ‘If in doubt, Don’t give it out’ Now this article refers to your actual card number. Attached to your credit card there is also a pin number which is your personal identification number. This is in effect your password and so obviously this would NEVER be given out to anyone, or else it defeats the object of having a password. No-one should, or would, ask for this number for any legitimate reason so keep this pin number secret at all times and never even write it down. If you think that someone has got hold of your pin number contact your bank immediately in order to get this number changed at once.