Sigh. Stolen Credit Card Number

[LillFilly]

Oddly enough, the number for the credit card I use the LEAST was stolen. I don't know how; last I used it was months ago in a vending machine (at work, reputable machine). Then last night while checking my rewards points just on a whim, I saw that last saturday (when I was working), the card was used at 3-different locations in a town almost an hour away for almost 500$. My question was, were these online/phone purchases or was a physical clone of my card made. So I report the fraud and cancel the card. I call the businesses where the charges were made and speak with managers. One finds the receipt showing an actual card was swiped, but no name was shown; like it was used as a gift card. Unfortunately they have no cameras. The other locations were pharmacies in chain grocery stores, so I'm hoping for more luck there. I filed a report with local police (who will then follow-up with the town where the purchases took place). I have a receipt showing I was in another town that day and time sheets showing I was at work, plus a police report number to send to the fraud department; the purchases were made in the evening though, so no proof I wasn't in the other town at that time; hopefully it is enough - I could get statements from my housemates.

Then I realized I don't know how the number was taken when I never lost the card or wallet. Since I worried my wallet was scanned, I canceled all the other cards in it too, and am buying one of those metal protection wallets. I guess it could have been worse, but word to the wise, I'm pretty careful and it still happened to me!

[RootedPhoenix]

*offers cookies and hugs*

I've had it happen to me. Not fun. I hate that some people steal things.

[taxguykarl]

That happened to me a few months ago. It stinks. Lessons learned: check your credit cards regularly, consider text or e-mail alerts from each card.

[lvsssycat]

This seems to happen to my DH and I on an annual basis.

We finally put a watch on all of our accounts as well as being informed if someone tries to open a new account in our names.

It just happened again recently.....someone got my DH's social and filed taxes with it.

They were stupid to do this as we owe the IRS this year and now the government is after their asses.

[Gizmo]

I believe mine was compromised by some sort of hacking data swipe a couple of years ago rather than having the physical card to clone. Someone was using it in Taxis in London at the same time I was trying to check into a hotel in Dorset and I ended up paying cash for the hotel which must have looked wonderful to them... lol

[Sapphire Silk]

Sounds like you were the victim of a skimming fraud. There are machines that con artists will install in machines that belong to reputable companies to capture credit card numbers. The con artists can then duplicate the card and use it freely.

ATMs are a popular target of skimmers.

Skimmers are very hard to spot. Many savvy people have fallen prey to them because they are designed so well.

[LillFilly]

About the skimming; the machines at work are the only ones I've used that card in. I use my debit card in many more places. And I only use ATMs for my bank, and check the outsides. I can't recall using that card in any location that had a breech, but what's done is done. Got my new metal wallet!

[Dreamstalker]

I was going to ask if the old card had an RFID chip in. My new card will and one of mom's bank cards does, and we already have the special card sleeves (and I need a new wallet anyway, might as well get an RFID-blocking one).

[Food Lady]

This seems to happen to my DH and I on an annual basis.

We finally put a watch on all of our accounts as well as being informed if someone tries to open a new account in our names.

It just happened again recently.....someone got my DH's social and filed taxes with it.

I had to do one of those identity tests in order to get my state taxes deposited into my account.

[Aragarthiel]

ATMs are a popular target of skimmers.

So are gas pumps. Hubs was told once that if you press "Cancel" five times on the pump, it keeps the skimmer from reading your card. Not sure how that would work though.

[dalesys]

So are gas pumps. Hubs was told once that if you press "Cancel" five times on the pump, it keeps the skimmer from reading your card. Not sure how that would work though.

Only if you are standing with your right heel in your left armpit while swiping the card.

A skimmer reads and records the card data immediately when it is swiped while passing the data to the pump/whatever. The only preventative is not swiping the card.

[Cia]

It sucks having your credit card number stolen. My most favorite credit card number got stolen, it ended in 666 , and was used to purchase camera and computer equipment on-line. I found out when the on-line retailers called for deliver address confirmation. I wanted to grab guns and go on road trip.

[Food Lady]

So are gas pumps. Hubs was told once that if you press "Cancel" five times on the pump, it keeps the skimmer from reading your card. Not sure how that would work though.

I'm glad I pay inside nearly every time. (I like to pump and then pick up milk and maybe get a snack.)

[jnd4rusty]

Scammers tried this in our area not too long ago. I remember reading in my local paper about several gas stations that had discovered "skimmers". I do not know how many cards were compromised but I know that all the gas stations now have a special tape on their pumps and it informs you to contact the attendant if the tape is broken.

[MadMike]

The same thing happened to me once -- no idea how. I was at work, when I got a call from my bank telling me that someone had attempted to make a $500 purchase at a Walgreens in New Jersey. I think the fact that they had reached me at my job in Harrisburg pretty much answered their question, but I've never even been to a Walgreens, and I only go to New Jersey once a year when we go to the beach for vacation.

They asked me to check my wallet to see if I still had my card, which I did, because it was a swipe transaction with an actual, physical card. Somehow my card got cloned, and I thought it was interesting that someone was smart enough to clone a card, but too stupid not to cause any red flags to be raised. Then again, maybe it was someone who bought a counterfeit card from one of those scammers that sells them. We've had at least one spammer on here trying to sell those, but only the moderating team would have seen it.

After I confirmed that I had not made the purchase in question, the guy told me he'd cancel the card, and told me to call my bank at their regular number to request a replacement. That's how I knew it wasn't a scam call -- he didn't ask me for any identifying information other than confirming my name, and told me to call my bank to finish the process. Luckily, that was the only charge the thief tried to make, and it got blocked.

The other time my card number got compromised was a bit more of a hassle. I don't think they had an actual card in this case, I think they just used the number online. I was reviewing my statement, and noticed a few small charged from Blizzard Entertainment (the maker of World of Warcraft) that I hadn't made. I heard about this sort of thing happening before, although at the time, no one seemed to know the reason behind it. Some people said the scammers were purchasing accounts for resale, others said that they were using the accounts to generate game gold for resale (had a few spammers on here trying to sell that as well), and other people said that those were "test charges" that scammers were performing to see if the card numbers worked, and then they'd use them for bigger things.

I called my bank and told them what happened, and after they cancelled the card, they went over my statement with me line by line and asking me which purchases were fraudulent. We got through the first few charges from Blizzard, when they came across one I hadn't even noticed -- a $400 purchase from Paypal. I went speechless when I saw that, and the person I was talking to had to ask if I was still there.

Altogether, there was about $600 in fraudulent charges. And the person I was talking to didn't seem to know what to do. She said she'd send me a dispute form and told me I'd have to get in touch with the merchants in question. Then she transferred me to another department to complete the process. The person in that department told me no, I wouldn't have to contact the merchants, because this was fraud, not a dispute. I eventually got all the charges reversed, but it was a mess!