OT-I am a victim of fraud...

[Chuck Wintle]

Probably for the first time in my life i was the victim of credit card fraud. Decided to check my account on-line and found three unauthorized transactions totaling almost $350. :mad:
I cannot figure for the life of me how they managed to get my card number and make a purchase without the 3 digit security code needed. :mad:
It's a hassle now as the fraud department gets involved and I will need to sign and return an affidavit before the charges are cleared. Is technology going forward or backwards? :confused:

[Curt Harms]

Sorry for the hassle but $350 isn't too bad. I have a debit card that if the scamsters hadn't been greedy would have been worse. It has a Visa logo so I guess they thought it was a credit card. They tried to scam about 4 times the daily maximum withdrawal which triggered a phone call to me.

[Chuck Wintle]

Sorry for the hassle but $350 isn't too bad. I have a debit card that if the scamsters hadn't been greedy would have been worse. It has a Visa logo so I guess they thought it was a credit card. They tried to scam about 4 times the daily maximum withdrawal which triggered a phone call to me.

Curt,
In retrospect $350 is not that bad and MC will make it right in the end...however it's the first time for me and it's shocking how easy scamming is possible. The only hassle is waiting for a new card to arrive from MC and having to sign an affidavit that it was not me who made the purchases.
You said that you were alerted when an attempt was made to withdraw cash?

[Matt Meiser]

When mine got stolen it was way more. The credit union said that most likely someone at a restaurant captured the info off the mag stripe and re-encoded it on another card. She also told me she wasn't surprised at that it happened because I was working in south Chicago and staying in NW Indiana and using my card there a lot.

Walmart and CompUSA lost a lot of money on that deal.

[David Weaver]

I have a curve ball for you guys. I just noticed almost $1300 of refunds on my card today, for things I didn't buy.

I'm still trying to figure it out, but the credit card company isn't open until monday.

Who makes unauthorized credits? Is someone testing my card to see if they can use it?

[Scott Shepherd]

I cannot figure for the life of me how they managed to get my card number and make a purchase without the 3 digit security code needed. :mad:

You don't need the 3 digit code to process it. In our system, it shows that field as "optional". If you leave it off, it will still process.

[Dave Wagner]

A guy I am work with has been fighting his credit fraud for 6 months now, someone is opening accounts (Even Heat and electric service) in his name, and the police, credit bureau , etc.. are not doing much. HE can't even close them, since HE didn't physically open the accounts. He is really pissed. He did file a police report about it. HE has debt collectors calling now. And get this, only way to prove it, is send them a police report, then he has to $15 for EACH ONE and they state it takes 6-8 weeks to get one! WTF. !!! Protect your credit!! I try and use cash (or travellers checks) when travelling. You just never know any more. !! :(

I noticed now, some places don't even need a signature for under $25 purchase. That's scary.

[Phil Thien]

I have a curve ball for you guys. I just noticed almost $1300 of refunds on my card today, for things I didn't buy.

I'm still trying to figure it out, but the credit card company isn't open until monday.

Who makes unauthorized credits? Is someone testing my card to see if they can use it?

May have been a return where the customer didn't have their card or their card's stripe was bad, so the merchant hand-keyed the number (and made a data entry error). On many networks, no expiration date or three digit code is required (or they are ignored) during refunds, so as long as the merchant got a valid card # (yours), the network accepted it.

Eventually the customer that made the return will return to the merchant and complain, and the merchant will be able to figure out the entry error. Things are more difficult these days because the card slips don't typically print the entire number, just the last four digits.

If you call your CC company, they will alert the processor who will alert the merchant so they can fix it for their customer before their customer even figures it out.

[Chuck Wintle]

You don't need the 3 digit code to process it. In our system, it shows that field as "optional". If you leave it off, it will still process.

There has to be more security provided for the safety of the consumer. Fraud seems to be commonplace and we all pay for it in the end.

[Zach England]

Once my checking account had been debited $1300. Before I had a chance to do anything about it my phone rang and someone asked if they could come look at the BMW I was selling on ebay. When I logged into ebay I saw that I had bought a macbook and had it sent to my San Francisco address. I was indeed selling a BMW. All this is funny because I have never owned a BMW, do not have a San Francisco address and do not want a macbook. My bank reversed the transfer with no questions asked, but I never got a response from either Ebay or Paypal. have you ever tried looking for a phone number for either of those companies?

[Scott Shepherd]

There has to be more security provided for the safety of the consumer. Fraud seems to be commonplace and we all pay for it in the end.

What's really sad is that what you are experiencing is exactly what a lot of people complained would happen. While those that approve policy kept ignoring the reality of it all and how it would work. Now we have a mess and the people that have to clean up the mess are the average folks, not the companies that implemented all of this mess. If you don't like that, you really won't like what's coming down the pike, i.e. a national electronic identity for you. Yeah, that'll fix it...........until someone cracks that system and then can REALLY do some damage to your accounts.

So often these things are implemented on theory and not real world environments.

[Abi Parris]

What I love is when the bank(s) want me to pay an additional fee to keep my accounts "safe" from the kind of things mentioned here. Sorry, you want me to pay for something you should already be doing?!

[Mike Henderson]

Just a note about your liability. Federal law limits your liability to $50 for credit card fraud (as long as you're not participating in the fraud) if the card is stolen and you report it promptly. If only the number is stolen, you have zero liability. Note that this applies to credit cards, and not debit cards. Google "credit card liability" and you'll find the page on one of the government web sites.

It's difficult for places like restaurants to steal credit card numbers. The credit card companies have software which will recognize that some number of stolen cards had charges at one restaurant. They then just turn the restaurant off, which is a death sentence for the restaurant. So restaurant owners police their workers pretty well.

Mike

[David Weaver]

If you call your CC company, they will alert the processor who will alert the merchant so they can fix it for their customer before their customer even figures it out.

That is my intention. The account statement period closes in about four days. I have a feeling that the statement will get finalized, then they'll reverse the credit later and then claim that I have an unpaid balance and charge me interest on it. BTDT on stuff like that. One place tried to charge me a service fee when I got a refund because I had a "nonzero balance" after the refund (it was a negative balance) with them. I ignored the first letter, and they sent a threatening one after that telling me I had to pay the fee or they would start legal proceedings.

[Phil Thien]

It's difficult for places like restaurants to steal credit card numbers. The credit card companies have software which will recognize that some number of stolen cards had charges at one restaurant. They then just turn the restaurant off, which is a death sentence for the restaurant. So restaurant owners police their workers pretty well.

Mike

These days they have card readers that are so small that you can comfortably hide one in your hand and scan a card without anyone noticing what you've done.

Yes, merchants police to the degree possible. But employees with drug habbits, gambling habbits, or a desire to make a lot of money fast can very quickly capture a ton of numbers.

[Curt Harms]

Curt,
In retrospect $350 is not that bad and MC will make it right in the end...however it's the first time for me and it's shocking how easy scamming is possible. The only hassle is waiting for a new card to arrive from MC and having to sign an affidavit that it was not me who made the purchases.
You said that you were alerted when an attempt was made to withdraw cash?

Yes. My bank called (smaller local-type bank) and asked if I'd heard of this foundation? I said "who?" The reason the transaction got flagged was the scammer tried with withdraw $1500. The daily limit was $400. Had they not been greedy they could have done $300/day for several days before I got a statement. I went to the local branch and gave the compromised card to the branch manager. She called the head office and said " I got another one of those cards" so I was not alone in this. In the early '80s I had a card stolen in Puerto Rico. The last statement I saw was over $10,000. Nearly all of the purchases were in the Dominican Republic. Does my name sound Dominican? Should the vendors have asked questions?

[Anthony Whitesell]

For PayPal, login and at the bottom of the screen select Contact Us. On the next Page select Call Us. The page will supply a pin number for you to use when you call.

For eBay, Select Customer Support, then the contact us button on the right center of the page. Then I selected Buying->Didn't Receive Item->Already Opened Case? followed by When will I receive my money? At the right edge the phone number 866-540-3229 appeared.

[Jim Rimmer]

For PayPal, login and at the bottom of the screen select Contact Us. On the next Page select Call Us. The page will supply a pin number for you to use when you call.

For eBay, Select Customer Support, then the contact us button on the right center of the page. Then I selected Buying->Didn't Receive Item->Already Opened Case? followed by When will I receive my money? At the right edge the phone number 866-540-3229 appeared.

I found the Paypal number once when I had a problem (that was entirely my fault) but got no help from PP except being told to wait and see if the seller (wrong one) refunded my payment. Long story short, I contacted Mastercard and disputed the charge and all of a sudden PP got real interested and took care of the problem.

[Dave Lehnert]

Having worked in retail for many years I can tell you any time we tried to increase security on checks and credit cards it was always met with resistant from the customer. " Sir I need to see your ID" was ALWAYS met with a big sigh and the "I shop here all the time" response. I would guess that over 50% of the credit cards did not have the signature on the back. Ask for ID and they would get huffy because they are in a hurry (As well as the other customers in line)
You would not believe how many customers came in with their card number written down on paper and expect you to accept it.

[Curt Harms]

I found the Paypal number once when I had a problem (that was entirely my fault) but got no help from PP except being told to wait and see if the seller (wrong one) refunded my payment. Long story short, I contacted Mastercard and disputed the charge and all of a sudden PP got real interested and took care of the problem.

I had pretty good success with getting PayPal involved. I had a problem with a piece of computer gear. Tried to contact the seller for about a week with no success. I finally contacted PayPal saying I wanted to return the item but could not contact the seller. Within about 3 hours the seller magically appeared and resolved the problem.

[Brian Tymchak]

Probably for the first time in my life i was the victim of credit card fraud. Decided to check my account on-line and found three unauthorized transactions totaling almost $350. :mad:
I cannot figure for the life of me how they managed to get my card number and make a purchase without the 3 digit security code needed. :mad:
It's a hassle now as the fraud department gets involved and I will need to sign and return an affidavit before the charges are cleared. Is technology going forward or backwards? :confused:

By chance, is your CC one of the newer ones with RFID like many of the security badges corporate employees use these days? There's an article (http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/02/08/remotetheftriskorscaretactic.html?sid=101)in our paper today about scammers being able to scan the RFID signal without having physical access to the card. And with the lack of consistency of websites/business requiring the 3-digit security code, they are pretty easily able to use the card number.

[Mark Patoka]

My wife's card was stolen from her purse a few months ago on a Sunday morning, only taking one credit card and her cash. We didn't realize it until we got home that night and we had a phone message from VISA asking about questionable purchases that day. According to VISA, apparently the crooks went to Target and made an $1800 purchase and then attempted a $2000 and $1500 purchases in separate departments within minutes of each other. The first one went through but then the credit card company triggered a "ask for ID/verification" before processing the other two purchases as it didn't meet our normal spending pattern and the large $$ involved.

VISA did credit us the $1800 purchase after the investigation closed but we did have to cancel the cards and sign a couple affadavits. Of course this happened right before we were travelling so had to resort to a backup credit card along with the hassle of redoing all of the auto bill-pay charges that were on that card. I really wanted to see how VISA investigated the case and view the Target security tapes just to see who the punks were that walked off with $1800 of goods at consumer expense.

Our local news had the RFID story on last night. They were showing how they lifted people's card info that was in their pocket just with a handheld device and a netbook computer. Pretty scary.

[Neal Clayton]

on the topic of this, it should be noted that this is why it's a good idea to have an actual credit card and not just one debit card tied to your primary checking account.

if someone steals a credit card, you're not out any of your own money (not even temporarily). if someone steals a debit card, that money is gone from your account until it's actually returned to you.

so for online shopping and general use, having one credit card is a good idea.

[Belinda Barfield]

My company debit card was compromised when a bank was hacked and a bunch of card info was stolen. I monitor our bank account daily and noted some purchases that I didn't recognize. I contacted the bank. No problem with them. The thief/thieves purchased a lap top from Dell and some accessories from another site. I contacted Dell and explained the situation and they stopped shipment of the lap top pending further investigation by their fraud department. I was very pleased with that (so was my boss)!

[Matt Meiser]

on the topic of this, it should be noted that this is why it's a good idea to have an actual credit card and not just one debit card tied to your primary checking account.

if someone steals a credit card, you're not out any of your own money (not even temporarily). if someone steals a debit card, that money is gone from your account until it's actually returned to you.

so for online shopping and general use, having one credit card is a good idea.

Or use a separate account for the debit card only and keep only a minimal amount of cash in there.

[Eric DeSilva]

I had American Express call me one day out of the blue and ask whether I had ordered $17,000 worth of server hardware to be shipped to the Netherlands. Apparently being that greedy trips the anti-fraud software...

[John Shuk]

I had a similar thing happen a few years ago. Three identical transactions. They had the three digit code as well. My credit card company made it pretty painless. I would have liked to see someone get caught for it but I have no idea what came of it.
On the topic of fraud; I was working at a man's small apartment recently and were talking about where his previous home was. (I work in some of the wealthiest towns in the country.) He explained that he was one of Bernie Madoff's victims to the tune of $19 million. He is completely wiped out. So is his mother and two aunts who are in their 70s. I got the sense that he was somewhat bitter.

[Chuck Wintle]

I had a similar thing happen a few years ago. Three identical transactions. They had the three digit code as well. My credit card company made it pretty painless. I would have liked to see someone get caught for it but I have no idea what came of it.
On the topic of fraud; I was working at a man's small apartment recently and were talking about where his previous home was. (I work in some of the wealthiest towns in the country.) He explained that he was one of Bernie Madoff's victims to the tune of $19 million. He is completely wiped out. So is his mother and two aunts who are in their 70s. I got the sense that he was somewhat bitter.
John,

There is fraud and there is fraud...

[Matt Meiser]

Yeah, something tells me Madoff is going to live a lot longer in jail than he would have out of jail.

[Curt Harms]

Yeah, something tells me Madoff is going to live a lot longer in jail than he would have out of jail.

Could well be, although if he screwed the wrong people he might never have made it to trial. A proverb about eggs & baskets comes to mind especially when one of those baskets looks REALLY good.

[John Shuk]

Could well be, although if he screwed the wrong people he might never have made it to trial. A proverb about eggs & baskets comes to mind especially when one of those baskets looks REALLY good.
Well that is precisely what he said got him in so deep. What appeared to be excellent returns gave him the confidence to go all in.

[Bill Cunningham]

I've had it happen once, Purchases showed up on a mastercard that I only use for business purchases. There were only three, one for a tee shirt company for 20 or 30 dollars, a spy equipment company in Texas for 60 bucks, and I apparently had great seats to a football game in Spain for 4 or 5 hundred. I called the cops to take the obligatory police report, and signed the stuff M.C. faxed to me, and all the money was credited back to my account before they even got that info.. I doubt very much if Interpol actually followed up checked the seats at the game in Spain, but the game security people probably threw them out hopefully..

[Jay Jolliffe]

About a year ago I tried to use my card at a gas station. The pump wouldn't take it, so I used another. Went to HD and the same thing. When I got home there was a message from the credit card company wanting me to call them. They flagged my card because of charges in Fla. & I live in Maine. There was 1,300.00 of charges for, believe it or not for Crocks, the rubber shoes in all different sizes & colors also there were two money orders bought with my cc number. I always thought you had to use cash. When the statement came I circled what wasn't mine & the cc company took care of them. I did call the Crocks dealer & got an address where they went & I gave that to the cc company. I don't know if they did anything with it. I have no idea where they got the number. I've had two on line company's call me questioning the credit card. There still trying to use the old canceled one.....