Credit Card Fraud Question

[Belinda Barfield]

Checked my checking account this a.m. and much to my surprise I purchased $2209.85 worth of fishing gear at Fish USA through their website. Wow, I must have been sleep shopping again. I really like to fish but . . . hmmm . . . that's a little high for my hobby budget. Called the bank and filed a claim for fraud, then shredded the card. Then I called Fish USA and spoke with customer service. I explained the situation and asked if they could provide any further information on the order. Within five minutes someone called me back with the name of the person who placed the order, and the ship to address. I was able to get the order cancelled. Yay, me! I also shared the info with my bank's fraud department. I would like to have had the items purchased though, 3 Shimano $700 reels.

Here's what I can't figure out . . . how did this person get my account number, etc? The person used my debit card info. I always use that card as a credit card so I don't have to enter the PIN number. The only thing I have changed recently is using the ATM for deposits but I always cover the keypad. Are there people out there with RFID scanners snatching my card info from my purse as they walk by? Since I have information regarding who placed the order can I file a police report? Would anything happen if I did?

[Craig Matheny]

Belinda two possibilities with the info you gave well really three.
1. Bank was hacked and they have not figured out the amount of files taken this has happened to me 3 times with B of A but they say that nothing was taken but they issued a new card each time for safety.
2. the ATM you used had a scanner on it to capture your info.
3. Does your card offer the no scan just wave your card in front of the scanner option? If so then that is the most likely way they got your info as they do have portable readers. I have no credit cards that can be just waved in front of the scanner for that reason. I have heard there are small sleeves you can keep the card in that is suppose to prevent this.

Good Luck

[Matt Meiser]

Ever hand the card to someone at a store or restaurant? That's the most common way. There's a small device that will grab the electronic data off the strip. Or someone might have even just written it down.

[Belinda Barfield]

Belinda two possibilities with the info you gave well really three.
1. Bank was hacked and they have not figured out the amount of files taken this has happened to me 3 times with B of A but they say that nothing was taken but they issued a new card each time for safety.
2. the ATM you used had a scanner on it to capture your info.
3. Does your card offer the no scan just wave your card in front of the scanner option? If so then that is the most likely way they got your info as they do have portable readers. I have no credit cards that can be just waved in front of the scanner for that reason. I have heard there are small sleeves you can keep the card in that is suppose to prevent this.

Good Luck

If the bank has been hacked they don't seem to know it. That happened to our business account at Suntrust a few years ago. I don't have a no scan card. I'll contact the bank about checking their ATM. I have RFID proof sleeves for my card, but I don't always remember to stick it back in the sleeve.


Ever hand the card to someone at a store or restaurant? That's the most common way. There's a small device that will grab the electronic data off the strip. Or someone might have even just written it down.

I haven't used my card in a store or restaurant recently that it wasn't in my sight or hand at all times.

[Dan Friedrichs]

Just a point - this is exactly the reason to have a REAL credit card, NOT a debit card. Credit cards are regulated entirely differently than debit cards, and consumer protections are MUCH stronger with credit accounts.

[Curt Harms]

I had something similar happen but they were too greedy. They exceeded the daily limit -- by a lot -- and the transaction got flagged. I think I was not the only one when the bank officer made a call and said something to the effect of "I got another one of those cards". I assume from that the bank had a problem. I'm sure they don't tell the world if they can avoid it.

[Mike Henderson]

Just a point - this is exactly the reason to have a REAL credit card, NOT a debit card. Credit cards are regulated entirely differently than debit cards, and consumer protections are MUCH stronger with credit accounts.
Yep, I agree. The only thing I use my debit card for is the ATM. Even if you use your debit card as a credit card, you're exposing it which can lead to getting it compromised. Much better to have a card that's a credit card only. If a credit card gets compromised, the max you can be charged is $50 and card companies never seem to charge customers that.

Mike

[glenn bradley]

Of all my card use the only one that has ever been hacked was the one that was sent with an RFID chip in it (although I always ask for them without). A new card was sent and I was assured it would not have the RFID in it; it did. They got it right the second time. I actually thought that the use of these had fallen by the wayside as one of the stupidest ideas ever. You can ask for cards with out them and cards with them are supposed to display the little radio wave icon )))) You used to be able to see the chip or the bump but, the technology has them visually undetectable in many cases now. YMMV.

[Belinda Barfield]

I know nothing about RFID, but my card doesn't have the icon or a bump so I guess it doesn't have a chip.

My bank has been great about this. They're covering some auto drafts that I have coming out until everything gets settled. Fish USA has been a tremendous help as well. I called them back and they were able to give me a phone number and e-mail address for the person who placed the order. Phone number is a landline in Naples, FL, ship to address is in New York. I'm going to file a police report after work.

[Mike Henderson]

Of all my card use the only one that has ever been hacked was the one that was sent with an RFID chip in it (although I always ask for them without). A new card was sent and I was assured it would not have the RFID in it; it did. They got it right the second time. I actually thought that the use of these had fallen by the wayside as one of the stupidest ideas ever. You can ask for cards with out them and cards with them are supposed to display the little radio wave icon )))) You used to be able to see the chip or the bump but, the technology has them visually undetectable in many cases now. YMMV.
I remember studying the technology used in the chip cards (although I don't remember a lot about it any more) and there were some pretty sophisticated techniques used to protect the cards. That technology has been in use in Europe for years (maybe 20 years or so) and they're not getting hacked. In fact, the reason for adding the chips is that the magnetic stripe data is sooo easy to copy. The chips actually improve the security of the card.

Just a bit of history: The US always had a very good communications network so it was easy to keep the authorization data in a central location and query the data base when the card was used. In Europe, there were border problems and laws that restricted what data could be kept and the communication of certain data. So they developed the card chips. The chip is self authenticating - you don't need to go back to a central data base.

It's actually a very good, reliable system. Essentially all credit cards in Europe use chips. If you travel to Europe, you may have problems using your card in certain locations if it doesn't have a chip. The problem with implementing it in the US is that most card terminals don't support the chip technology - only the mag card swipe. But the credit card companies are pushing it to reduce their fraud losses.

Mike

[Dan Friedrichs]

If a credit card gets compromised, the max you can be charged is $50 and card companies never seem to charge customers that.


Actually, that's only true if you loose the physical card (and as you said, they won't actually make you pay the fee...). If the account was compromised but you are still in physical possession of the card, you have ZERO liability.


Maybe I'm apathetic, but I wouldn't bother filing a police report, calling the store, tracking down the thief, or anything. If it were on my credit card, I'd just tell the CC company and forget it. Their problem, not mine...

[Belinda Barfield]

Maybe I'm apathetic, but I wouldn't bother filing a police report, calling the store, tracking down the thief, or anything. If it were on my credit card, I'd just tell the CC company and forget it. Their problem, not mine...

Maybe I'm just proactive, I called the store and stopped shipment because I don't want the thief to get the order. By filing the police report there is a slight chance that someone might give a dang and the guy might get caught, thereby saving someone else the trouble of having to go through all of this. It really ticks me off when someone steals from me.

[Bill Cunningham]

Gee I got a whole bunch of spy equipment from Texas, and even had football tickets to a game in Spain..All ordered from someone in Montreal. I made purchase from a Amazon.com affiliate in Montreal, I guess someone a the store in P.Q. liked the look of my mastercard.. I just filed a police report, and faxed it to the card issuer, and they sent me a new card..
I doubt very much if anything went beyond that..

[greg lindsey]

Yep, I just had this happen to me. Two nights ago, my credit card went shopping in NYC, wow, did it have a good time, it went to Macy's, Carmine's (adult store) out to dinner, various gas stations and to a show, all while using itself to pay for cab rides to all these places. It obvisouly didn't care that it was spending about 4000.00 of my money. I didn't even notice until my wife called from work and wanted to know how I managed to slip off to NYC and go shopping while we were having dinner at my sister's house, she had checked my acct, I don't check it daily. Called the bank and explained I had never ever even been to NYC. Turns out that a few days before this I had stopped at a mom n pop gas station and used the ATM, which I don't normally do, but needed some quick cash. The bank suggested that I only use my pin number at an actual bank or bank ATM at a bank, not even at Walmart, only use as credit. Lesson learned. I did get all my money back in about four days. Of course after confronting the store owner, he had no clue what I was talking about. Oh and BTW, they had my PIN number, so the charges were not flagging the bank, these were all ATM charges.:confused::mad:

[ray hampton]

according to the news report, the device that captured your number when you use ATM machines are attach to the ATM machine with double-sided tape, is the ATM machine built so that a copy machine device could be conceal from your sight, WHY DON'T YOU GIVE THE ATM a rub down to make sure that something are up to no good

[Kevin W Johnson]

I've had one Visa card (info) that's been stolen twice now. The first was known to be from a website being hacked that I'd ordered from previously. The second, I have no idea. I got a call from the card issuers fraud dept., asking about a charge. Funny enough, they declined two attempted charges the day before (they didn't notify me), then allowed this charge and called me to see if it was really me.

My wife had a card number stolen that wasn't even supposed to be valid. After we were married and she changed her name, had new cards issued, a charge showed up on the bank account. The number ussed was the old card number that wasn't even supposed to be good anymore.....

In all cases everything was reversed, but it's still a hassle. I've gotten so that I don't use a debit card for ordering stuff online anymore, and am very selective about restaurants, etc., only using it if it doesn't leave my sight.

[ray hampton]

THE POLICE caught 2 men with the devices to copy your P I N numbers and that it would be mounted to the front of the ATM ,I believe that the information are transmit to a receiver close-by

[Phil Thien]

So they developed the card chips. The chip is self authenticating - you don't need to go back to a central data base.
Mike

The feature you're referring to is offline transaction processing. In Europe, the same card can do online and offline. In the U.S., we're pretty much all online. There was a time when small transactions (under $20) could be done offline in the U.S.(no authorization required), but I think that stopped about 15 years ago.

Nonetheless, I think for larger transactions, online is pretty much required.

I suppose it doesn't matter as much now, but there was a time when offline was a real advantage. Think of a street meat vendor in NY, or going to a selling trade show (where they sell items off the floor). Terminals didn't need any sort of connection to the processor, they'd just store the data and upload it later.

Now w/ cellular, we can always have a connection to the processor.

[Dave Lehnert]

I wonder if it would be better to file a report with the post office since you have a ship to address???????

Myself, I would just let the card company handle it unless it became a bigger problem.

[Kevin W Johnson]

I wonder if it would be better to file a report with the post office since you have a ship to address???????

Myself, I would just let the card company handle it unless it became a bigger problem.

Unless the postal system was actually used in commision of fraud, I don't think they will get involved.

Also, kudos to Belinda for reacting quickly and putting a stop to that shipment. At least the scumbags won't profit from from this one.

[Dan Hintz]

I remember studying the technology used in the chip cards (although I don't remember a lot about it any more) and there were some pretty sophisticated techniques used to protect the cards. That technology has been in use in Europe for years (maybe 20 years or so) and they're not getting hacked. In fact, the reason for adding the chips is that the magnetic stripe data is sooo easy to copy. The chips actually improve the security of the card.
Sorry, Mike, but the techniques used on the European chips was so weak, they were hacked almost immediately. From what I can tell, the EU community has been up in arms for quite a number of years trying to get them to "fix" the system that's supposedly so secure, but actually makes it easier for hackers to make transactions without leaving a trail. Stay away from anything that uses PIN-on-chip technologies, it's simply not nearly as secure as they'll lead you to believe, and that causes a false sense of security.

I also don't use debit cards at all, even at the ATM... I immediately cut them up if the bank issues me one. Any card that gives someone direct access to my bank account (as a debit card does) is a no-no. I went several rounds with BoA after they charged me a yearly fee for an ATM/debit card. I asked why should I pay for a piece of plastic that significantly lowers the security on my account and therefore will never use? I eventually closed all of my BoA accounts, including my business account.

[Belinda Barfield]

according to the news report, the device that captured your number when you use ATM machines are attach to the ATM machine with double-sided tape, is the ATM machine built so that a copy machine device could be conceal from your sight, WHY DON'T YOU GIVE THE ATM a rub down to make sure that something are up to no good

Ray, I called the branch manager yesterday afternoon. The capture equipment you mentioned is called a "skimmer". The branch manager checks the ATM every morning for any type of monitoring device.


Unless the postal system was actually used in commision of fraud, I don't think they will get involved.

Also, kudos to Belinda for reacting quickly and putting a stop to that shipment. At least the scumbags won't profit from from this one.

Kevin, several years ago our company card was compromised when there was a large scale hack of SunTrust. One of the charges was around $1700 to Dell. I called Dell and explained the situation and got that order cancelled. It just infuriates me when someone trys to take my money so I do everything I can to keep them from getting free merchandise.

[Belinda Barfield]

When I filed the police report yesterday the officer jokingly asked me if I had ever considered becoming an investigator. She lives in my condo complex but we had never met. I am very pleased about this considering that my next door neighbor is psycho.

[Brian Elfert]

In 2010 I bought around 250 books online in just a few days. I bought from about 10 different websites. Somewhere along the way my credit card got used for some bogus charges. Even after I got a new card I was still getting charges. I suspect the credit card company didn't completely close the original account and was automatically transferring charges from the old card to the new. They gave me another new card and the charges stopped. The card issuer refunded the charges.

The card issuers generally don't lose any money on fraudulent charges. They take the money back from the merchant. In Belinda's case I'm sure the merchant was very happy that the order didn't ship. The merchant probably would have had the money taken back by the credit card issuer and be out the merchandise too.

I worked at CompUSA years ago when laptops cost upwards of $3,000. A lady bought a laptop for around $3,000 and then told her credit card issuer she never bought the item. We were reasonably certain she actually bought the laptop from us. I never did find out what happened in the end. We were going to lose the $3,000 if we couldn't prove she really bought it.

[Belinda Barfield]

From what I understand from talking with the police office yesterday, credit card info theft is pretty prevalent here. Apparently is has something to do with being part of the I-95 corridor. I work within 3 miles of 95 and live within 7 miles of it, so most places I shop/eat are very near it. We have a lot of robberies of banks just of 95 as well.

The last name of the crook is "Lie". Really? Quite original.:rolleyes:

[Dan Hintz]

The last name of the crook is "Lie". Really? Quite original.:rolleyes:

What was the first name, "Ima"? ;)

[ray hampton]

What was the first name, "Ima"? ;)


how do this name sound I Am Lie

[Joe Angrisani]

....The last name of the crook is "Lie"....

Lie-Nielsen? Who-da-thunk.

[Matt Meiser]

Lie-Nielsen? Who-da-thunk.

There are a lot of fishing spots up there in Maine!

[Dave Wagner]

A friend of mine has been fighting this for almost a year, you got lucky! Somehow, they got his info, then bought something in his name, had it shipped elsewhere and got a credit card in his name (mispelled of course but with his address), bought a bunch of stuff, now they are opening Utility accounts and not paying them, etc....he has creditors/colletion agencies contacting him all the time for payments. Its a real mess. He did file a police report but it really didn't help.

[Don Jarvie]

My wife checks our CC and bank accounts on line everyday. A few months ago someone used her ATM and Bank of America was very good about it. Sadly you need to be vigilent to keep these crooks in line.

[Dan Hintz]

how do this name sound I Am Lie

I was thinking about I'm a Lie...

[Brian Elfert]

Someone bought a Lincoln Navigator using my identity back in 2000 or 2001. Wells Fargo was good about removing the loan from my credit report. The buyer got some insurance so they could register the vehicle, but they never paid for the insurance and it was canceled. They got in an accident with the vehicle and I ended up getting the ticket for no insurance. The ticket got taken care of after I took the police report and other paperwork to the county. It turns out the auto dealer that sold the car accepted a paper driver's license renewal form without seeing a photo ID to sell the buyer a car.

All in all it wasn't that bad getting it straightened out. Nobody has stolen my identity since.

[David Larsen]

Fish USA has been a tremendous help as well. I called them back and they were able to give me a phone number and e-mail address for the person who placed the order. Phone number is a landline in Naples, FL, ship to address is in New York. I'm going to file a police report after work.

If this person is up to fraudulent activity this may not be a legitimate name or phone number in Naples.

[Belinda Barfield]

If this person is up to fraudulent activity this may not be a legitimate name or phone number in Naples.

More than likely it isn't. The police officer seemed to think that the e-mail address would be the most helpful. Some crooks are dumb, hopefully this one is (if the matter is even pursued).

[Charles Wiggins]

Maybe I'm just proactive, I called the store and stopped shipment because I don't want the thief to get the order. By filing the police report there is a slight chance that someone might give a dang and the guy might get caught, thereby saving someone else the trouble of having to go through all of this. It really ticks me off when someone steals from me.

I'm with you Belinda. If it was me I would be trying to figure out how to find them and visit so much pain on them that they never even want to hear my name again.

Kudos on your expert job getting this stopped. It's great that you were able to catch it before the transaction was completed. Have you considered signing up for ID Theft protection? I hear a lot of ads for LifeLock, which is supposed to be able to stop it as it happens. It would have probably worked in your case but there are a lot of kinds of ID theft that do not involve your credit cards or credit reports. A lot of companies don't do a credit check before issuing new credit. I have ID Experts, through Zander Insurance (http://www.zanderins.com/idtheft/idtheft.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1). It costs $140/yr. to cover my whole family. They don't claim to stop it, but they will do all the work to clean up the mess for you when there is an incident.

[Dan Friedrichs]

Have you considered signing up for ID Theft protection? I hear a lot of ads for LifeLock, which is supposed to be able to stop it as it happens.

I'm not going to go far into this, but all these "identity theft protection" services are mostly complete scams. LifeLock, in particular, essentially only places a permanent "fraud alert" on a credit report (something you can achieve yourself, for free, with just a few phone calls), and was fined by the FTC for their deceptive advertising practices (ie - claiming protection that they can't actually provide).

[Charles Wiggins]

I'm not going to go far into this, but all these "identity theft protection" services are mostly complete scams. LifeLock, in particular, essentially only places a permanent "fraud alert" on a credit report (something you can achieve yourself, for free, with just a few phone calls), and was fined by the FTC for their deceptive advertising practices (ie - claiming protection that they can't actually provide).

Dan,

You're right, most ID Theft Protection plans are scams. What LifeLock got nailed for was claiming that they could prevent ALL types of identity theft (http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/cases/lifelock/index.shtml), which I explained is impossible, and why I subscribe to Zander's plan instead of LifeLock.

Zander provides information on how to do all that a consumer can do to prevent ID Theft. What you actually pay for is an advocate who will do whatever it takes and spend as much time as it takes to clean up the mess when there is a problem, plus up to $20,000 reimbursement for lost income and expenses associated with identity theft. Without the plan you have to spend hours and hours and hours and hours figuring out who to call, making calls, arguing, providing proof, etc.; OR, paying $50-$100 an hour for someone who knows what they are doing to do it for you. For $140/yr I don't have to worry about it.

[Belinda Barfield]

I'm with you Belinda. If it was me I would be trying to figure out how to find them and visit so much pain on them that they never even want to hear my name again.

Kudos on your expert job getting this stopped. It's great that you were able to catch it before the transaction was completed. Have you considered signing up for ID Theft protection? I hear a lot of ads for LifeLock, which is supposed to be able to stop it as it happens. It would have probably worked in your case but there are a lot of kinds of ID theft that do not involve your credit cards or credit reports. A lot of companies don't do a credit check before issuing new credit. I have ID Experts, through Zander Insurance (http://www.zanderins.com/idtheft/idtheft.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1). It costs $140/yr. to cover my whole family. They don't claim to stop it, but they will do all the work to clean up the mess for you when there is an incident.

Thanks for the info Charles, I'll check it out. I am a member of Credit Observer but they really only tell you if someone has checked your credit report, or tried to open a new account.

I did receive a call from the bank regarding potentially fradulent use of my card, asking me to verify charges, but they called my home number and I was at work. They called at about the same time that I discovered it on my own.

[Kevin W Johnson]

You know, most all cases of people doing what happened here could be prevented if ALL merchants and CC companies would deny a transaction if billing and shipping addresses don't match. You can as a card holder have additional shipping adresses added to the account in such case that you want to ship to a different address.

In this case, IMO Fish USA owes Belinda a reward or something...... Had she not contacted them, and that merchandise had shipped, they would have ultimately been out their merch/$2200.

[Leigh Costello]

Ah, the sordid world of credit/debit card fraud. We had our card info compromised by some really smart folks in PA. They were so smart that they took their family portraits at a bed and breakfast and the photographer at the b and b was more than happy to share the pictures and such with the authorities. We got lucky that time. Last month our "back-up" card that we only use for 2 things was used to book a Bahamas cruise - but before the charges were approved, we were called and were able to prove it wasn't us.

[Myk Rian]

how did this person get my account number, etc? The person used my debit card info. I always use that card as a credit card so I don't have to enter the PIN number.
Sellers don't ask for ID. That's the problem.
Our CC got jacked 2 weeks before X-mas. They ran up $14,000 in 2 days, in 3 widely separated cities. We figure they got the number from a card reader at the gas station.
You need to use the debit card for bank withdrawals, and nothing more. A CC should be used for everything else. The card company will cover losses.
You are darned lucky you didn't get cleaned out.

[Brian Elfert]

It used to be that most merchants would not ship anywhere but the billing address or another address supplied to the credit card issuer. I have had no issues getting stuff delivered to other addresses twice in the past year even though I never contacted my credit card issuer.

I know that Paypal/Ebay require the seller to deliver to the confirmed Paypal address or else the seller could have no recourse if the buyer says they never got the shipment. Ebay is so slated towards buyers these days that I don't know if it even matters anymore. Even if one ships to the confirmed address the buyer could say they never got it and Ebay would just rule in the buyer's favor.

[Brian Elfert]

Sellers don't ask for ID. That's the problem.


It is against Visa and Mastercard rules to require an ID to use a credit card. Visa and Mastercard feel that customers will be less likely to use a credit card if an ID is required. They make money on every transaction so they want credit cards used as often as possible. Merchants are also not supposed to take any cards that say "See ID" or similiar. All cards are supposed to have an actual signature.

There are customers who get completely bent out of shape if a merchant asks for an ID to complete a credit card sale. Some of them go so far as to write letters to corporate offices and to Visa/Mastercard complaining they had to show an ID to use a credit card. I have no idea why these people have an issue showing an ID. It protects them and the merchant to have an ID.

It is perfectly understandable that merchants would want to have an ID. The merchant loses money if a bad credit card is used. Visa/Mastercard aren't out the money if there is a bad transaction. Some credit card companies had programs where they were putting photos on credit cards. I have no idea why that never took off.

[Matt Meiser]

Reall? Because even a lot of big stores like Lowes and Target ask.

It doesn't matter though as a lot of times they steal the data off the magnetic strip on one card and encode it on another according to my credit union. It's really easy to obtain a generic gift card with a cc company logo.

[Brian Elfert]

Reall? Because even a lot of big stores like Lowes and Target ask.

I've never been asked at Target for ID. I can't recall with Lowes.

See http://usa.visa.com/download/merchants/card-acceptance-guidelines-for-visa-merchants.pdf for the rules on accepting credit cards. The rules have apparently changed a little bit. Visa now says a merchant may ask for ID, but the merchant cannot refuse a sale for failure to provide an ID. Visa does state that asking for ID will slow down sales and could deter sales.


It doesn't matter though as a lot of times they steal the data off the magnetic strip on one card and encode it on another according to my credit union. It's really easy to obtain a generic gift card with a cc company logo.

When I worked at CompUSA in the mid 90s someone tried to make a large purchase with a bad credit card. I could tell the card had been run through a roller and new numbers embossed. I think the magnetic strip didn't work. I told the buyer I had to call for approval since the stripe was bad. We had a back room behind the register so I called from there. The thief got spooked and left while I was calling the head cashier. There was no such policy to need approval for bad magnetic stripes. I just needed an excuse to step away to call the head cashier about the bad credit card.

The credit card terminals at the time required the last 4 digits of the card number be keyed in to make sure the numbers on the stripe matched the numbers embossed on the card. Some stores still do this, but it is pretty rare these days.

[Justin Green]

I just had my account hacked as well. $100 in iTune purchases and some online dating site for another $30. It happened the day after Zappos (online retailer) was hacked. I don't really believe in coincidences, so even though Zappos said that the credit card information in their database was not compromised, I'm really doubting their honesty. The dating web site said that someone had physically called in with my debit card information to register.

[Charles Wiggins]

Kevin,

You're forgetting about circumstances where one might want to have something shipped to a different address than the billing address.

1) Gift-giving. This past Christmas my sister and I bought my parents a 46" TV and had it shipped to THEIR house.
2) PO box. All our bills used to go to a PO box. UPS will not ship to a PO box.
3) Security. I have had sensitive packages shipped to my work address because I did not want the package sitting at the house all day in the weather and unattended.

[Jeff Nicol]

I have had only one attempt on a card and that was about 5 years ago. I use my debit as a credit card and never use it at an ATM or at gas stations that won't let you use them as CC. The skimmers are all self contained and are most always put on the machines during peak hours for ATM usage, usually from the thief watching the ATM for a few days to find out the best time to do the skim. The thief only leaves it on the machine for a short time and is removed when they have all the info, soif they have your PIN it either was skimmed or someone at the bank did it, because as a CC no pin is entered.

I use a Credit union and they are very good at the transactions, the only time someone tried to do something it was flagged right away as the transactions were out of the normal area I use the card and the amounts were over $500. The credit union called and asked and took care of it at no cost to us and we got new cards. The reason I use the debit as a CC is because each time it was used as a debit we were charged .50 to $1.50 each time. We called the Credit union and said that we did not agree to that and they told us what to do and credited us the fees.

So I have been very lucky, or just due to good clean living!

Jeff

[Curt Harms]

It is against Visa and Mastercard rules to require an ID to use a credit card. Visa and Mastercard feel that customers will be less likely to use a credit card if an ID is required. They make money on every transaction so they want credit cards used as often as possible. Merchants are also not supposed to take any cards that say "See ID" or similiar. All cards are supposed to have an actual signature.

There are customers who get completely bent out of shape if a merchant asks for an ID to complete a credit card sale. Some of them go so far as to write letters to corporate offices and to Visa/Mastercard complaining they had to show an ID to use a credit card. I have no idea why these people have an issue showing an ID. It protects them and the merchant to have an ID.

It is perfectly understandable that merchants would want to have an ID. The merchant loses money if a bad credit card is used. Visa/Mastercard aren't out the money if there is a bad transaction. Some credit card companies had programs where they were putting photos on credit cards. I have no idea why that never took off.

I have written on the signature panel of my most used card "ask for I.D.". Over several years the only time I had a problem was at a post office in Florida. Sometimes I'm asked for I.D., some times not but was only declined one time. Of course I haven't used that card for a major purchase - over $100 - at a store since I don't know when.