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View Full Version : Well someone got my credit card number.



John Shuk
09-15-2005, 9:32 PM
I was at the Sony Store today and went to pay for my new SACD player(gloat) and my credit card was declined. I know I'm not maxed out at all so I thought it was pretty weird. I paid with the debit card instead (probably better option anyway) and headed out to the car. I told my wife about it and she told me we had a call from Mastercard on the messages the day before but she forgot to mention it. I called them on the spot and they told me that someone had rung up aboyt $1600 at Bloomingdales in Boca Raton, Fla Via phone order. They charged the same amount a few times and MCard picked up on it and put a halt. They had my number and expiration date. I have no responsibility for the charges thank goodness. Just wanted to mention it so that people take an extra minute to think about security. I don't just throw my card around. I was in Baltimore this weekend maybe someone got it there. Maybe there is spyware on my 'puter. I just don't know. The guy on the phone said Bloomingdales would wind up with the short end of the stick in the end. I guess we all pay for this kind of stuff though. I'd like to find the person who got it though. Thanks for listening to the rant. Check what people do with your Cards!
John

Jim Becker
09-15-2005, 10:10 PM
Yes, the merchant is ultimately the one who loses out with credit card fraud. I had a similar thing happen awhile back where AMEX caught someone trying to buy some camera equipment online with my number...fortunately for the vendor, they hadn't shipped yet.

Matt Meiser
09-15-2005, 10:50 PM
Same here. My credit union said it probably happened in a restaraunt while I was on a work trip in the south part of Chicago due to the location of the charges. They actually initially thought all the charges from that area were fraud because they didn't understand why I would have been there. My fraudulent charges were made using an actual card. It is apparently very easy to create a duplicate card.

My brother's has been stolen twice in the last year. The first time Discover's records show the exact same card was physically swiped within 2 minutes in Columbus, OH and somewhere in California. The second time was in the big DSW Shoe Warehouse database break-in, but it wasn't used in that case.

Dennis Peacock
09-15-2005, 11:27 PM
Same here....but some dude in Russia was buying computer software with my credit card info. :mad:
Took a couple of weeks to get it all straightened out....but so far...so good. :rolleyes:

Doug Shepard
09-16-2005, 7:31 AM
....The guy on the phone said Bloomingdales would wind up with the short end of the stick in the end. I guess we all pay for this kind of stuff though. I'd like to find the person who got it though....
John

Major Bummer. You'd think it wouldn't be all that hard for Bloomies to recover their property or catch up to the guy though, if MC put a hold on the card and presumably notified the seller immediately. I'm assuming Bloomingdales isn't shipping via regular old US mail, so they should have been able to put a stop on the shipment via UPS or FedEx. Of course, they'd still be out the freight charges. Those carriers also won't ship to a PO Box. So the bad guy is waiting at a physical address which is known, or planning to do a pickup at that address where someone can be waiting for him. Maybe I've just been watching too much TV, but in a case where it's mail order and the card issuer flags the seller within a short period of the transaction, it wouldn't seem all that tough to catch up with these guys. Course if the authorities aren't going to step in and make it a priority it's a moot point.

Jeff Sudmeier
09-16-2005, 8:18 AM
I had someone withdraw $1000 from my debit card one time in a town 100 miles from where I live. Luckily a check went through the next day that should have bounced, but the bank called me. I talked through the recent transactions and balked at the $1000, turns out I could prove that I was in my home town, with my debit card in hand. The $1000 was returned to my account 2 days later and no overdraft charges were applied.

Michael Gabbay
09-16-2005, 8:35 AM
In my real life, I work on data security for my company. One thing you should immediately do if you have not already done is make sure that you have spyware detection software installed and up to date on all of your computers. One of the newest and very effective means of capturing personal information is the use of spyware that records key strokes on your computer and returns the information to the criminal. This includes password information. Since the software is recording key strokes and not trying to intercept actual data transmissions, the key strokes are not encrypted.

my 2 cents...

Mike

Andy Henriksen
09-16-2005, 9:31 AM
I get angry at our favorite bar every time we drink/eat there and pay with a card, because their reciept - the customer copy - has all my CC info on it, name #, and exp. date. Most places only show the last 4 digits, but this place has it all. I'm sure a lot of people don't think twice about tossing that in the garbage on the way out the door, or even leaving it on the table. I've asked them about it, and they just say "that's just how our computer does it" or some such unconcerned response. Arrg! If only their food wasn't so good, and their beer so cheap, and they weren't a 4 minute walk from my house.

Curt Harms
09-16-2005, 9:44 AM
I get angry at our favorite bar every time we drink/eat there and pay with a card, because their reciept - the customer copy - has all my CC info on it, name #, and exp. date. Most places only show the last 4 digits, but this place has it all. I'm sure a lot of people don't think twice about tossing that in the garbage on the way out the door, or even leaving it on the table. I've asked them about it, and they just say "that's just how our computer does it" or some such unconcerned response. Arrg! If only their food wasn't so good, and their beer so cheap, and they weren't a 4 minute walk from my house.

I believe there's a law in place that mandates only last few digits on CC receipts. I don't know when it takes effect.Anyone know about the effective date?

Curt

Doug Shepard
09-16-2005, 10:11 AM
I believe there's a law in place that mandates only last few digits on CC receipts. I don't know when it takes effect.Anyone know about the effective date?

Curt

I had the same thoughts. Not too sure but I think it already is in effect. I think it was part of the same laws that took effect a couple of years ago when the banks had us filling out and signing some new forms so that they were in compliance with the law.

JayStPeter
09-16-2005, 10:39 AM
I've had my card numbers used twice and my wallet stolen once. In all 3 cases, the credit card companies were on the ball and I paid nothing. I don't know what happened to the nearly $12K in total charges from the 3 incidents.
I've also had my credit cards cancelled on two separate occasions because they were on a vendors computer that was compromised.
After all this, my wife and I now each have a one credit and one check card. They are from one place, so if something happens, one call to get all our stuff taken care of. Seemed like a good idea until the local BJs club was operating a credit card theft ring. Our bank found out and cancelled all cards that were ever used there and sent out replacements. That happened to be all of our cards and heppend on a Friday. We headed out of town Sat morning blissfully unaware that the <$20 in cash we had was all the money we were going to have for our weekend trip. Sheesh, that was fun. It's amazing how little a checkbook can do for you these days (try to get gas or hotel rooms with one).

Jay

Jim Hinze
09-16-2005, 10:41 AM
Not quite the same, but I was the target of identity theft about 2 years ago, opened numerous accounts (credit, health club, etc) under my Soc#. Took nearly 6 months to clear all of the credit reporting agencies and get everything taken care of.

I feel your pain and dismay. Glad things appear to be working out (no charges and such..)

Jim Becker
09-16-2005, 10:45 AM
There was an article on MSNBC.com recently, as well as at other places and in print, that pretty much detailed that there is actually a lot more security capablity in our credit cards, but the issuing banks choose not to use it...they prefer to make it "easy" for customer to use their cards. Perhaps it's time to have a little more inconvenience in order to avoid the greater hassle of changing card numbers, epsecially for those of us who use auto-charges for recurring payments.

Stuart Johnson
09-16-2005, 10:54 AM
Most if not all credit card issuers have some sort of way to go online and review current charges. The first thing I do every morning when I log on is check my bank account, IRA account and credit card activity. So far I've been lucky and not had a problem.

One other thing is when eating out check the card when it is returned. We went out to dinner the night prior to leaving on a two week vacation. When the bill came back for signature I set the card aside while I signed. My wife happened to glance at it and saw it wasn't mine. That time it was an honest mistake but it could have been deliberate. I hate to think what it would have been like if it hadn't been discovered until the next day when I tried to use it again.

I really hate handing my card to a waiter and having them disapper for 5 minutes.

Donnie Raines
09-16-2005, 10:57 AM
All of my receipts used with a CC have the last four, PLUS the cancelation date of my card number.

Also, talk with your insurance agent...there are ways to help proetect yourself now from ID theft. At least when it comes to expesnes in rebuilding your good name.

Jim Becker
09-16-2005, 11:00 AM
Stuart brings up an excellent point. I download my transactions daily into Quicken, which not only helps with budgeting, taxes and general money management, but also lets me see anything unusual immediately. A number of times this has resulted in a call to the card issuer to discuss a transaction...most often, fortunately, because the "name" of the merchant was different than what was expected. But it also helped me know right away about a problem a few years ago when a mechanic at the Toyota dealer swiped a Mobil SpeedPass (which I'd never, ever, ever have again...) and swapped it with another one that he had previously scarfed and used up. Knowledge is everything.

Ed Breen
09-16-2005, 12:30 PM
Had a similar problem while we lived in Chicago. My Marshal Fields card was intercepted in the mail and was used for $1200.The major problem was the clerk never asked for i.d. and allowed the thief to print my name. Fields took the loss.
I also review my bank balances each day and my other card doesn't leave my line of sight.
Ed

Vaughn McMillan
09-16-2005, 5:04 PM
...the clerk never asked for i.d. and allowed the thief to print my name. Fields took the loss.
...
I never sign the back of my credit cards. Instead, I write "ASK FOR I.D." with a Sharpie. Still, I use cards at a number of places -- particularly restaurants -- that don't ask for ID, even though my cards tells them to.

On the other hand, a lot of places near me automatically ask for ID with a charge or debit card, but the clerk usually asks somewhat apologetically, as if it's a hassle for me to show them. (They are accustomed to getting griped at by customers, I'd guess.) Instead of griping, I thank them, show my ID, and point out that's what's written on the back of the card.

Thankfully, I've never had unauthorized charges on any of my cards, although LOML has had a couple on hers over the years. I did have my eBay password hacked a year or so ago, but eBay noticed something fishy and contacted me immediately.

- Vaughn

Don Baer
09-16-2005, 5:14 PM
I never sign the back of my credit cards. Instead, I write "ASK FOR I.D." with a Sharpie. Still, I use cards at a number of places -- particularly restaurants -- that don't ask for ID, even though my cards tells them to.- Vaughn

I'm with Vaughn on this I do the same. Actually the one place where they ALWAYS as for ID is the orange Borg (Yes I confess I go there on occasion ;) )

My Daughter-in-law signed her card with Mini Mouse and was never been questioned on it....:eek:

Now that scary

John Shuk
09-16-2005, 9:23 PM
It's funny. Here in NY and most other places I go nobody ever checks the signature. I spend alot of time in Maine and wherever I go up there they check. Not just a glance but they actually make an attempt. Then again they also have a habit of saying "Hello, how are you today" at the grocery store up there.

Andy Hoyt
09-16-2005, 11:12 PM
John - We do that to enhance your purchasing experience such that you'll want to come back again and again and spend again and again.

Thank you for your support.:D

Jerry Clark
09-17-2005, 12:39 AM
I love the debt card and only write a dozen or so checks a year. I am amazed at the people that write a check for everything-- I MN I saw someone write a check for 59 cents at McDonalds-- In the mid west -Kansas no one carrys a check book-- they all use a counter-check- Can you imagine asking for a counter check in LA. I also check my bank accounts every day and have had some issues and was able to take care of them in a timely manner. I have bought somethings and was double billed-- caught it soon enough that my account did not bounce. :cool:

Lee DeRaud
09-17-2005, 1:48 AM
In the mid west -Kansas no one carrys a check book-- they all use a counter-check- Can you imagine asking for a counter check in LA.I'm not sure which scares me more: that I'm old enough to know what a "counter check" is (haven't seen them since the 60's) or that there is someplace that still uses them...not even sure they're legal most places.:eek:

Justin Peters
09-17-2005, 12:21 PM
Some of you I am sure already have credit file monitoring services, but if you don't, you are entitled to one free credit report (minus your beacon score) from each credit bureau per year. I don't think I am allowed to post a direct link to the website, but search for "annual credit report" using the search engine of your choice and it will likely be the first link.

I reccommend not getting all three at once. I set up my reminders in MS Outlook to remind me every four months to get a credit report. Get it from a different company each time, and it will still be free that way. I think the way the world is now, everyone will probably be victimized eventually, it's just a question of when. Being on your game and monitoring your file is the best protection.