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My credit card got pwned!!

me_94501

me_94501

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 6, 2003
1,009
0
So I got a call from my bank earlier today asking me to confirm a series of credit card transactions on my debit card. I pulled up my online banking account, and sure enough, there was a series of transactions I didn't authorize.:eek: I didn't lose my card. It didn't get stolen. I'm careful when I use it online. I can only assume a clerk at a store got hold of my card number.

My bank is going to cancel that card an issue me a new one, of course, but I'll be keeping a close eye on my account for a while.

Has this happened to anyone else?
 
It has not happened to me but I have heard that one of the easiest ways to get your info stolen is at restaurants. If you think about it, when else do you give someone else your credit card and let them walk away with it, where you cannot see them? Makes sense to me. (Not saying that happened to you, but could have).

PS: Are you liable for the charges or do you have like a $50 cap and then your credit card company will reimburse you since it was an unauthorized transaction?
 
c073186 said:
It has not happened to me but I have heard that one of the easiest ways to get your info stolen is at restaurants. If you think about it, when else do you give someone else your credit card and let them walk away with it, where you cannot see them? Makes sense to me. (Not saying that happened to you, but could have).

PS: Are you liable for the charges or do you have like a $50 cap and then your credit card company will reimburse you since it was an unauthorized transaction?
Click to expand...

I'm not entirely sure about the cap, actually. I should check into it.

Luckily the charges were still "pending" so I haven't officially been charged for any of the fraudulent transactions. The rep at the bank I spoke to said to call back if any of the charges do go through. *crosses fingers*
 
I've had this happen a couple of times on my debit card and my wife's. Same situation, didn't lose the card or anything like that. My bank canceled the card and did an immediate temporary return of the funds that were fraudulent. They investigated and found it was fraud.

It wasn't to bad other than we had a few bills that would automatically come out of our account using that card number so we had to call up those companies and switch the card numbers. Overall our bank made it a decent experience, could have been worse I guess.

Peace:cool:
 
Online banking is one of the greatest inventions ever. If I couldn't pay for mine and monitor transactions on the internet I probably wouldn't even have a credit card.
 
c073186 said:
It has not happened to me but I have heard that one of the easiest ways to get your info stolen is at restaurants. If you think about it, when else do you give someone else your credit card and let them walk away with it, where you cannot see them? Makes sense to me. (Not saying that happened to you, but could have).
Click to expand...

I always use my credit card, but never at a restaurant for the reason you mentioned. Why should I give someone my card? They can swipe it, keep the number, and just memorize the 3 digit security code on the back.
 
Abstract said:
I always use my credit card, but never at a restaurant for the reason you mentioned. Why should I give someone my card? They can swipe it, keep the number, and just memorize the 3 digit security code on the back.
Click to expand...

Why don't you just scratch off the 3 digit code on the back and memorize it?
 
I had that happen to me about a month ago. Woke up friday morning and checked my account because I wanted to buy something. Saw 4 pending transfers I did not make. Two of them were for something like 247online. I called and it was for a newsgroup account or porn. Only $38 and $40. The other two were for $0 for merchant.com, looked like someone was checking to see if the card was valid. I went right away and cancelled my card and got a new one. After a few days one of the charges went away because I caught it while it was going through. The $38 one went through but I called them and cancelled the account they opened. It was in my name, but for an email at washingtonstate.usa.com or something like that which I looked up and was an anonymous emailer account. I always keep the card with me so I figured someone's system got compromised where I had purchased something before.

- James
 
So far, I've had it happen to me twice and both only with cards I used to use for restaurants and hotels. One of the reasons I always pay cash at restaurants (and also leave a cash tip) nowadays.

Scratching off the CVV seems to be a good idea, although I'm not sure what cardissuers make of that. It's less viable with Amex though.
 
Sesshi said:
So far, I've had it happen to me twice and both only with cards I used to use for restaurants and hotels. One of the reasons I always pay cash at restaurants (and also leave a cash tip) nowadays.

Scratching off the CVV seems to be a good idea, although I'm not sure what cardissuers make of that. It's less viable with Amex though.
Click to expand...

Multiple Citicards reps have told me that it's a smart idea. (I always get multiple opinions because I don't trust info I get from only one rep)
 
Cashiers have been know to write down your credit card/debit card info while they are ringing you up. They go to the back and "claim" they are going to swipe your card but in reality they are writing down your number and your three digit security code. Also what some ppl do is take a picture of your credit card/debit card using their camera phone.

I bet that's what happened. It happened to my cousin about 3 weeks ago.
 
Just happened to me a couple of weeks ago with my credit card...two separate charges totalling ~$700 at a Longs Drugs about 400 miles from my location. Still had the card in my possession.

I assume it was swiped (most likely at a restaurant) and then they made a dupe of it...very common. Not a huge deal for me, as any credit card company worth its salt provides zero-liability coverage for fraudulent transactions, but I did have to spend some time on the phone and use a different card for a few days while a new one was sent to me.
 
Happened to me, someone pulled my numbers off the Internet. I was lucky enough that my bank caught it and cancelled the card before they made more than a minor purchase (apparently to make sure there was money in the account, according to the lady at the bank).
 
happend to my checking account. scared me enough that I closed that account and opened a new one, and canceled all but one of my credit cards (I had 5)....
 
It happened to my nextdoor neighbor once. They where out at a restaurant and the waiter took their credit card to put in those chip & pin machine and they think he had one of those machines that takes all your cards information and luckily he didn't get away with all there savings.
 
me_94501 said:
So I got a call from my bank earlier today asking me to confirm a series of credit card transactions on my debit card. I pulled up my online banking account, and sure enough, there was a series of transactions I didn't authorize.:eek: I didn't lose my card. It didn't get stolen. I'm careful when I use it online. I can only assume a clerk at a store got hold of my card number.

My bank is going to cancel that card an issue me a new one, of course, but I'll be keeping a close eye on my account for a while.

Has this happened to anyone else?
Click to expand...

Happened to me about 4-5 months ago. My credit card called about suspicious transactions. They canceled the card and re-issued a new one. Very smooth and painless. In addition, I always record my transactions in Quicken and reconcile it with my statement on a monthly basis.
 
Totally off topic, but last night at the bar I discovered that credit cards have an invisible ink that glows under a black light. My visa has a V in the corner, and my mastercard has a large MC in the middle.

To anybody who just read this post, I apologize for wasting your time :D
 
Another good tip is to set up a PO Box. Direct all mail with your "identifiers" to it instead of your house. Paying bills or having bills sent to you through that PO Box. Drop mail off at the post office directly. Those with mailboxes at the street with the little red flag up means "steal the mail inside me." Nothing irritates me more than to see credit card companies mail me pre-approved applications with all my info on it. There is a government (U.S.) website or something you can call to stop all that...
 
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