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Check your accounts often
Old 05-16-2018, 11:38 AM   #1
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Check your accounts often

I tend to check all my accounts online at least a couple of times a month, but I rarely get a surprise. Had one this morning though.

While looking at my checking account, I saw a transaction for an auto-pay of a credit card from Chase last week. Only the last four digits were shown, and I didn't recognize them. I have a couple of credit cards through Chase, but that wasn't one of them. The payment was for a little over $1,000 so hardly insignificant.

I called the bank and the "helper" was utterly unable to assist. He said he had no access to my data so he couldn't even tell my the full number of the credit card. After about 15 minutes with this clown he finally admitted that he was just looking things up in his own help system. I gave up and terminated the call.

Then I went back online to the checking account and entered a dispute for the charge, noting that I didn't have such a credit card number and it was obviously fraudulent. They got back to me within an hour telling me they agreed and had reversed it.

All well and good, but two questions:
1. How did someone open a credit card in my name when my credit has been frozen at all agencies for a long time (at least a year)?
2. How did they get an autopay authorized at my bank without any notification to me?

I swear, you really have to stay on your toes these days!
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Old 05-16-2018, 11:44 AM   #2
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Unfortunately that is true. Glad you got it handled and good reminder for us all to check accts regularly. I admit.....I'm lazy and don't always check as often as I should.
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Old 05-16-2018, 11:51 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by braumeister View Post
I tend to check all my accounts online at least a couple of times a month, but I rarely get a surprise. Had one this morning though.

While looking at my checking account, I saw a transaction for an auto-pay of a credit card from Chase last week. Only the last four digits were shown, and I didn't recognize them. I have a couple of credit cards through Chase, but that wasn't one of them. The payment was for a little over $1,000 so hardly insignificant.

I called the bank and the "helper" was utterly unable to assist. He said he had no access to my data so he couldn't even tell my the full number of the credit card. After about 15 minutes with this clown he finally admitted that he was just looking things up in his own help system. I gave up and terminated the call.

Then I went back online to the checking account and entered a dispute for the charge, noting that I didn't have such a credit card number and it was obviously fraudulent. They got back to me within an hour telling me they agreed and had reversed it.

All well and good, but two questions:
1. How did someone open a credit card in my name when my credit has been frozen at all agencies for a long time (at least a year)?
2. How did they get an autopay authorized at my bank without any notification to me?

I swear, you really have to stay on your toes these days!
OMG! That is freaky!

I guess getting autopay authorized on the other end is not so hard, but he would have had to have your bank account info. But I guess he somehow got those credentials to creat the credit card in the first place. Which definitely begs the question of who would issue a credit card if your credit is frozen.

I get messaged on all billpays and most checking account transactions. Glad I do!
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Old 05-16-2018, 11:58 AM   #4
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OMG! That is freaky!

I guess getting autopay authorized on the other end is not so hard, but he would have had to have your bank account info. But I guess he somehow got those credentials to creat the credit card in the first place. Which definitely begs the question of who would issue a credit card if your credit is frozen.

I get messaged on all billpays and most checking account transactions. Glad I do!
This get an auto notification via email or text of all transactions.. mine come as recent activity before they even get the final posting to my account.
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Old 05-16-2018, 12:02 PM   #5
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I would say it is time to change all your passwords if you haven't already. I also change my userid on a couple systems that allow that.
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Old 05-16-2018, 12:05 PM   #6
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I almost never check any of my accounts anymore.

I have put 'alerts' on them, so I know whenever a deposit or credit is made (I get an email). It's become anti-climatic to check an account, it just tells me what I already know.

I like alerts.

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Old 05-16-2018, 12:05 PM   #7
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I actually do change my passwords at least annually.

And I would like to get notifications of transactions, but my checking account doesn't offer that feature.
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Old 05-16-2018, 12:14 PM   #8
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Originally Posted by braumeister View Post
I tend to check all my accounts online at least a couple of times a month, but I rarely get a surprise. Had one this morning though.

While looking at my checking account, I saw a transaction for an auto-pay of a credit card from Chase last week. Only the last four digits were shown, and I didn't recognize them. I have a couple of credit cards through Chase, but that wasn't one of them. The payment was for a little over $1,000 so hardly insignificant.

I called the bank and the "helper" was utterly unable to assist. He said he had no access to my data so he couldn't even tell my the full number of the credit card. After about 15 minutes with this clown he finally admitted that he was just looking things up in his own help system. I gave up and terminated the call.

Then I went back online to the checking account and entered a dispute for the charge, noting that I didn't have such a credit card number and it was obviously fraudulent. They got back to me within an hour telling me they agreed and had reversed it.

All well and good, but two questions:
1. How did someone open a credit card in my name when my credit has been frozen at all agencies for a long time (at least a year)?
2. How did they get an autopay authorized at my bank without any notification to me?

I swear, you really have to stay on your toes these days!
If it was just a bank error, I doubt they would ever admit it.
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Old 05-16-2018, 12:15 PM   #9
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Are you sure the credit card is in your name? If it were tied to your SSN, you'd see it on the accounts page when you logged into the Chase portal. If it's not there, then it's probably not a card that was opened with your private info.

All you need to setup auto-pay on a Chase card is an account number and routing number for any bank. I auto-pay my Chase Amazon card from a credit union account, and as far as I know, they have no way to verify that it's my account. They didn't even ask what name is on it when I set it up that way. Anybody could have typed your account number and Chase's routing number into the boxes on the auto-pay screen for their own credit card. It could be malicious, or it could be a typo (I would think there's a check digit in the account number to prevent simple typos, but maybe not.)
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Old 05-16-2018, 12:16 PM   #10
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I actually do change my passwords at least annually.

And I would like to get notifications of transactions, but my checking account doesn't offer that feature.
I'd find a bank that does. I use a small in state regional bank and they offer all that.
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Old 05-16-2018, 12:21 PM   #11
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Are you sure the credit card is in your name? If it were tied to your SSN, you'd see it on the accounts page when you logged into the Chase portal. If it's not there, then it's probably not a card that was opened with your private info.
That's part of the mystery. The charge was labeled "Chase credit card autopay" so I assumed that's what it was. The alleged card was not on the Chase portal.


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I'd find a bank that does. I use a small in state regional bank and they offer all that.
Yeah, I'm seriously considering it. It's just that I've had this same checking account for nearly 40 years and it has always been good. USAA Federal Savings Bank. But the encounter this morning with their phone support was really poor, so I'm wondering if it's time for a change.
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Old 05-16-2018, 12:40 PM   #12
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I no longer use my Chase CC. It does not accept my LastPass auto password changer. I guess LastPass scrambles the password so it's never the same when you sign in. I do try to check my accounts once a week. A business account was opened in FL under DH SS and B-day. We knew the info was hacked from a business. Citicard contacted us after they opened the account. Police report had to be done, IRS got involved and gives us a different code every year to file. No one can access credit reports. We are notified if anyone does. It is not a credit freeze but some other security method.
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Old 05-16-2018, 12:43 PM   #13
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I activated Vanguard's two factor authorization. Whenever I want to withdraw money, they send me a temporary password via text message on my phone.

Still, I log in there (and to all my various financial accounts) quite frequently to check on things.

As for the credit card mixup, maybe it was just that - - maybe somebody typed the wrong account number by mistake and it ended up debiting your account instead of theirs. At least it has been fixed.
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Old 05-16-2018, 12:56 PM   #14
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I swear, you really have to stay on your toes these days!
Couldn't agree more!! Sorry to hear of your troubles.

I check my bank and credit card accounts every time I go online, which is virtually every day. Why?

1. It fits with my somewhat obsessive personality.
2. I have been the victim of (a) credit card fraud several times; (b) a fraudulent cell phone account; (c) identity theft leading to fraudulent income tax filing.

It takes me about five minutes to check all our accounts. Well worth the piece of mind.
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Old 05-16-2018, 01:26 PM   #15
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I had my Social Security account stolen from an identity theft. Since then I check all my financial accounts daily, have 2 factor authorization for all accounts that allow it and get notices for all withdrawals from accounts and credit cards. In addition to checking all financial accounts frequently everyone should set up a Social Security account and also check it frequently to make sure someone has not fraudulently made a claim against your Social Security. If you are ever a victim of identity theft you become a little paranoid about your accounts.
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Old 05-16-2018, 01:51 PM   #16
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My wife had a $700 charge for show tickets at the Villagio in Las Vegas show up on her credit card. She caught it because she checks it almost every day. The credit card company didn't even know it happened. So she gets an email today containing a document from the credit card company that she is asked to sign stating the charges are not hers. Standard stuff, but what was also in the email was documentation from the Villagio stating they thought the charges were legit and not fraud because they had a card and our home address which was correct and an email that reflected a variation of my wife's name. Super creepy stuff. We tracked the email to a person in West Palm Beach. No one will do anything for $700, but they know which seats were sold and probably have security camera footage of who sat in those seats. But the address, email, cc # combination freaks us out a bit.
We checked our credit reports and nothing is out of the ordinary. Just makes you wonder though.
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Old 05-16-2018, 03:07 PM   #17
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I had a creepy weird fraud incident last month. We were out of town and were notified of two FedEx packages being delivered, one from Amway and another from a company I don't remember. I didn't open them. When I checked our credit cards, there was a $500+ charge from Amway. I called them, said I never ordered the stuff and they told me to dispute it with the credit card company. I told them I wanted to send their stuff I didn't want back, so they e-mailed me postage paid labels. Bank accepted the dispute and all is well (except the usual annoyances from having to change credit card numbers).

This was a relatively new card, so I'm really puzzled how/why someone had both my address and the CC#, and why they had the stuff shipped to me instead of to themselves. Really weird.
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Old 05-16-2018, 03:21 PM   #18
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One more creepy story. I buy stuff on eBay from time to time. I see a listing for a new pair of Olukai shoes which I love. The price is about half of new, so I buy them. The shoes come in, wrong color, but in the box is a packing list from a major online retailer showing the full retail price and a name different than the sellers. I contact the seller, he says he will send another pair and I can keep the first. What? Sure enough the correct color shows up from a different major online retailer. Packing list reflecting now another person's billing info. I contacted both retailers and eBay telling them that someone was using a stolen credit card to pocket cash from eBay sales and then drop shipping items using the stolen card. Neither even responded to me. So I got two pairs of shoes that were purchased with someone else's card. I tried.
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Old 05-16-2018, 03:28 PM   #19
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Just a point to consider....

There is no credit card in your name.... someone could have just gotten a payment through and said it was a payment for a CC...

As an example, someone used my name and address to write a couple of checks to buy some expensive electronics... the checks were Wells Fargo... when I called Wells they said the number I gave them was not one of their accounts... IOW, no match at the bank...



Now, I have a suspicion that there was a bank error and that someone else was paying Chase and somehow it got to your account.... many years ago I had someone else's check clear though my account... the numbers were not even close so I do not know how it happened, but the bank fixed it right away....
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Old 05-16-2018, 03:51 PM   #20
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For my credit cards, I've turned on alerts for any transactions without the card present physically, anything over $500, etc. I get either texts or emails. Then, I look at MINT on a daily basis, which pulls transactions from all of my accounts. Then, as an added measure, I check my Vanguard Account, under recent transactions. Most show up under MINT, but not all, and not always in a timely manner. All credit card transactions show up within a day or two on MINT.
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