Have You Ever Had Your Credit Card # Stolen?

[Brat]

I noticed that cc purchases at gas stations in CA require entering the card olders billing zip code. In many ways that is better than a pin as it can't be read from the cc.

 

[harley]

I was pickpocketed in Rome a number of years back, but reported the stolen cards quickly enough to avoid any problems. I've had cards replaced 3 times due to lost or stolen data at the CC companies. But I've never actually had anyone else charge anything to my number. <knock on wood>

 

[MichaelB]

I've had unauthorized charges at least a dozen times, dating back a decade. Much of that was in Brazil on corporate diners cards - after a trip, bogus charges would appear. On personal cards, over the past 5 years, maybe 4 or 5 times. Dealing with Citibank was a PITA, while USAA was easy.

Another bogus charge I've had, as have 2 of my children, are unauthorized Citibank charges for their credit card protection program. A true hassle, involving phone calls with extended sales pitches to the charges corrected.

Michael

 

[TromboneAl]

Somebody used my "ATM card" with my pin number to withdraw 2x$200 in Las Vegas... I called WFC

Did you call WFC's WTF line?

someone got my card I was using there and bought some airline tickets.

Now, how does that work? Can't the cops just show up and arrest the passenger??

 

[bssc]

Now, how does that work? Can't the cops just show up and arrest the passenger??

It depends how anxious the local cops are to go after CC fraud.

 

[Gumby]

Several year ago one of my cards was replaced "out of the blue" by a Credit Union. I suspect it was one of the "data stolen" incidents.

That happened to me this week. B of A said that my information "may have been compromised by a third party". They said there were no unusual charges on the account, but they closed it and issued my a new card as a prophylactic measure.

 

[audreyh1]

Yep, this has happened to me a couple of times. Seems like about once every 2 years or so. Somehow some fraudulent charges start to appear even though we have our cards. BAC is always on it immediately. In neither case was it clear how someone got the #, but all fraudulent charges seemed to be coming from overseas.

Since the first time, I keep a separate "isolated" card for any recurring monthly bills plus just a very few trusted on-line merchants. Any one else gets the "main" "disposable" card. Then when it has to be replaced, no big deal!

The funny thing is that the CC fraud always seems to coincide with the start of a new extensive trip! We have yet another "backup" card that we switch to while waiting for the new credit cards to catch up with us.

Seems routine now.....

Audrey

 

[kaneohe]

Had a credit card I was sending to DD stolen from outgoing mail at home. Credit card company detected deviation from normal spending, called us, and was pretty easy to deal with......had to fill out some forms and swear to validity of theft . Installed a mail slot into garage immediately after and now alway put in outgoing mail in USPS boxes.
Also, if sending card, never validate card until it is received by other party.

 

[Walt34]

So does the card company eat the fraudulent charges or are they back charged to the company that took the card? Vaguely remember getting a bad charge at the repair shop and having the card company stick us because we hadn't called for an authorization #. Gee - (blink blink) how can the card companies manage to eat all those bad charges? (blink blink)

Yes, the unauthorized charges get kicked back to the merchant who accepted the card or card number. When I was doing fraud investigations I talked with a rep from Visa who said that their fraud losses were less than one half of one per cent of their profits. (Not gross, but their profits. This about 12 years ago.) Basically, their electric bill was bigger, so they didn't get too upset about it.

That's why the online companies often will refuse to ship to anywhere other than the cc billing address. For the folks concerned about privacy, the cc company will not tell the merchant your address, they will only confirm that the address provided is/is not the billing address.

The software they use now to track cc spending patterns is in some cases an adaptation of software initially developed to track incoming missiles! (Sort of "swords into plowshares"....) That according to a rep from one of the larger defense contractors.

DW had an unauthorized charge on her card once - a three-sentence letter made the charge go away.

If you read all the fine print on the back of the cc statement you'll find that the best way to dispute it is with a letter sent certified mail. That way there is no "plausible deniability" about a lost letter or forgotten phone call.

 

[Animorph]

I had a couple of charges show up on one card that the CC company removed but didn't change the card number. Maybe that was some mistake that didn't worry them.

I did have my number stolen in India. The only thing I used that card for was a nice hotel. I used another card at all the more iffy looking places, all with no problem.

Anyway, the CC company detected the problem (phone card in Saudi Arabia or somewhere I wasn't), but also shut down my online access to the account. I was answering questions about which charges were vaild or not without being able to see a nice list online. That was a blow. They changed the number and restored access a few days later. I changed my password just in case.

 

[ohfrugalone]

Yes, a few months back I got an e-mail from BOA. I was getting $100/pops of gas charged to 2 particular stations in Texas, and I do no live in Texas. All I can think of is they must have been filling up semi trucks - it was a lot of gas. (When gas was pricier).

We cancelled the card immediately - there was also a few cheap internet charges and a hotel room, I think.

The guy from BoA told me that probably some vendor I had used had this machine - where they swipe your card - you don't notice or are in a restaurant and don't see and they make a copy of it. So they have a whole new credit card for themselves.

 

[Meadbh]

I've had unauthorized charges at least a dozen times, dating back a decade. Much of that was in Brazil on corporate diners cards

It's happened to me twice, including once in Brazil. That time, an unscrupulous merchant used an illegal swipe machine. The other time, it was a travel agent who treid to charge me twice for a corporate trip, and was subsequently jailed for fraud, partly based on my deposition. I have never had it happen online. In both cases, it was resolved quickly and to my satisfaction.

In the past two years, my credit card company has been getting very paranoid. I'll be abroad (say, in Paris) and discover, on checking out of my hotel, that my card has been declined. A call to the CCC is necessary. Just lately I was in the Middle East and called beforehand to let the CCC know, and it still was a problem. Luckily I was with someone who had a Blackberry and a quick call to Toronto unfroze my card. They analyze travel patterns, but I travel a lot, and I did tell them beforehand....

 

[waltwill8]

I voted no because I've never been burned, but once had a call from my cc company that someone was using the number to try to buy 3 $2,000 printers (back when laser printers were big bucks) over the internet - to be shipped to London (I live in Minnesota) They told me they had rejected the charge, and were sending me new cards.

 

[TromboneAl]

Glad to hear that this is a relatively routine thing. Thanks.

DW may have purchased a knitting pattern on an unsecured web site, but I'm looking into that now.

I looked into it, and the site was indeed secure (a paypal storefront thing), so who knows where the cc number was acquired?

 

[ERD50]

I'd bet that this poll is a good example of the "self selected" error phenomenon.

I'd be surprised if half of the people really have had their CC# stolen. I think people who have are more likely to vote.

OTOH, since we would be talking stolen at anytime over your entire life, I suppose that raises the odds a bit.

I have had one apparently false charge - a small amount of $12.16 or something. The CC company removed the charge. The name was really odd, based in Norway or something, so that made it stand out. I'm tempted to think it was really the one-in-a-billion mistyped CC# that actually was valid and went through. I would think if it was really a scam, they would use a generic name in addition to the small, odd amount to try to fly under your radar.

So I voted no.

-ERD50

 

[JPatrick]

Didn't lose the card, but someone used the number to buy a $900 IT correspondence course, which I'm sure they never finished--or at least not on my dime.

I do my best to use citibanks virtual numbers whenever I can.

 

[audreyh1]

Since it has happened to me twice in just 3 years, I don't think it is uncommon at all to have your credit card number compromised.

I have also had the mysterious odd charge show up at least twice (different card). In each case, a web search on the company name revealed that a lot of people posted about discovering a mysterious charge from same company or two on their cards. In both cases I disputed online and the charge was removed with no questions asked.

Audrey

 

[slouch]

Yeah, I've had similar problems in the past:

• ATM card reissued in 1999 due to online bank security breach
• credit card reissued in 2003 due to using a card at a gas station whose credit processing agent had their unencrypted customer data compromised
• 1yr of free credit monitoring starting in 2008 due to Fidelity having an off-site archival service physically compromised.

 

[deserat]

Yes, had it happen with Penfed card - they tried to call me when I was on a business trip - I found out after my card was denied.....found out later TJ Maxx had a fraudulent scanner or an employee who was harvesting the CC numbers - the trigger for the credit card company was two charges right after each other - a credit check charge and then a western union charge....had the card re-issued, etc. However, after that, my card would get denied regularly when I was traveling - they wanted me to call the card company *every* time I left to travel - uhhh, not bloody likely. After I got stranded in east Texas trying to fill my car with gas while driving back from Lackland AFB after being in a military school for 4 months, calling Penfed and having them lie to me about the card being stopped, I never used their credit card again. USAA allows me to travel and not freak out over it. I told them I travel a lot and they've noted that on my 'record' or something or other. No problems so far

 

[TromboneAl]

There are some new Pending charges that we did not make on our card. I'm hoping that these are from someone trying to use the old number, and that by tomorrow they will disappear (that happened a month or so ago).

If not it will be a major bother to deal with this while we are on our trip. Do you think they can overnight cards to a general delivery post office?

I sure hope it's a false alarm.

 

[FUEGO]

I know they will overnight cards. I have had them do this while out of the country. Depending on what card it is, you may be able to get a temporary backup at a local branch (AMEX, Chase, etc).

 

[Elderdude]

What a pain! Just before a trip. When it happened last December to us, we had to use our debit card for Christmas. We'd gotten used to living one month in advance of the credit card bill, while building up air miles for our monthy gas, grocery, eating out expenses. Sheesh! Having to pay cash for a month was a real eye opener. It took a month for them to get us our replacement cards. Good luck, Al.

 

[free4now]

I used to have a seperate card for autopay expenses, so that I wouldn't have to redo the autopay when I need a new card number every few years. But the hassle of dealing with an extra statement every month just didn't seem worth it. I also realized that it isn't the end of the world if an autopay doesn't go through once in a while; the companies that allow autopay are used to people forgetting to enter replacement cards they get. The company just contacts me and says the autopay didn't go through, I correct whatever needs to be corrected, and all is well.

Now I use a single credit card for absolutely everything, and I like the convenience of their end of the year expense categorization report.

 

[dex]

There are some new Pending charges that we did not make on our card. I'm hoping that these are from someone trying to use the old number, and that by tomorrow they will disappear (that happened a month or so ago).

If not it will be a major bother to deal with this while we are on our trip. Do you think they can overnight cards to a general delivery post office?

I sure hope it's a false alarm.

Did you speak with the cc cos fraud dept?
My cc no. was used illegally a couple of days ago, fraud dept called me; canceled the card and is sending me a new card to the RV park where I'm staying - 2 day delivery - free. They were going to send it to my home adress. They also gave me the credit tracking companies to call and put a fraud alert on my account.

 

[TromboneAl]

It was fraud, and now I'm sitting in an Iowa Welcome Center trying to figure a way of getting the new card tomorrow (Monday is Memorial day). They'll send it overnight, but I need an address. We don't know what campground we're going to get a spot at yet. I'd send it to a BofA but they'll be closed. Any ideas?