Have You Ever Had Your Credit Card # Stolen?

[obgyn65]

My Mastercard was stolen in 1991. Like you, I have been very sensitive to identity theft issues since then and have been checking all my accounts very regularly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by akrono The whole experience has made me very sensitive to the identity theft issue and I have taken numerous steps to protect myself. I would encourage everyone to be careful and monitor your accounts closely!

[JP.mpls]

I lost my CC, and someone used it for a big purchase before I cancelled the card. The CC company just cancelled the card, with no real issues.

I had a similar problem that seems less common based on this thread. Someone opened a new card using my SS number and name, but a different address. I had no idea this was going on until they started sending the unpaid bills to my home. The card was cancelled with a call, but I had to somewhat prove it wasn't me, and go through a bunch of work to get my credit repaired. Not fun.

It turned out that a bunch of people at my work went through the same thing. We believe they got access to our SS numbers from our company medical files. They were using our SS numbers as our policy number. They have now changed that practice.

Note: This is why I refuse to have a debit card. I can cancel a credit card with no problems. If someone commits fraud with a debit card, my checking account gets all messed up, and I'm at the mercy of my bank to clean up the mess. In the mean time my bills are not getting paid, and I'm getting late fees.

JP

[Mulligan]

I had one of mine compromised last year. Visa called me asking if I had made 2 purchases in Texas that day at a couple different stores. Since that is a couple states away, I said no. They cancelled the card and sent me a new one. So they actually knew about the fraud before I did. Since I rarely use that card and had only used it as a charge hold for a hotel in Vegas about 2 weeks prior, I assume the clerk lifted the number as that was the only time I had used it in a year and gave it to someone, but who knows.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JP.mpls Note: This is why I refuse to have a debit card. I can cancel a credit card with no problems. If someone commits fraud with a debit card, my checking account gets all messed up, and I'm at the mercy of my bank to clean up the mess. In the mean time my bills are not getting paid, and I'm getting late fees.

Believe me, I understand your concerns! What happened to me when a crook purchased a Dell laptop on my debit card ("debit Mastercard"), back in 2000, was this:

(1) I went to a local branch of my bank, and talked to a real person within ten minutes. I was shaking and in tears since I was in severe LBYM mode with a low account balance and couldn't deal with the idea of losing that money. She assured me that if I did not give my permission for the purchase, they could not legally require me to pay for it and told me firmly that she would make things right.

(2) She immediately (within a minute) froze all purchases on my debit card and issued me another one on the spot.

(3)Also, my bank account was immediately (within 15 minutes) credited with the full amount covering the criminal's alleged purchases, on a temporary basis until such time as the matter could be investigated and the money was mine permanently. So, nothing bounced. In a month or two they told me that they had completed their investigation and 100% of the money was mine permanently. No fees were involved.

(4) I walked out with the new debit card in my pocket, the lost money credited to my bank account, and the bank employee's card so I could call her in case I had further problems, less than a half hour after I originally detected the incident.

(5) I went home, got online, and changed the debit card number on two websites where I used it for frequent purchases. (My regular bills like utilitiy bills are paid by automatic bank deductions instead of by debit card).

It is still a very harrowing experience and really freaked me out! But thank goodness in my case it wasn't as bad as I feared, and I was able to get it taken care of fast so that I could enjoy the evening. I only had to do this once in the past 20 years or so of having a debit card so YMMV.

[harley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnDoe There is a breach at a processor. This one is big. Visa, Mastercard processor acknowledges security breach

I was reading an article in yesterday's WSJ about this breach, and they mentioned that Discover was effected too. So I'm suspecting this might have been the problem. That would certainly explain why I couldn't get through all day. That actually makes me feel better about it. I'd rather strongly suspect/know where the problem came from than be worried about all of my vendors. That would also explain how they were able to get the security code too, since companies that accept the CC aren't supposed to store that number, although I suspect many of them do anyway.

[JP.mpls]

W2R,
I'm glad your experience with fraud activity on your debit card worked out well. I see no reason to have a debit card, and take the chance that my bank would not handle this situation properly.

I prefer to use a cash back Visa card, and pay it off in full each month.

Take care,

JP

[martyp]

Last year I left my credit card at a restaurant at about 2pm. I picked it up at 5pm. By that time my credit card number was "out there". The bank called me the next day reporting some unusual activity and I cancelled the card and got a new one. I had the number stolen once many years ago which is why I am on my bank's watch list. My bank does a very good job picking up unusual activity.

[mickj]

penfed is sending me a new card, I didn't lose mine, it looks like it must have been part of the lastest batch stolen from Global Payments Inc

anyone else?

[Ronstar]

I had mine compromised a few months ago. I got a call from the credit card company reporting unusual charges - to an online sex hotline, and to an online florist. Jokingly I told the credit card company that there was no way that I would order flowers. They cleared the charges and sent me a new card. Then I had to reschedule all of my automatic charges.It was a real PITA.

[MichaelB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ronstar I had mine compromised a few months ago. I got a call from the credit card company reporting unusual charges - to an online sex hotline, and to an online florist. Jokingly I told the credit card company that there was no way that I would order flowers. They cleared the charges and sent me a new card. Then I had to reschedule all of my automatic charges.It was a real PITA.

I don't think credit card companies have a sense of humor. The automatic charges update is a real PITA - and after the third time it happened to me I changed cards from USAA to Fidelity Visa.

[Sarah in SC]

This is one way that using Mint has helped give me some peace of mind. Because all my transactions are listed when I check on my phone or iPad, I feel like I can catch stuff right away rather than when I happen to log on to one of the various financial institutions.

[Rustward]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelB I don't think credit card companies have a sense of humor. The automatic charges update is a real PITA - and after the third time it happened to me I changed cards from USAA to Fidelity Visa.

Changing the card issuing bank won't necessarily insulate from these data breaches at processors. The processor is the link between the merchant and the issuing bank. Generally a merchant chooses one processor to send all their authorizations (customer charges) through. The processor passes the authorization on to the card issuing bank. Communication from the card issuing bank back to the merchant is also through the processor.

And neither will using only "trusted" merchants, or brick and mortar stores only, or a particular flavor of card (except for possibly private label cards that are accepted only at one merchant, like Sears, Target, etc.), because all authorizations go through a processor.

Processors are targets because of the volume of authorizations that they handle (many per second). I don't know the hit ratio for stolen card info (the percentage of sets of cardholder info that crooks can actually use to steal) but it is pretty low, so they (the crooks) need lots of data.