Have You Ever Had Your Credit Card # Stolen?

[tryan]

Voted "no" but just remembered I had a fraudulent charge from a middle eastern country ... called and had it removed. Phishing maybe; or just a key-in error ... who knows?

About a year later the thief was convicted of three felony counts. The thief now sits in jail.

This is reassuring. Back when I had a property manager, she had a handyman who stole a blank check from her business checkbook. Disappeared with a few K. Then reappeared in town ... vacation maybe? A year later the guy is still walking the streets. Not enough being done to prosecute "white collar" crimes.

 

[chadster1]

From some of the descriptions of the charges your various cards were used for, it would seem relatively easy to track down the culprits. (Not suggesting YOU should do this, but the credit card co. w/law enforcement). My understanding is that most credit card companies don't actually worry much about fraudulent charges. They simply write them off and pass the total cost on to all credit card users (well, those who actually pay interest, heh, heh.)

The bank does not write the charges off, they charge them back to the merchant.

 

[summer2007]

Audrey, Linney and all the other female victims of credit card fraud and identity theft this post is for you.

I get to see the other side of identity theft...the person who is stealing the identities!

I got a neighbor who lives real close to me that forges bonds and steals peoples identities and sets up credit cards in other peoples names. She has been doing this for years. She gets caught and nothing is done and then she goes back to doing it again.

Last I heard a while back she was federally indicted on a whole bunch of charges that carry a prison term of 20 years.

I can't know this part for sure but one of my neighbors told me that all of her victims are elderly women.

Guess what? She has never spent one day in jail!

What the media does not tell you is 93%+ of all people incarcerated in the U.S. are male. Women are let off with nothing almost always...even for murder.

This is why you are having so much of this stuff going on.

On the news they devote 1/5 of the broadcast to a guy that stole $1,000 from a bank. He will go to prison. My neighbor probably stole at least 100 times that and never spent one day in jail.

Until the media and society acutally hold criminals responsable regardless of thier gender this stuff will continue.

My advice is if you are female to really go out of your way to protect your identity and credit card info and anything else that can be stolen. Because if another woman steals your identity and rips you off for every penny you have you can expect to see her not held accountable for any of it. And then go on to do it again to someone else.

And also if you get to meet one of these people who have a hobby of ripping people off like this they are really rotten. And in my neighbors case it's one of many crooked and illegal things she does.

I hope everything works out for everyone that has had their identity stolen.

What might help is if the media stopped kissing up to what is politically correct and showed some of the women who had thousands stolen from them and might have lost their house or job or life savings. Then show the female criminal that ripped them off out walking the streets not held accountable for any of it!

I think we can dream of that day though!

Jim

 

[Rustward]

Here is an update on the subject:
Gov't: Man tried to steal 130M credit card numbers - Yahoo! News

The article describes some of the tactics and also has some pretty astounding numbers. Wardriving and sniffers.

"Restaurants are among the most common targets for hackers, experts said, because they often fail to update their antivirus software and other computer security systems."

 

[harley]

Sorry to bump such an old thread, but I need to get a moderator to change my vote from no to yes. We just discovered our business Discover Card number has been stolen. A bunch of charges have apppeared since the last statement date, all to online sites like i-Tunes, Netflix, Hulu, and some I wasn't familiar with - Jewelmint, Beautymint, and Stylemint. Those last result in physical deliveries, and hopefully will lead to the miscreant getting busted. Assuming Discovercard follows through.

And assuming I ever get to report this. This is the part that's really pissing me off! I've been trying to call the security number all day. I get put on hold, told to stay on the line for the next representative, and then at approximately the 20 minute mark I get "mysteriously" hung up on. I did at least get through to a rep on the online chat, who assured me the card number has been deactivated, so the theft should stop. But I still have to report it to the fraud department. So far my call has been dumped 5 times, all between 19:53 and 21:17 minutes. Obviously there's some kind of metric being tracked as to how many calls make it past some magic number (20 minutes maybe?), and as with all Quality Management systems the result is the unintended consequence that the reps just dump the call before it gets marked against them. I'm at 17:30 on the most recent call.

The worst part is that I made use of the "Secure email to the VP of Customer Service" feature on the website and typed up a stern but curseword-free email explaining the problem. Then when I hit "send" I got a message saying there was a technical problem with the system, and to try again later.

I've been a Discover fan for a long time, and have gotten a ton of rewards points out of them. I will continue to use them, but I must say this is a very frustrating process. Makes me wonder if they have had some major breach that they are dealing with that hasn't been announced yet. Dammit! 20:58 and I just got dumped again!

Oh well, I know I'm not responsible for the charges, and they'll assign me a new number. This is the slow time for my business, so I probably won't need the card anytime soon. I'm just going to calm down, have a couple of drinks, and maybe call back sometime in the middle of the night when it might not be so busy. Or wait until Monday morning. Maybe they only have one Peggy working security and fraud on the weekend.

 

[W2R]

How awful! I am so sorry to hear this, Harley. Situations like this drive me nuts - - almost more from the malfunctioning reporting system, than from the original crime. I would imagine you won't have to pay for the the purchases in question, so that's a comfort.

 

[easysurfer]

Bummer. I've had pretty much only good experiences with Discover. In fact, why my cc number got stolen it was them who flagged it first and called me.

 

[Alan]

Sorry to hear about your troubles Harley. It's bad enough to have had your card # stolen but to be unable to report it is just awful.

 

[JohnDoe]

Makes me wonder if they have had some major breach that they are dealing with that hasn't been announced yet

There is a breach at a processor. This one is big.

Visa, Mastercard processor acknowledges security breach

 

[JohnDoe]

The bank does not write the charges off, they charge them back to the merchant.

This is not necessarily true.

Smaller amount transactions are written of by the card issuer.

If a merchant gets a proper authorization, they may not be liable for the transaction in a point of sale (face to face) transaction.

Card issuers carry fraud insurance to cover massive fraud.

Most non fraud dispute transactions are charged back to the merchant, though.

 

[harley]

There is a breach at a processor. This one is big.

Visa, Mastercard processor acknowledges security breach

I knew about this one, but we're Discover.

I finally got through on a different number I found online. Turns out there's a bunch of charges that weren't showing up on the online Recent Activity list, including a $3000+ charge to StubHub.com. The way we found out about this is because we received a package of make-up in the mail today. I assume whoever was stealing accidently allowed the Ship To address to be the same as the Bill To address. I've done that myself when ordering for a customer. When DW called the vendor to figure it out I got online to check the account and found all the bogus charges. So the Fraud Alert process didn't happen for us.

But no problem with the charges, once I finally got it reported. I used to work on these issues all the time, when I was a Network Security person. I used to interact with cops like Walt34 a lot, so I wasn't worried about being responsible for the charges. Guess I better run some credit reports and make sure it isn't a bigger problem that I think, though. I hope they get the person. Shouldn't be too hard with all the physical shipments that were made. I'll never know, though.

 

[GrayHare]

Sorry to hear about your stolen card issues. In my experience, Discover had been good long ago but is now a company in trouble, headed downhill. Due to abusive problems I had to cancel them.

 

[JohnDoe]

I knew about this one, but we're Discover.

I finally got through on a different number I found online. Turns out there's a bunch of charges that weren't showing up on the online Recent Activity list, including a $3000+ charge to StubHub.com. The way we found out about this is because we received a package of make-up in the mail today. I assume whoever was stealing accidently allowed the Ship To address to be the same as the Bill To address. I've done that myself when ordering for a customer. When DW called the vendor to figure it out I got online to check the account and found all the bogus charges. So the Fraud Alert process didn't happen for us.

But no problem with the charges, once I finally got it reported. I used to work on these issues all the time, when I was a Network Security person. I used to interact with cops like Walt34 a lot, so I wasn't worried about being responsible for the charges. Guess I better run some credit reports and make sure it isn't a bigger problem that I think, though. I hope they get the person. Shouldn't be too hard with all the physical shipments that were made. I'll never know, though.

That's good news that you got thru. Are they issuing new a new card?

Your issuer should be able to tell you if there was a breach or if you should be worried about ID theft. Most likely you are safe but it's not a bad idea to follow up.

From what I heard it's not worth the time and effort to track these criminals down. I think this would be a interesting job, though.

 

[harley]

Yeah, a new card is on the way. I'll be hearing from the fraud investigators on Monday. I did a few free credit reports on DW and I and everything looks good. It's interesting, after being FIREd for almost 6 years my credit report is getting pretty easy to read. A few cards, a mortgage, and that's about it. DW has a whole bunch of cards, mostly for individual stores, so hers is more of a pain to go through. Haven't gotten a credit score in a while. But when I tried (unsuccessfully) to refinance a couple years ago it was around 790, so hopefully it's still up there.

From my cop buddies it doesn't sound like doing the footwork for chasing down the crooks is too time consuming and unrewarding to be considered interesting.

 

[easysurfer]

Harley, do you have any theories on how your cc number got stolen? Online? Physical?

I remember when my cc number got stolen. By coincidence or not, I was scanning my computer and found a keylogger that same day when Discover called. Still I've never was certain how my cc number got taken. Yet, to be safe, I ended up having to change all my user ids and passwords to my accounts as if I had a keylogger, who knows what else might have been floating out there for the taking.

 

[harley]

It has to be online. I shredded the card as soon as we got it, and keep the information for it along with our other cards on a (backed up) encrypted thumb drive. We have physical cards for our personal use, but the business one is only for online purchases.

However, you make a good point. I do occasionally get a trojan or virus, like the Google Redirect trojan I was fighting a few weeks ago. I know the two aren't related because I haven't used the card since Feb and the trojan came later. But a general password change isn't a bad idea, especially anything financial. Sounds like something to keep me busy for a few nights while I'm watching TV. Thanks.

 

[Disappointed]

I also discovered that my Fidelity AMEX card number was stolen. The first fraudulent transaction happened on Wednesday, then two more transactions yesterday. The last two transactions are from Carters Retail Plano, supposedly a direct marketing company in Texas. I tried to google the name but came up empty. This the second time on this AMEX. No problem reporting fraud. Unfortunately, I am going on vacation tomorrow and will not have access to my AMEX card.

My Visa card number was stolen once. My debit card with its associated PIN was stolen once.

It is an inconvenience, several of my reservations for this trip were made wth my AMEX. Most of my subscriptions as well as online retailers are also charged to this account automatically.

 

[easysurfer]

It has to be online. I shredded the card as soon as we got it, and keep the information for it along with our other cards on a (backed up) encrypted thumb drive. We have physical cards for our personal use, but the business one is only for online purchases.

However, you make a good point. I do occasionally get a trojan or virus, like the Google Redirect trojan I was fighting a few weeks ago. I know the two aren't related because I haven't used the card since Feb and the trojan came later. But a general password change isn't a bad idea, especially anything financial. Sounds like something to keep me busy for a few nights while I'm watching TV. Thanks.

Yeah..In my case, my mind was thinking worst case scenario. What if some keylogger had recorded my typing of my Vanguard and bank accounts. I pictured all my finances emptied out. As between the time I had the keylogger and when I discovered it, I had no idea how many accounts I had logged into while typing.

Luckily, the only account compromised was the Discover cc.

 

[akrono]

Last year I discovered that someone had been using my credit card when I attempted to pay for gasoline at the pump and it was rejected. Called BOA and determined that in a one week period the suspects had charged over $ 31,000 on the account, mostly airline tickets. The suspects had gained access to my personal info and had changed my telephone contact info to reflect their number. When BOA attempted to call and confirm all the charges the suspects, claiming to be me, advised the charges were legit. It took several months to clean up the mess through their fraud department but I wasn't out any money.

Several months later I was hit again by the same suspects who contacted my bank and attempted to access my checking account. Luckily, I caught that one the same day it occurred before a loss was incurred. 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!

 

[grasshopper]

I only use Discover virtual numbers for on the phone or online purchases. If Discover can't be used I use ATT Universal card virtual account numbers.

 

[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.

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]

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]

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.