Credit Card ID Stolen

[chellej Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close chellej]

There might be less of this going on if the CC companies and law enforcement actually tried to catch these crooks. In my experience, I found out information that could have caught the crooks but the CC company (HSBC) fraud department was uninterested. They lost a lot of my business as a result.

About 10 years ago we had a business and were Garmin Dealers. There was a period where I had a rash of orders through email contact for multiple units ($15000) they were to be shipped internationally and paid for by Credit Card.

Well it seemed fishy to me so I called the credit card Issuer to in turn contact the card owner to verify that the charge was legit. You would not believe how much hassle I went through with the banks trying to get them to do something. The Buyer I told the charge didn't go through and did he have another credit card he could give me.....One "buyer" gave me 3 or 4 cards before he caught on.

For several months this happened over and over..... I was able to save some cardholders - I had one gentleman call and thank me.......The order that disturbed me the most was for the garmin map systems with US maps a gentleman from indonesia wanted a bunch. Now he could be buying them and then reselling to US citizens but I was worried (in the near post 9/11 days) that it was for some more devious purpose like terrorists. Tried to report that to appropriate government officials but got no where.

After a while it was such a hassle trying to talk to the banks I just ignored the emails when they came...they were obvious like the nigerian scams to send money or rent timeshare property.

[pkyorkbeach Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close pkyorkbeach]

JLB what a shame this has happened to you. Good Luck...
I thought when you used your credit card there were safety measures in place with the company that you deal with. Like the airlines, an online company etc....Guess I still live in a bubble thinking we are safe.

[longtimer Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close longtimer]

I use a prepaid credit card for online purchases. If someone swipes the number, there is very little that can be taken. I only had a problem one time with this method and I simply made the purchase from another company.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Sorry for the delay . . . I've been working hard on our FL house . . . the beach and Gulf water are absolutely perfect today!!!

BOA caught it and called me. I had 3 online transactions from home, and then there were two transactions in the Atlanta area not long after. So, a security program at BOA caught it.

Not having the old account . . . or the new one activated . . . was problematic yesterday, but BOA gave me a toll-free number for merchants to call to force transactions on the old account, but only when I was at the POS. That's how I got the rental car. Got a Kia SOUL. Cool!

When BOA called yesterday morning I was also dealing with two neighbor dog attacks on our houseguests, trying to get a RE contract on the house DW is buying delivered, and get around and get to the airport.

With all that going on, all I missed out on was dinner at Shells in Tampa, cuz it took so long to get the rental car.

Beautiful day here. Our winter home is doing fine.

[PigsDad Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close PigsDad]

JLB what a shame this has happened to you. Good Luck...
I thought when you used your credit card there were safety measures in place with the company that you deal with. Like the airlines, an online company etc....Guess I still live in a bubble thinking we are safe.

How are you not "safe" using a credit card? If there is any fraudulent use, you are 100% protected by the card issuer.

Kurt

[PigsDad Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close PigsDad]

I use a prepaid credit card for online purchases. If someone swipes the number, there is very little that can be taken. I only had a problem one time with this method and I simply made the purchase from another company.

Using a pre-paid credit card (technically, that is a debit card), you are putting yourself at risk of losing the remaining value of that card -- you are not protected against fraudulent usage like you are with a credit card. With a credit card, your liability for fraudulent use is $0. So why would you even consider using a pre-paid card?

I have had a few (probably 3-4) times when a credit card of mine was fraudulently used in the ~30 years of usage. A simple phone call (or better yet, they call me) and it was taken care of. No muss, no fuss. I really don't understand why people insist on making a big deal of it.

Kurt

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

I really don't understand why people insist on making a big deal of it.

Kurt

You mean like starting a thread on the Internet?

- - - - -
Unrelated, I decided to see if I/we have any wi-fi we can borrow here at our Florida place, & . . .

Wallah!!!

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

... I really don't understand why people insist on making a big deal of it.

Kurt

Perhaps those who have one credit card might find it inconvenient, or maybe getting a card rejected because of it could be embarrassing and annoying.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Perhaps those who have one credit card might find it inconvenient, or maybe getting a card rejected because of it could be embarrassing and annoying.

'

or if you are just heading out the door for a week away, and know how problematic it will be without one

or if you just wanna let people now that that kinda stuff is going on, so they can try to be careful, and, hopefully, avoid the inconvenience it causes

or if you just wanna let people know that the CC companies are pretty good at detecting suspicious activity

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Unrelated, I decided to see if I/we have any wi-fi we can borrow here at our Florida place, & . . .

Wallah!!!

Oops . . . Comcast wants me to "activate." So now I'm at McDonalds.

[bnoble Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bnoble]

I have had a few (probably 3-4) times when a credit card of mine was fraudulently used in the ~30 years of usage. A simple phone call (or better yet, they call me) and it was taken care of. No muss, no fuss. I really don't understand why people insist on making a big deal of it.

My thoughts, exactly. I've had about the same number of issues over about the same amount of time. If you only have one card, yes it's a PITA. That's a good reason to have more than one, IMO, even if you only "need" one. That lowers it to only a minor annoyance.

maybe getting a card rejected because of it could be embarrassing and annoying.

The most annoying one for me was actually the bank's fault. I was traveling to Switzerland for an invited talk at EPFL. (Side note: Lausanne is FABULOUS in the summer.) On the way back, my wife and I decided to buy a piece of jewelry for her aunt, who was watching the kids while we were away. Now, I had called both of my credit card issuers before leaving to tell them where I was going to be, and when, *including* connecting cities---in this case, Amsterdam. Even so, one of the two issuers denied my card on the purchase, because apparently only thieves buy jewelry in Schiphol.

My wife's takeaway: if I bought jewelry for her in airports more often, this sort of thing would not have happened, because it would be "ordinary" for my purchase behavior.

[PigsDad Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close PigsDad]

Perhaps those who have one credit card might find it inconvenient, or maybe getting a card rejected because of it could be embarrassing and annoying.

Agreed, and that is just another reason to have more than one card, even if you don't use it often. If you factor in having backup credit card(s), then all of the major inconveniences mentioned here in this thread are greatly reduced or eliminated. It is a simple step people can and should do (IMO) if you rely on credit cards at all.

When we travel, we always bring three credit cards: I carry one, my wife carries one, and the third is back at the hotel room in the safe (all three are different accounts, not just additional cards on the same account). That way if there is a problem, we always have a backup. This came in handy when I was pick-pocketed in Rome -- they got a bit of cash, but a simple call to cancel the one credit card I was carrying was all I had to do, and the rest of the 2-week vacation went on without a hitch. With only one credit card, we would have been in a world of hurt.

Even with the occasional fraudulent usage, credit cards are still, by far, the safest and most hassle-free payment method compared to the alternatives: checks, debit cards, pre-paid cards, etc.

Kurt

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

To further kill this dead horse . . . we do/did have another card, with Citicard, which we had had for years. They had upgraded us to another card without our approval, which we had down.

I assumed we stilled had the original account, but when I checked on it, to carry it with me to FL, they had cancelled that account when they opened the new one.

Still beautiful here. Beach and Gulf water is excellent.

[Ryne08 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ryne08]

I will never use a cc @ gasoline island to purchase gas (a crook can attach a device to the gasoline card machine so fast and the operator of station will not have a clue it has been install).

True store this happen at a Wal-Mart gasoline station located in Suffolk,VA about two week ago.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

I will never use a cc @ gasoline island to purchase gas (a crook can attach a device to the gasoline card machine so fast and the operator of station will not have a clue it has been install).

True store this happen at a Wal-Mart gasoline station located in Suffolk,VA about two week ago.

It has happenedoin FL previously.

They put on a portable dealie, catch a few scans, then remove it.