How do they do it??

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

Last evening I received a call from Am Ex asking about some 'suspicious' charges on my card. Someone had used 'my' card in Orlando and spent almost $1000 in two stores, and they had swiped the card, not just given them the numbers. I told them that I had my card and had been home all day. OK, so they mark the charges as fraud and those charges are off my card and and I will receive a new card tomorrow. This has happened to our DD a couple of times...her card was once used to buy stuff in Italy!!

I realize that somehow they stole my number and made a new card, but I would have thought that by now the card companies would have figured out a way to protect their cards.

Where do the thieves get the blank cards and how do they make them in to usable cards? Inquiring minds want to know.

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

Sometimes thieves can just re-write the magnetic strip and store a new number on it. That new number does not need to match what is embossed on the front of the card, as very few merchants look at the front of the card when entering a transaction.

Kurt

[Pat H Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pat H]

Most likely your card was skimmed or the info was stolen by hacking into a store's computer like BJ's. The thieves overwrite the magnetic strip, often using gift card stock.

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

Makes me want to use cash for everything!

[jackio Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close jackio]

This happened to me last year, and the credit card company told me that it can happen when someone takes your card from your sight, like in a restaurant when they run your card and then bring it back to you. They actually make a picture of the card and replicate it later. I live in NY and the charges occurred in CT. All of them indicated that an actual card had been used.

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

It's happened with us as well.

There is a relatively easy way to slow this problem down. That would be to require picture ID to use a CC. It wouldn't stop it but it would force the theives to replicate some form of photo ID to present with each card they have stolen. One other way would be to simply ask the person using the card to either enter a code or their zip code when using the card. I've run across several gas stations in tourist destinations the require the zip code be entered before allowing to pump gas using pay at the pump.

Why merchants don't do more to attempt to slow this problem down I don't know. It seems to have become the latest and greatest way to shop lift. You don't have to hide the merchandise, they take off the security tags for you, you can steal very large items and have them carry it to your car for you and, by the time the store figures out they've been robbed you're long gone and virtually untracable.

When our cards were stolen, I had converstions with Home Depot and Walmart about the problem. I was amazed at how little concern they had about it. Home Depots attitude ticked me off so much that I refused to shop there for 5 or 6 years. For that matter I still don't venture into either merchant more than a few times per year just because they really didn't care and showed no interest in slowing down the problem. Unfortunately, any other place we shop won't really have any better attitude towards this problem.