Those credit card hackers are hard at work!
 

Mid January I had my credit card hacked. I woke up to card not present alerts from various retailers with the first purchase for $5.34.... RED FLAG. Call the card company and cancel the card. Charges were all reversed.

Today I wake up to card not present alert for $1.34 to some golf simulator. RED FLAG.... cancel card...

Don't know how they're pulling it off. I have only had to replace this card once in the last 10 or so years due to fraud. Now two months in a row?? Seems like security somewhere is a bit lacking. I use the card for auto payments for utilities, streaming service, and it's tied to my Amazon account where it gets used most often. Then there's the in person use for groceries and gas and occasional department stores. Sadly it seems like just another price to pay for convenience. Oh well! tomorrow I'll be busy changing the card number AGAIN on those auto pay accounts. :mad: Last time I forgot to change the card number for my internet service provider which I found funny since I was using the internet to change the number for other accounts. At least the list is fresh in my mind so that's a plus I guess??

Sorry to hear. There are some real scum bags out there.

Several years ago my debit card number was stolen by a employee at a restaurant we frequent. My credit union stopped the fake charge for women's clothing for several hindered bucks as not a out of normal spending algorithm. When I went to the credit union to get aq new cad, they were running low on the card blanks they use to issue new ones.

A few days later, on the news, the police were on the news with the card thief in handcuffs going to jail. That was satisfying.

It really sucks to have to change a credit card number with a company like Amazon or the utilities.

I think the funniest part of the algorithm is we had a local regional new member party at a pizza place. The region picked up the tab. Lots of old time members saw the notice of free pizza and we had a large crowd. It was $700 in pizza. The charge went right through. Glen is buying $700 in pizza, OK let it go through. :D

Probably worry where you are actually using your card.

Groceries?
Gas?
Local restaurant?

Somewhere local is where it's happening

Been visiting any new porn sites lately?

Can you do a separate card for local vs online?

That would help separate where your problem is coming from.

I've lost a couple over the years, but never had one hacked.


I get emails almost daily that large charges are being placed on my Paypal acct. I quit Paypal a couple years ago. The emails always have a link to 'fix my account'

I think restaurants are a likely place for this type of scam to happenl. We went to one of our favorite restaurants at a local reservation some years ago and payed with a credit card. Three days later some charges showed up from L.A. We got them reversed. A couple of weeks later, we went to the same restaurant, and three days later more charges showed up. I talked to the head of security there, showed him the printout of the charges with the three day delay and said it seemed to be coming from the restaurant. After that it didn't happen again.

The only real hack I know of from my CC was several years ago, I received a call from my CC company asking questions about my card. I asked her for her extension, and told her I would call the number on the back on my card, and ask for her extension. She said fine, and I hung up, called and asked for that extension. She answered, and she asked if I was in Italy, trying to buy expensive scuba gear. I assured her I was at home, and I will never by scuba gear.

They canceled that card, and sent me a new one.

I carry two different CC cards, and my debit card. Once I was on vacation and the card was compromised, so I called the CC company and they said they would send a new card to my home address. I had to switch to the other card for the vacation.

Now I get a text if the charge is unusual and I have to approve or reject that charge. Texting sure made it easier.

I use a different card for that. :D

Might have to give that a try.

I suspect restaurants...I use cash for them.

I used to work for a credit card company and this is a common fraud/scam. Someone thinks the one dollar for a month of free access to everything on the site is a good idea. Then monthly bills of $40 roll in. They are too embarrassed to call the bank and explain.

A sad fact of life at the time. 19 out of 20 credit card frauds were by Chinese restaurants.

Seems to happen every few years for me. Its been a while so i am probably due.

Your card is likely getting skimmed somewhere you frequently use it (in person). I used to get this type of fraud about once a year. I changed cities where I work and haven't had it happen in about 5 years. I suspect it was a restaurant that I used to go to.

I suppose the airport is a good place for these scammers to be operate. After all, the victim is likely going to on an airplane, unavailable to block/deny any charges for several hours. And if one charge from an airport restaurant or a Hudson News shows up on the credit card company's side of things, another charge from a different city might not invoke suspicion.

You can buy a CC with pin for $15 on the web…

I always use my card at restaurants. I don’t carry cash for 25 years now. A few months ago we went to a Mexican place and the next day there was a fraudulent charge from Mexico. Not sure what to make of this. We go for Mexican once a week but never this location.

Got hit again last night on my BOA card. BOA alerted me via text and email. $400 at some beauty shop. Cancelled.

Probably 3 times a year I have to get replacements

One obvious risk is ordering pizza delivery. Nobody here takes cash for deliveries. I give card number and security code on back to some kid over the phone……cringe

The one thing I noticed the last time I went to the US is a lot of places do not have the mobile card machines so they ask you for your card and take it with them. I didn't let a server do this once and insisted in going with them to swipe the card every time.

Not sure why they don't have the mobile readers, but I would never let my card be taken out of my sight by a stranger...

Bingo! That's how it often happens. I partly blame the fraud on the card companies themselves. They could take better security measures, but just consider fraud part of the cost of doing business, while enjoying interest rates on those who don't pay in full that I consider usurious.

This is it. Skimmers, RFID readers, store clerks. Its not sophisticated hacking that gets you, its the simple stuff. One of the places you frequent has one of these.

Worst time I had with a credit card problem, it was my fault. I was in Paris and needed some cash, so I used my debit card to withdraw 300 euro at a cash machine. It was declined. I tried again and it was declined again. I panicked. Stuck in France with no money and something is wrong with my bank account!! WTF? Did someone get my card number and empty out my account?

Well, no. I'm just not good at math. After I calmed down I realized that the limit on withdrawals is $300 a day and at that time 300 euro was worth about $325. I backed the withdrawal down to $250 and had no further problems.

^^^^ Curse you currency conversion!!

I remember a story about a guy who worked in Canada. At least once a week an angry American would demand to know why the cash machine was handing out Canadian dollars instead of US$. He had to say "Sorry Sir, you are in a different country, Canada, and this is the currency around here."

I saw this on a major bank website the other day.

What I want to know is how the bank is going to determine that the origin is social media.

Then there's the other issue. I'm sure that the bank is protecting its customers in order to protect itself. But at the same time, "you're telling me that I can't send money to anyone that I want?"

I get what you're saying, but at the point you send money to a scammer and then ask for that charge to be reversed, the bank should be able to deny that request right?

My guess is that the bank, in an effort to make customers happy has refunded money despite the fact that they can and probably should have let the customer take their lumps. So the bank, is doing this to keep customers happy under the guise of "we're protecting you", but it's really protecting itself.

The bank has to protect itself because people would be bashing banks if they said "well... sucks to be you" Easy to find negative reviews is a powerful tool. And seldom does the person making that negative review look at their own actions that might have led to a negative outcome.

For example: I bought some rechargeable batteries for my cellular trial cameras. Many reviews said they don't work in the camera. I got mine and sure enough they didn't work. I left a one star review. I then changed it to a five star explaining that it was user error, not the battery. The battery did not come with instructions for making a battery type change in settings. A simple change in the camera setup and the batteries worked fine.

A lot of people aren't willing to own up to their mistakes and put blame where the blame might not belong.

I once gave back my profit on a machine to a customer who filled his machine with fuel that did not have anti gel in it. The fuel gelled causing the high pressure pump to operate without an lubrication and it burned up. I drove a four hour round trip to troubleshoot, paid for a tech to confirm my suspicion and the customer still wanted more. At that point I told him "look at your invoice. You'll see As Is with no warranty expressed or implied. Be thankful I'm doing what I am." He quickly changed his tune