Some D bag tried to charge a bunch of crap to my CC

[slakjaw]

First he made several attempts to charge which were declined because he didn't have the expiration date then he tried to change the address on the account and get a new card sent to himself. I have his address, Next time I am in Colorado it is on!

[2porscheguy]

Same thing happened to me last year...some DB in Ohio was trying to buy a friggin John Deere tractor with my cc#! Luckily my bank got a hold of me within minutes and I was able to cancel the cc. It happened just after our return from HI...my cc was probably skimmed somewhere on the island. I am still kinda shocked that retailers in the US have not adopted the CHIP card technology that we are using here in Canada instead of the god awful and ancient swipe ccs!

Ya, next time your in CO, let him have it and put some in for me too......GD scammers!

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Call the PD in his town.

[porwolf]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

Call the PD in his town.

Happened to me once. My Credit Card was stolen and within 2 hours expensive purchases were made, clothing, stereo, etc. to the tune of about $2,000. Called the CC company and they credited me with the charges, of course. Called the CC fraud department and they took my information. Never heard from them again. Called the local police department, they took the report and I never heard from them again. I guess it is cheaper for the CC company to absorb the losses and recover them with higher fees for everybody. And the local PD knows the situation.

[black_falcon]

Ditto about 2 years ago. $500 spent at a Foot Locker in NY. My credit union refunded the amount saying it happens all the time and had no interest in getting the authorities involved, just ate the loss.

They told me it probably happened at a restaurant, a server will swipe the card through a reader, and then sell the card number online.

[cgarr]

^^ if this is the case and they just eat the loss what keeps people from charging up some big ticket items then report their card stolen? Or maybe it does happen a lot??

[2porscheguy]

Originally Posted by black_falcon

......a server will swipe the card through a reader, and then sell the card number online.

Exactly! Up here in the frozen Canadian tundra, the server brings the handheld POS (Point of Sale....not piece of shyt!) terminal to your table and using CHIP technology gets authorization on the spot..in front of you....so you never lose sight of your card.....mucho betta and safer!

[jcommin]

This has happened to me twice within the last 3 years. It is a mess to clean up.

[biosurfer1]

Originally Posted by cgarr

^^ if this is the case and they just eat the loss what keeps people from charging up some big ticket items then report their card stolen? Or maybe it does happen a lot??

also, why would the criminals ever stop? No one seems to care it's happening!

[osidak]

Stores are just as bad about not caring - last time some one got ahold of one of my card numbers I just so happened to catch it with in an hour of the charges being made. Total charged was about $2700

I notified the card company and also the online vendors. All of them canceled the orders except Walmart.com - They basically took the attitude the purchase was made before the card was reported stolen and went ahead and shipped the item and forced me to dispute the charge again. The walmart charge was around $500

[onewhippedpuppy]

Happened to my wife's debit card a few months ago, someone made three charges in OH at grocery stores before the bank fraud protection software detected it. Debit cards are a pain, you essentially eat the charges for a few days until they are processed, then you protest them, then they refund your money. I love Discover Card, they reverse charges instantly with zero hassle.

[gacook]

CC companies and police really don't care. Love it or hate it, certain parts of the government have pretty useful tools for finding people. A coworker friend of mine had his CC stolen a few years back and was able to track the guy. Had his name, phone #, address, where he worked--everything. He called the police local to the guy and they straight up told my friend they wouldn't do anything about it.

Moral of the story? Get lifelock or some similar service.

[motion]

Originally Posted by porwolf

Happened to me once. My Credit Card was stolen and within 2 hours expensive purchases were made, clothing, stereo, etc. to the tune of about $2,000. Called the CC company and they credited me with the charges, of course. Called the CC fraud department and they took my information. Never heard from them again. Called the local police department, they took the report and I never heard from them again. I guess it is cheaper for the CC company to absorb the losses and recover them with higher fees for everybody. And the local PD knows the situation.

Nope. The CC companies lose nothing. The merchants where the goods are purchased eat it. According to the CC companies, they did not do a good enough job with their due diligence. This is why I shut down my online mc store... I ate $7500 in purchased goods that were shipped to a coffee store in Kona, Hawaii. I filled out a police report, and even knew who did it and the fact that they worked at the coffee shop. Nobody was interested in helping.

[Baz]

This is why I never use a debit card....always a CC.

One of my cards was hacked a couple years ago with Citi Bank and the process was fairly straight forward - cancel the hacked account - issue new card.

Purchases were made in Europe of all places to the tune of about $900.00.

[Arizona_928]

Originally Posted by motion

I ate $7500 in purchased goods that were shipped to a coffee store in Kona, Hawaii. I filled out a police report, and even knew who did it and the fact that they worked at the coffee shop. Nobody was interested in helping.

DUDE, seriously!!

[Z-man]

Originally Posted by motion

Nope. The CC companies lose nothing. The merchants where the goods are purchased eat it. According to the CC companies, they did not do a good enough job with their due diligence.

Yep. For example -- if my cc is used to fraudulently purchase a $500 HDTV at Best Buy, the cc company won't lose any money, and nore will I. Best Buy will loose the $$ because they were the ones who did not properly authenticate / verify the credit card (verify signature, ask for another ID...etc).

Unfortunately, as with many cases, the small business owner (ie: motion) get hurt the most. While Best Buy can absorb such fraud, mom & pop shops often can't. I guess that's the cost of doing business...

-Z-man.

[wdfifteen]

My car number was stolen a few months ago and sold, apparently to 3 different people. They all ordered on line and left shipping addresses. Only one merchant actually sent the merchandise. The other two told me they did not complete the transaction because the shipping address didn't match the billing address and when they called to verify, no one answered. They showed up on my statement as charges and credits. I had to dispute the one charge to the merchant who shipped the item. The CC company issued the chargeback and the merchant was SOL.
The CC company wasn't interested in the addresses any of the buyers left. Tracking down theft isn't a priority for them.

[74-911]

Wonder what happens re: airline tickets. In Feb. of 2013 I got a call from MC wanting to know if I had charged 4 airline tickets from Sydney, AU to Hong Kong?

No... definitely not. Found out later a lot of this went on during the Chinese new years time frame. Never found out if the tickets were actually issued or whatever happened. I would assume the airline would flag the tickets and not issue boarding passes on them?

[Dantilla]

I always use cash at restaurants.

[motion]

The U.S. is way behind on this stuff. Everywhere I travel in the world, they bring a machine to your table at restaurants, and swipe your card right in front of you. No chance of any hanky-panky going on in the back room.

Also, chip+pin, or chip+signature cards are starting to be mandatory around the world. As a matter-of-fact, we couldn't even buy gas or groceries in France a couple weeks ago with any of the cards in my wallet. I have a chip+signature card on the way from Amex. These cards are just now appearing in the US. I would recommend that you call your CC issuer and see if you can get one. It sure is a pain losing access to your cards while traveling. Hopefully, these new cards will help mitigate the issue.