[GH85Carrera]

The first time I had my CC number stolen was a mystery. Someone charged a Blockbuster rental in a city I have never visited. That one I was required me to file a police report and that meant figuring out the address of "Blockbuster Store #15" in a city I have never been to. Google saved me that time.

One other time a waiter at a local restaurant was snapping a photo of all the cards he handled and he was actually caught.

I have never lost a penny of money, just my time. It is a pain to call the several companies that hit my CC on a regular basis for services.

When any unusual charge outside of my normal buying pattern hits the CC card company sends me a text message. They must have one strange profile on my buying habits. I am the treasure for our local PCA region. We had a pizza party for new members and all members were invited. It grew out of hand because the man in charge of the event just did not use common sense. I had a $850 pizza bill that night. It went right through with my CC company and the club reimbursed me. Now I "get" to be the one to determine the amount of pizza ordered for club events.

My CC card company actually called me once. I said yea right I don't believe it is you. She said that is good, please call us back at the number on the back of the card and ask for her extension. I did and she answered. I said OK, I believe! They had stopped a purchase for many thousands of dollars of scuba gear in Spain. She wanted to verify that I was not in Spain. I assured her I was still at work and to not authorize the purchase. A new card came VIA FedEx a couple of days later.

When on vacation I always carry a "spare" credit card in case my main card is compromised. I also always have my debit card on me.

From what I understand the new CC with the chip will make card number theft very difficult for local purchases and they expect most fraud to move to on-line purchases.