credit card fraud

Try to remember when and where you registered or used your card on the net. Please keep us informed of anything you find out. Good thing you caught this. It could have been really ugly.

 

I remember reading something about 3 months ago about several shopping sites whose databases were hacked, and they chose not to notify the cardholders. They notified the card issuers instead. I always go back and delete my card info after I make a purchase. Not total protection, but, it makes me feel better.

I appreciated the fact the Egghead let me know when they had been hacked, and I continue to do business with them.

breeze

 

You would be surprised how people can get your credit card number. Use your card at a restaurant or anywhere for that matter. People can write down the information and give it to whoever. They in return can MAKE A CARD using that info if they want. Or they can order stuff over the internet or phone. Most internet or catalog stuff require a billing address that they use to authorize the card with so that's cool.

I once read an article on how someone who worked at a restaurant was being paid to seal credit card numbers. They even had the technology to carry this little device where all the waiter had to do was swipe your card on the device and the deviced recorded all the info! I was trippin on that. One swipe and that was it! But on a good note to that story......the waiter got someone's Am/Ex number and Am/Ex has the technology to decline charges based on location, etc. So bottom line is how can you charge something on your Am/Ex in CA and then 3 hours later charge something in Japan? The charge in Japan would be declined and your account shut down. One of the joys of Am/Ex! Don't know about anyone else's technology.

But the bottom line is that if you didn't make the charge, you didn't make the charge and you are NOT responsible. Yes it's sort of a hassle to get it cleared up, get new cards, etc. but hey...whatever works.

Besides.....I don't think the credit card company is the one who eats the cost......I think it's the merchant, right? Once the credit card company finds out that a charge is fraud, don't they just do a charge back to the merchant? I'm assuming that's what happened when my wallet got stolen by an employee at a store. Am/Ex did a charge back (employee charged something AT the store he worked at the next day) and told the merchant that it was due to fraud. The merchant then contacted their own lost prevention and did an investigation. Am/Ex didn't eat any cost.

 

You're right, MP.

And of all the places that can be hacked online, I think a bank is the last place they (hackers) would go. If a hacker wants to steal card numbers for profit, he/she will target a merchant, not a bank. Banks have too much at stake to be lax abut security.

breeze

 

The company I worked for rented a limosuine in Jan for a convention. In March, a $1500 charge to the same service appeared. Then in June a $5600 charge to the same service appeared. The city is halfway across the country from where we are located. We challenged the first one and asked AMEX to investigate. When the second charge happened, we cancelled the card and ordered new ones.

 

Breeze-

I am a Network Security Consultant (I know, a long haul from my old job in the car business), I do mainly banks. The funniest part of my job is that the companies you would think that would have the best security, i.e. banks, actually have the least.

Banks love to spend money on new branches and marble floors, but cringe at upgrading computers and paying their IT dept higher salaries. It's actually pretty sad. I could tell you some funny stories....


Shawn

 

Also, thiefs could easily get your number at a restaurant or anywhere that they can walk away with your card for a brief second. A special on CyberCrime on TechTV showed how a waiter had a small scanner (I think it is called a skimmer or wedge) that was velcroed to the inside of his jacket. You give him your card, he swipes it when you're not looking, and he steals all the information that is needed to make a cloned card. He can then upload the info and sell it via the Internet. Scary stuff. I guess you should pay with cash at a restaurant.

 

I used to be a customer service supervisor for a Telecommunications Giant.

The reps could take credit card payments over the phone. Keep in mind this is a TRUE story, as scary as it is. One rep, wrote down a customers amex number. The rep had a party and ordered a bunch of stuff via the telephone using the customers amex card.

About a month later, the customer calls. He said after he paid his phone bill, he noticed quite a few charges from a city in Pennslyvania. That is how we realized what happened, along with the investigation from Amex. The representative was so stupid that she ordered something at a store, and used the amex card number, and picked it up. Thats how she got caught!

I was horrified. Our call center had 700 reps and 40 supervisors myself included. Honestly, I never thought anything like that could happen. Needless to say, the representative was terminated.

I say all of that to say, be careful when paying a bill by credit card. Supposedly, we did criminal background checks ect. Sometimes, the background checks came back clear, when in fact they are not. Its scary folks.

I can only imagine what the people at the bureaus are like. I am sure the bureaus outsource to keep costs down, which is scarier!

 

This is what amazes me about people being afraid of using their credit card on the internet. A person has a better chance of their credit card info being stolen at a local restaurant, gas station or anyplace they do business with than over an internet connection.

 

My only "brush" with it was when Egghead got hacked. I had 2 credit card numbers stored there. I reported the cards stolen - wasn't taking any chances.

breeze

 

Swiping technology is called "skiming" it has become a very popular way to commit identity theft.

www.creditsense.com

 

Verizon just had a bunch of stuff like that happen to alot of their customers. Did you order a cell phone online like about 3 months ago? A lot of people's SSN's and credit card numbers were posted in a chat room last week. Apparently, someone hacked a database or something similar.

 

This discussion brought to mind a letter I received from a collection agency once when I requested validation. I almost laughed when I read:

"A comprehensive search of our records revealed that this account indicates your name and social security number; therefore it has been determined the account is yours."



I felt like going to their building, scrawling my name and social security number on everything in sight, and telling them "This building indicates my name and social security number, therefore, I have determined the builing is mine."

 

If your siginature was required on a sales slip for every charge made this wouldn't happen!