I received a letter today from Fleet's business fraud department regarding unusual usage of my platinum card. But, but my balance was $0, I thought. So, I logged into the account and found just under $300 in charges - over 2,000 miles away at a bank I'd never heard of. They immediately closed the account when I told them that it wasn't possible for it to be me - and for that amount?? I was informed that there is a new type of fraud where credit cards can be cloned. I'd never heard of it. They offered to issue a new card. I told them not to bother because I rarely used the account. The lesson...read your mail, check your credit reports, and follow-up on your accounts online. CardKid
Try this: You hand your card to a waiter at a restaurant, he either scans it in a little portable scanner or uses a small device on his finger. That magnetic stripe on the cars holds a lot of information, so once they have that scanned they can produce a new card with your name and data on it and use it how they see fit. PawMix
Both my DH and I had our cards cloned while on vacation in Cancun. I had internet charges for computer supplies and an AOL account. My DH had charges from stores in Mexico charged. His card was a NWA WorldPerks Visa and they called him when they saw that he charged gas in Cancun Mexico and Michigan on the same day three hours apart. I found the charges on my CAP1 card when I checked my balance on-line and saw companies I never heard of showing on my statement. We think that the card was cloned at the brand new Jimmy Buffett's Margaritavile that was only open just 2 weeks. It was the only store/resturant that we both used our cards at the same time. What a way to come home from vacation. The AOL account didn't come to light till I got a collection letter from them saying that I owed $208.10 for 4 months of AOL service. The screen name that was picked was of a sexual nature and my hubby still teases me about today. It is insane. 15 days and counting til baby Desdemona comes ;~)
They cloned my husband's checkcard and mc at a gas station from one of those pay at the pump readers. We were able to narrow down which station it was because two of his cards were cloned, and the only thing they had in common was the same gas station. I don't know what if anything happened to the station, but from what I understand, the machine that reads the cards has an element added to it that stores the card information from the cards inserted into it. Be careful!!!
Same thing happened to my card from Direct Merchants Bank. They cloned it and started running up charges at gas stations and KMarts (probably liked those self serve lanes at KMart). You wonder why the whole credit card system doesnt collapse if they can do this.
I had someone steal my basic identity to get some cards; however, my ficos were so low that they were out of luck. Sony Financing Fraud Dept. called me to let me know that they attempted to purchase two Wegas.
Same thing happened to my card from Direct Merchants Bank. They cloned it and started running up charges at gas stations and KMarts (probably liked those self serve lanes at KMart). *You wonder why the whole credit card system doesn't collapse if they can do this. catleg ********************** *Just shows how much CC COs. With the aid of CRAs & FICO are milking us for.
I normally pay at the pump. From now on, I'll leave at least $30 in the glove box for gas to avoid using plastic at the pump. One other thing, the Fleet rep told me that computer hackers can send a "bug" to record your key strokes. I guess I'll resort to cutting and pasting my username and passwords when I check balances online. Or, maybe I start using the 800 numbers. Protect yourselves. It's a scary world. CardKid
Here's more interesting info. I'm now running Zone Alarm Pro and Pest Patrol on my notebook. I received a "Blocked Access" message. 218.53.202.205 was blocked from accessing my computer. I looked up the IP address and it's in the Republic of Korea. WOW!!
It's fairly common to get "port scanned" from all over the globe. It's only a problem if there are services running on your computer that are listening and responding on open ports. Here is a website that will check for you: http://www.auditmypc.com:85/scanoptions.asp?S=204779YZ7V8ZYZ79
Re: Re: Stolen Acct Number, Cloned? Insane! I tried this and they gave me this message: To prevent abuse, scanning transparent proxy servers is prohibited. If we're wrong about this, then please let us know by explaining your configuration and we'll look into it - Thank you. WTH? Ummm can someone explain this in English?
Re: Re: Stolen Acct Number, Cloned? Insane! Thanks CatLeg. I used the link, ran the test, and received the following message: "We scanned the ports you requested, looking for any services that might be running on them, and did not find anything. If we had found open ports, we would have reported them to you and tried to produce information about the open port(s)." I'm feeling good today. CardKid
Re: Re: Re: Stolen Acct Number, Cloned? Insane! I think this means your ISP has something upstream of your connection already giving you some form of protection. Chances are you're safe from port scans.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Stolen Acct Number, With all due respect all, I do work at a gas station. I deal with cards and potential fraud alerts with customer's cards on a daily basis. It is not just gas stations that have pay at the pump that this happens at. While any business can have a dishonest employee, the majority of us are not. It could be a gas station, a restaurant, or any business that accepts cards. In my experience, the few places that do have things like this happen (as opposed to all card accepting businesses)have managers and owners that do not follow proper procedures in keeping tabs at what goes on at their businessess (ie checking their pumps and inside card readers on a daily basis for inappropriate attachments). I am not saying that we all shouldn't be careful of where we use our cards, or use cash when prefered. I just ask that you keep in mind that businesses with dishonest employees that would do this are relatively few compared to the many honest businessses that do their best to keep this from happenning. I see this from both sides, because I am currently fighting a charge I did not make on my card. But I also understand it's not every owner in a particular type of business that does not do their proper checks of their employees behavior.
