credit car fraud!!!

[LynneNY]

We just received yet ANOTHER phone call from American Express asking about a particular purchase that was attempted. NOOOOOOOO we had NOT made that purchase! Someone compromised my husband's card at a Home Depot using one of their "self check-out" machines!!!

This really upsets me because... that means that someone has installed somekind of spyware on that machine in Home Depot. How else would someone get his card number if he did this check-out all by himself? It was the only place he used the card yesterday. This morning, the person who stole the info attempted to make a purchase at another Home Depot in Orlando, Florida! My husband joked to me, that no, he had not gone to Florida for breakfast and then returned to work in NY this morning!

This is really upsetting me because it's the second time in just a few months that this has happened to our cards. Mine was compromised before, and attempted to be used in a WalMart in Canada! These thieves are more and more prevalent these days - thank goodness American Express has been on their toes for us!

Please be VERY vigilant when using your cards. The American Express representative suggested that we scrutinize all our other credit card bills - I am passing that suggestion on to all of you! 

[Kittyzee]

I totally understand why you would be upset--me too!!  I also think that in this day of hard times and heavy crime--that businesses and banks included WOULD CHECK THEIR MACHINES FOR ILLEGAL SCANNING EQUIPMENT!  After all, the customer trusts the business to be vigilant BEFORE it happens, not after the fact!     Why in the world don't they get with the program? 

[Esther]

Just think of all the people who have access to your information. Every time you use your card, all the people who work at the credit card company, the people who work at the bank if it is a bank issued card, each time you give the card to a waiter at a restaurant. There are card scanners that are small enough to fit in a man's shirt pocket so really there isn't any way to totally prevent usage by somebody else buttttt, in this day of online access, look frequently at your statements during the month, both checking and cards.

[LynneNY]

I called the store and asked for the store manager. I got a woman who said she was operations control - okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay... I told her what happened and she of course said there wasn't anything they could do for us. NO STUPID - I am telling you to check out your machines!!! Something is amiss there! DUH! (of course I didn't say it outloud like that, but I wanted to! )

She rushed me off the phone saying she speak to "someone". Yeah... right!

Thank goodness American Express has our backs! 

[HOWELL]

Mainly reason why I don't use a credit card...

[Jonna]

When I first moved down here I was the usual American that rarely had much cash on me as I used debit or credit cards for everything.  It was an adjustment because at that time they weren't as commonly used here.  Now, it is possible to live the way I used to in the US but I've adjusted to paying cash for everything and I rather like it.  I rarely use my credit cards or debit card except at the bank and for US online bills.  I've also discovered that I'm spending less because I'm more aware of what I am spending when I have to take the money out of my pocket and pay it right then, swiping a card doesn't have the same effect on me.   Now, I go to an ATM and take out what I think I'll need for the next few days and I pretty much stick to it.  I don't have a lot of bills here and the ones I do have I pay at the grocery store when I do my shopping and I pay them in cash, things like electric and phone.  I do have my cell phone bill going to a credit card because I think I had to establish credit to get the iPhone plan.  That's the only one though.  I even paid my property taxes in cash!! Of course, they are only $100 us a year       

[Julles]

I've seen a number of presentations on Identity Theft.  There are actually gizmos that can be bought on the Internet that are very small, and look a lot like the machine they are attached to ... the thief slips them over the "slide" part of a credit card reading machine, and it reads and stores your info.  Then the thief comes back and retrieves the gizmo, and - Voilà!  He has access to all your personal information - credit card number, name, address, etc. 

This can be used on gasoline pumps, grocery store check outs, and even hand-held processers like in restaurants. 

[Esther]

Yup Julie, that is what I was getting at. So when we're in a restaurant and the waiter gives you the little black folder, we calmly slip our card into the pocket, the waiter carries the folder away and returns in a few moments with our receipt and gives us the card back. Who knows what is being done with it?? But on top of that, even if he doesn't copy our info with a gizmo, he has the number, the expiration date, and the number on the back. We wouldn't give our wallet to the waiter and let him walk away with it. And when I order stuff over the internet, that is what they want. Oh and my name. But what about the address?? I don't know if it will work without an address. But know what?? It's easy enough to find my address on the internet. All I have to say is watch your accounts like a hawk because the quicker you find something going on that's wrong, the quicker you can stop it and get the mess cleared up. Fortunately, often the credit card companies watch for patterns of use and refuse the card when that pattern is broken. We hardly ever use our card and one day Pete took my son to an electronics place to get the surround sound stuff, TV, speakers and the full 9 yards for our new living room. Next thing I knew the phone rang and somebody said that a guy was using the card for $2000 and even though he could show ID that matched the name on the card, they were suspicious. Cool!!

On the other hand, when you are going on vacation or taking a trip away from where you usually use your credit card or debit card, better call the issuer and let them know where you are going and how long  you'll be gone. You don't want them denying service because you are breaking your normal pattern of usage. It happened to me when we were in Alaska. I had told them I was going from Michigan, west across the upper US and then north through Canada to Fairbanks Alaska, then south in Alaska and then back pretty much home the same way. While we were in Fairbanks I tried to get online and didn't know what I was doing with my neighbor's laptop, trying to find a way to get it to get online. Somehow it asked me for a card number. I used my debit card. The next thing I tried to buy something at the campground and the card was refused. I called the bank and they said there was somebody in New Jersey using my card. Then I put 2 & 2 together and realized it was that computer thing. So I asked them what the name of the thing was and it coincided with what I remembered. So then they reactivated my card and everything was fine.

 

[karen J]

I'm probably the only person on the planet who has not been compromised (...yet). This is all good advice, and a great reminder to check up on things.

Usually, I just look at my bank statement and say "yeah, that looks right". So much at the grocery store, Wal Mart, Gas,  utilities, etc. I've never ever had a problem with any of it.

Sometimes I think it would be better to use cash at restaurants precisely because of what Esther noted. My brother came back from Mexico and all of his accounts were emptied. Can't trust transient restaurant employees. They could be long-time employees or month-long crooks... you have no way of knowing.

If I were absolutely sure that this happened at a Home Depot, I'd put the pressure on them to prove their system is absolutely secure.

[LynneNY]

We can't be absolutely sure it was compromised at Home Depot, but that was the only place he used it the day before it was compromised.  However... it could have happened days or weeks before and the thief decided to try it that day.

Here's another situation that bothers me - I recently called our health insurance provider about ordering prescriptions through them - turns out that I would get 3 months for the price of 2 for one of mine.  BUT... they want me to send a letter with the prescription and include in the letter, my name, address, social security number, phone number, birthdate - WTF???   I am soooooooooooo NOT sending all that information in one letter through the US postal service!!!  I asked if I could fax the info and they said no - my dr's office would have to fax it and include all that info as well.  Well I don't got back to my dr. for 2 weeks, but I will see if they will take the time to do that for me while I am standing there.  I felt like saying tO the insurance rep - are you kidding me?!?!?!?  Send all that in the mail - I DON'T THINK SO!!!