They started off with ONE CHARGE! Then THIS HAPPENED! Your jaw will blah blah blah...

[+ Chris Eisenhower]

So some company started off with one innocuous charge on my Citicard, which I saw and assumed was my barber—because it said "Spa," and was for about the amount my haircut normally is.

 

TWENTY-FIVE charges later (and over two different credit cards)... and these are chip/pin cards too, which are supposed to be harder to fraudumalate.

 

Check your credit cards for repetitive charges. I blame someone from Backpage.

[YooperMike]

Keep you eyes on all of your accounts for a while. I had a 99 cent charge from People Finder that I did not authorize, then a charge for $200+ from Walmart that Amex caught. Then charges on two of my checking accounts that I only use for direct deposits. None of the charges ever used my debit cards or actual credit card, they were all from the Internet. In addition, several credit cards were applied for in my name, a couple of them approved.

 

AAA has a free monitoring service for members, Equifax has a similar service. In any event, I would suggest looking at your credit report to see if anything else is going on. I had to call about 8 companies that made inquiries into my credit, all of which had accounts pending and tell them it was fraud before they approved the account.

 

My Trans Union, Equifax and Experian now all have me and a fraud alert and the activities have stopped. BTW, I was an inconvience, but all of the charges/ debits have been reversed.

[whipped guy]

I have been lucky as my credit card company (Chase) has usually caught any fraudulent charges before the statements went out, closed my account, and subsequently issued a new card. In one instance the charge originated in Italy, more recently someone attempted to buy guns on the internet with it. Being a business credit card, and a business that would never be associated with guns, a big red flag went up. Even more recently when I merely expressed my concern over the Home Depot breach they cancelled and reissued a new card no questions asked.

[doitb4ugo]

While recently in Chicago for IML, my card received a $4.00 debit which my bank said was a small test transaction to see if the card info was good. They stopped my card immediately and Fed-Exed me a new card. The big lesson for me was to always carry a second card should this happen to you. Worse than fraud on my debit card would have been not being able to buy leather stuff at the event...lol

[rvwnsd]

So some company started off with one innocuous charge on my Citicard, which I saw and assumed was my barber—because it said "Spa," and was for about the amount my haircut normally is....

 

Attempting a relatively small charge is often the first step when committing credit card fraud. The fraudsters do that to determine whether the card is active.

 

...TWENTY-FIVE charges later (and over two different credit cards)... and these are chip/pin cards too, which are supposed to be harder to fraudumalate....

 

Chip and PIN makes stealing the credit card data more difficult from a chip/PIN point of sale device. However, the data is still on the magnetic stripe and can be grabbed from an old-fashioned mag strip reader. Moreover, anyone who has your card in their hand can copy down the number and the CVV code and go shopping on the Internet or make a copy of your card.

[whipped guy]

While recently in Chicago for IML, my card received a $4.00 debit which my bank said was a small test transaction to see if the card info was good. They stopped my card immediately and Fed-Exed me a new card. The big lesson for me was to always carry a second card should this happen to you. Worse than fraud on my debit card would have been not being able to buy leather stuff at the event...lol

Well Richard! I certainly hope that you were able to purchase that "leather stuff". I need to check it out as well!

 

Plus, not only should one carry an extra credit card, but a bit of extra cash as well. Do you not recall and incident at a restaurant in NYC when the computers were down and no credit cards could be accepted??!!!

 

I remember, as I was the one who got stuck paying the bill!!!! But then again like a good boy scout I'm always prepared, and for anything!

[bigvalboy]

Check your credit cards for repetitive charges. I blame someone from Backpage.

 

LOL...you funny funny man Mr. E. (Oh God, no letters please, Iknow I know.)

[whipped guy]

As an addendum to my above post where someone tried to use my business credit card to buy guns on the Internet, it is interesting that my credit card company never questioned my online leather purchases, and even when it involved the purchase of floggers. Perhaps, not only the NSA, but your credit card company knows more than you think that they know about you!!! Of course I don't mix business with pleasure so all the leather purchases are made on my personal credit card.

[gallahadesquire]

My financial adviser suggested the following:

 

Do not use a debit card. If someone gets the appropriate information, they can drain your account, and there is no recourse for getting the charges "reversed". Credit cards, on the other hand, have a maximum $50 liability, and many even ignore that.

[thickornotatall]

within one week after eating at Seasons 52 I had a call from The Home Depot in Los Angeles asking if I was making a $900+ charge on my Black Visa...seeing as I live in NYC and Florida the Visa rep called to verify the charge while the "customer" was in store...As with someone else here they made 2 small charges at Walmart...for under $20...to see if the card was verified and valid...Visa offers a plan to call and check all charges after a certain dollar amount is set by me....I chose $200/day....Talk with your credit card provider and you may do the same....As it turns out the magnetic strip was copied at Seasons 52 by the waiter...And I had given him a good tip....Loss of job and jail time for him....

[AdamSmith]

Do not use a debit card. If someone gets the appropriate information, they can drain your account, and there is no recourse for getting the charges "reversed".

 

Not necessarily. I had a fraudulent charge on a debit card to the tune of $500. I detected it the next day when looking at the account online, phoned the bank (First Citizens) and reported it, and they immediately credited the $500 back into the account, pending investigation. I then filed a formal claim by filling out their one-page form and faxing it to them. After two weeks they emailed me that my claim was verified and the $500 credit was permanent. Case closed.

 

Of course they also canceled that card when I first phoned, and issued a new one.

[+ Chris Eisenhower]

Update: 26 charges on two different credit cards. All the charges are for even dollar amounts with no cents, no small charges were ever attempted. Whoever committed this started charging one or two times and then over the course of several months started charging 10 times or more. They got greedy, and if they had only charged once or twice per month they totally would've gotten away with it. I noticed the same company charging and again and again and again which is what alerted me to it. I'm guessing it happened at the gas pump or something like that because I never pay bills over unsecured Wi-Fi.

 

I don't use debit cards, but I believe mine is a $50 limit on fraudulent charges. Most inconvenient thing about the car being defrauded is that it's my main credit card and lots of stuff auto debits off of it like utilities, insurances and so forth. Now I have to go change all of that.

[Steven_Draker]

After only ONE fraudulent charge, my Credit Card company cancels my credit card and sends me a new one.

 

I don't think I would have the patience to wait till #26 without reporting it.

[rvwnsd]

As an addendum to my above post where someone tried to use my business credit card to buy guns on the Internet, it is interesting that my credit card company never questioned my online leather purchases, and even when it involved the purchase of floggers. Perhaps, not only the NSA, but your credit card company knows more than you think that they know about you!!! Of course I don't mix business with pleasure so all the leather purchases are made on my personal credit card.

 

If your credit card company doesn't question an online purchase at a non-leather site, there is no reason for them to question one from a leather site unless the purchase is out-of-pattern. So, if your online purchases are typically in the range of $0 - $500 and suddenly you purchase $1,000 the card issuer might question that purchase. There are issuers who block international transactions and some that block porn sites or, more precisely, sites and/or processors that have a high volume of chargebacks. So, if Charlie's Leather-O-Rama has a high chargeback rate, some issuers will not approve the charge. At the same time, if Charlie's Bible Stories R Us has a similarly high chargeback rate, the same issuers will likely decline those charges as well.

[mike carey]

I haven't had this happen ... yet. Useful tips above. As Chris. says, the drama of changing auto debits is significant. I'm tempted to restucture my accounts so I have a debit card from a bank where I have minimal funds or to a travel card that I have to recharge, to limit the amount of funds that can be milked by a scammer, but so far I've been reassured by the $50 liability limits and the way that card issuers have responded. Still, it is all food for thought.

[+ Chris Eisenhower]

After only ONE fraudulent charge, my Credit Card company cancels my credit card and sends me a new one.

 

I don't think I would have the patience to wait till #26 without reporting it.

Well here's what happened,...

 

When you look at an online statement you can reorder charges from small to large, alphabetize charges and so on. I use this card a lot. And it had a similar name to my barber which is a legitimate charge. I also go to the Korean spa with a friend of mine in DC every so often. The category of these charges was listed as health beauty and spa. I was actually looking for a particular charge amount and started seeing all of these charges that were for the same company. I went back to prior statements and saw the same thing again and again and again.

 

Only one of the charges was made on the other credit card. I had closed that card out for a different reason. But yes, I will definitely be more observant of what goes on the credit card statements from now on.

[tyro]

I'm glad you caught it. What a pain.

T

[whipped guy]

I never use a debit card! Period! Plus, I have been fortunate that my bank has always caught the charges prior to them even being posted to my account. I received a phone call every time that it has happened.

 

Also, when I mentioned my "leather purchases" above my tongue was in my cheek. I know that you are being monitored for certain types of purchases, the amount of those purchases, and even the location of those purchases. As an example of, there was a time when I had to notify my bank when traveling to certain out of state locations. Since it has subsequently been established as being my normal pattern of travel, those charges are no longer questioned or denied.

 

Still it is scary how much they know about you in an NSA sort of way!

[rvwnsd]

To set the record straight, both MasterCard and VISA guarantee zero liability for fraudulent charges made on consumer credit and debit cards. Here are links to their statements on fraud liability:

 

MasterCard: https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/about-mastercard/what-we-do/terms-of-use/zero-liability-terms-conditions.html

 

VISA: http://usa.visa.com/personal/security/zero-liability.jsp

 

If you experience debit or credit card fraud, follow your issuers procedure for reporting it, and if they do not adhere to VISA's or MasterCard's fraud protection rules, then you can file a complaint with the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (the CFPB). Here is their website:

 

http://www.consumerfinance.gov/you-have-the-right/?gclid=CP3XqeOYjcYCFdcRgQod46QAcw

 

One final note: most card issuers will still credit you for fraudulent charges even if you report them after the 60-day reporting window, which begins with the date of the first statement on which a fraudulent charge appears. So, in Chris's example, if the first fraudulent charge took place on April 1 and was displayed on the April 30 statement, he would have until June 30 to dispute the charges to be within the 60 day window.

[curiousnomore]

This is why I don't have a debit card. I have a credit card that I use as a defacto debit card. I pay it off every month and take their 2%.

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

The fraudsters are good. They don't even need to see your card to commit fraud. Many times, they just try random sequence of digits until it works.

 

The only place I ever use my debit card is at the ATM on those rare occasions I need cash.

 

I keep one credit card in my wallet (plus my corporate card for work), one credit card I use for on-line purchases, and an emergency card, just in case.

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

I have been lucky as my credit card company (Chase) has usually caught any fraudulent charges before the statements went out, closed my account, and subsequently issued a new card.

 

Chase is very good on this particular subject. I've had at least three fraud attempts that they have blocked over the last two years before I was impacted. They are so big, that their exposure to fraud is huge and thus they invest the resources to staff resources to identify potential fraud, reissue cards, and handle customer service.

[Bart]

I use my debit card frequently. I check my account daily. It is a habit everyone should do. I am careful where I use it. I do not go to walk up public ATM's. I do not hand my card to someone. It is in my hand at all times. For restaurants, I never use my credit but pay cash. I do this as a courtesy for the service staff as I believe in cash tips, as they get the money that day and will only get charged the minimum on wages. Even at hotels I use credit card, usually my AMX which does let me know if anything over $500.00 is used, I watch the staff and as soon as they run it for the room I make sure they hand it right back.

 

But despite all the efforts, the reality is they get the numbers anyway. Lately not once, not twice but 3 times I have had Chase Master cards attempted fraud from a MO based company KCUR for $5.00 for company credit cards for various people at my company. Chase sent me emails right away. One of the cards is only used annually and the card new is still sitting in my desk drawer never used and has not be authorized. So computers just trying random numbers I can believe it. New cards issued immediately. So in all cases these are company cards that are rarely used average one charge per month. None are used in the same manner. Last year my company card and then purchasing mgrs. card were hacked at different times. What a pain as my card has a lot of monthly charges attached to it.

[jawjateck]

Chinese government hackers have ALL of my personal info now. So I look forward to hearing stories from past companions about strange inquiries coming from Shanghai or wherever trying to dig up dirt on me. Lawd knows there is plenty of that.