Some Insane Fraudulent Use Of Our Credit Cards: Heads Up

Last week, my wife's and my credit card were used to buy merchandise and place internet ads. <br><br>I first noticed a ding of $9.95 for two months in succession for a web hosting company in my wife's account. So, in phase one, they get their remote IP address going. I called the web hosting company, they said the account was opened online with a wacky name and one of many free internet email accounts. Can't trace it, since it was all done online. In phase two, they place three ads for non-existent, expensive boats and bicycles. Two for $70 each, one for $289. We filed a police report, canceled the card, and received a refund from all companies once we proved we were not the people placing the ads. The bank is doing their investigation at the moment. This thief must have known his cover was blown, since there was no response when calling on the ads-probably stolen cell phones numbers, who knows. Apparently they get you to send them bank checks up front for in this case a $24,000 boat. I can't believe anyone would do that, but they do. The "seller" then makes false arrangements to have it delivered to the buyer.<br><br>With my credit card, I first noticed a $100 <span style="font-style: italic;">credit</span>, then a withdrawal from what looked like an online retailer. Once they did this, the following day they just ordered merchandise online to the tune of $413 in two days. I just happened to be checking in to see my balance, and noticed these transactions. Of course I canceled that card as well.<br><br>Interesting to note: Both cards were <span style="font-style: italic;">BANK</span> debit/checking cards.<br><br>The police said there are so many ways to get credit card numbers, and there are thousands of cases filed. They said even gas pumps can get hacked for info! Most are in the under $1000, which makes it hard to prioritize which incidents they work on. The FBI won't get involved with anything that small, as they are busy investigating big transactions. <br><br>This has awakened us as to how we use these cards, and reminds us to check the accounts daily.<br><br>-John<br>

Scum...pure scum...<br>We had identity theft a couple months back and it was a real PITA, and the credit card company and law enforcement really don't want to deal with it. If they keep the charges low, the credit card companies simply write off the charges and don't pursue the THIEFS because it's small peanuts in the grand scheme of things. My wife tracked down the SOB's who were using our card, and actually called one of them and told them what she thought of them. They did some of their Christmas shopping with our card, and mailed the gifts to family members across the nation. Now we get catalogs from each store they internet shopped at each month...ughhhhh...more mail...<br><br>Sorry it happened to you John, but you're not alone...lots of folks here have dealt with it...almost 30% of Americans have experienced it. Time for the banks to make our cards more secure....<br>

Same kinda crap has happened to my clan several times now. Same deal, small charges that most might overlook, but we're pretty wise to this crap now. I also use Identity Shield as well. You gotta watch all the charges and investigate even the smallest, dumb amount, otherwise you will pay.

we use pin numbers here now that helps a lot

<p>I'm going to piggy-back another heads-up on your thread:</p><p><strong>If you receive a text message from your bank to reactivate your card, proceed with caution.</strong></p><p>Dirtbags tried to scam me this afternoon with this one:<strong><br></strong></p><p><font color="#3300ff">XYZ BANK</font></p><p><font color="#3300ff">Alert: Your CARD starting with number #### has been DEACTIVATED. Please contact us at ###-###-#### to REACTIVATE your CARD.</font></p><p>Fake, fake, fakity-fake-fake....</p><p>They give just enough correct info (bank name, first 4 digits of the debit card, and area code) to seem legit and get your guard down. Unsure? Call your bank, but <strong>NOT</strong> at the number provided in the text. </p><p><img src="http://static.yuku.com/domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/mad.gif"></p>

Its happened to me twice. Once had a 10,000 charge for knives in England that the bank caught, and another 6700.00 from checking acct for train tickets in India that the bank did not catch. A real PITA.<br><br>Mark mac13

Never happened to me personally but I know friends that had 20k racked up before they realized somebody else had used their credit cards over the internet. The worst part was they only got half of their money back. they were pissed.<br><br>
I dont have any credit or debit cards except for an emergency visa that has a $500 limit and dont even have to worry about identity theft.

Holy shizz! Some major money lost. I'm going back to writing checks.

Always remember that if you get an e-mail froma a bank saying your card/account hase been deactivated don't ever send any information. A bank will not I repeat will not ask for your personal info through an e-mail. Only do this if you contact the bank and with a number that you know for sure is the banks number.

<p class="post-date"><span>Posted</span>: <span class="date">04/10/10</span> <span class="time">8:20 AM</span></p>
<div class="scrolling">Always remember that if you get an e-mail froma a bank saying your card/account hase been deactivated don't ever send any information. A bank will not I repeat will not ask for your personal info through an e-mail. Only do this if you contact the bank and with a number that you know for sure is the banks number. </div>Always remember that if you get an e-mail froma a bank saying your card/account hase been deactivated don't ever send any information. A bank will not I repeat will not ask for your personal info through an e-mail. Only do this if you contact the bank and with a number that you know for sure is the banks number.

<font color="#000033">My main email acct. gets emails from banks that I don't even bank on. NEVER respond to an email or a phone call asking you for information. Banks have great backup systems and if they "lose" your information, they know where to retrieve it without annoying you.<br><br><br>maribell</font>

Egg man ! Writing checks isn't safe either. they "wash" the "TO" column with antifreeze and change it to whomever they want to. They do it with the amount also. One way to fight that is use ONLY UNOBALL 207 pens to write checks with. The type of ink used in these pens will not wash. They may be others out there that use this ink but I know this one does. It even says so on the card when you buy them. Cheap pens too, so really no reason not to use them.

<font color="#000033">Many checks are made of a paper that if they become wet, will dry crinkled. Always use permanent ink when writing a check. Even , better, use one of those permanent markers like a Sharpie. Anyway, just having the #'s on the bottom of the check is enough for a scammer to make up a new check. Don't send a check to people /organizations that you don't know. If giving to a charity, buy a moneyorder. <br><br><br>maribell</font>