I just got off the phone with the nice people at Mastercard, who informed me that my credit card number was being used by someone else. The charges were small, or at least the ones they told me about were. The problem isn't the money. It's getting the card changed with people I do on-line business with. I hope it doesn't happen again.
13 comments:
is that because of something on the net
Join an ever-growing club. Happened to one of my daughter's two weeks ago and a friend about 6 weeks ago. Always makes me think about a workshop I attended, given by an FBI consultant on credit card and Internet crime. After that session, I decided I'd never do online banking.
We don't know how the card number was obtained. I do know that one of the charges was for $3.56. Who'd go to the trouble of stealing a card number for that amount?
A shop clerk.
Of course, that's the kind of purchase you might not note on your statement.
Bill, this happened to us a couple of years ago in New Orleans and I hope the rest doesn't happen to you.
Someone got our number and charged a bunch of little items, mostly very cheap. But in a bizarre twist they had them sent to us!
Then they signed us up for Wine 'o the Month club, a couple of book and CD clubs, etc. Every time we thought it was over UPS delivered another goodie to our door.
Only one guy in North Dakota gave us trouble when we called to tell him that no, I didn't order women's mega diet pills. He actually took us to small claims court but we had the last laugh as the ND Attorney General's office now has him up on unrealted fraud charges.
But it was no fun.
Jeff
Been there myself about a year ago. Like Jeff, I was signed up for book clubs and coffee of the month club among other things. Pure hell for less than $100 in fraudulent charges.
Nothing like that was on the bill, so maybe I'll escape the worst.
That $3.56 charge might have been a test order to make sure the card was still working. I work as an investigator for an online merchant and often see charges for less than than $5 followed shortly thereafter by thousands of dollars in electronics or jewelry.
Well, the card's not working now, thank goodness.
Happened to me, too. Bunch of little charges, all bought in my name with my shipping address. Actually, it was pretty painless compared to the time some jerk stole my wife's wallet and began using credit cards, debit cards, and checks. Several places had video of the guy, but the cops never caught him. My investigator told me that she had something like 800 active cases, so I knew our $900 in damage wasn't priority. I asked for copies of the video--just in case I ever happen to see the guy--but they wouldn't give it to me. By the way, we weren't liable for any of the damages. What I learned was you can spend a lot less time on this sort of mess if you don't care about catching the person who did it. In the latest one--the credit card one--the cop told me the number was almost certainly stolen directly off the card, rather than online.
Very interesting. I'm sure we'll never know who stole our number, and since the charges are so small, we won't worry about it. Yet.
Ben, I wondered how the cop knew the number was stolen directly from the card instead of online?
In my daughter's case, the cred card co. called her cell and asked if she was in Mexico City spending large sums. Uh, no. She didn't have to pay either, even the $50. that you are liable for.
She thinks it was hijacked online at the Kodak site because that was the only place she'd used that particular card within the month it had happened. She called them and filed complaint. Credit card co. told her to check her credit report asap and do a check every month for 6 months.
Today I'm upset over the jerks at zurza.com who stole my blog post on my Performancing blog.
Well, Bill, if you're going to begrudge me a lousy $3.56 I'll take my business elsewhere.
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