Fraudulent Charges Online and New Twist

[anygunanywhere]

I am posting this as a warning for online shoppers.

My bank called me yesterday morning investigating suspicious charges on my ATM card. I logged on and verified multiple fraudulent charges. The investigator told me they turned down multiple other attempts. The card was deactivated and they are sending me a replcement.

I hate this. It is a pain to straighten everything out.

The new twist. Around 2:00 pm my cell phone rang. The number was displayed, I did not recognize it but since it is a work phone I do receive odd calls often. The caller asked for me by name and I acknowkledged it was me. The background was noisy. The caller told me that he was in an airport in North Carolina (fit the noise - sort of) and that he had spoken with a young man travelling to see me. I inquired about the young man's name. He said he did not know but that the young man asked him to call me and tell me he was on the way to see me because I am his legal guardian.

I am not the legal gurdian for anyone.

Hackles popped up on my neck.

I asked the caller his name. He had a strong foreign accent I placed as a Middle East. I work with a number of ethnicities so I have a pretty good ear for accents. He mumbled something I could not understand. I asked him to please speak more clearly and he responded that he would email me.

Hackles grew more pronounced.

I asked him to tell me the address. He gave me the address of the account I use when I shop online.

Hackles popped up big time. I use this account exclusively for shopping to keep my spam to a reasonable level.

I asked him if he was the one who hacked my card. He hung up.

I called Mrs. Anygun and updated her. Told her if she noticed anything suspicious to call 911, then me, and if she felt threatened to take appropriate measures.

I immediately began an online search. Wound up finding the area for the number and contacted the Montgomery County Sheriff. The detective I spoke with said this is very common there. Gangs of various ethnic groups are constantly doing this. My only issue is that he really did not care to know the number because he claimed it would do no use to track it down.

I told him that they need to seriously look at their punishment poractice as it is not near severe enough.

I made reports to Clear Lake Shores and Galveston County.

I am seriously reconsidering the value of shopping online.

I do have a warm welcome planned in the event my "guardian child" shows up.

Anygunanywhere

[92f-fan]

one thing to do is only use your ATM cards at YOUR banks ATM

that decreases your exposure a great deal. I shudder when I hear ANYONE using a bank card or ATM card in online transactions.

Doug

[anygunanywhere]

one thing to do is only use your ATM cards at YOUR banks ATM

that decreases your exposure a great deal. I shudder when I hear ANYONE using a bank card or ATM card in online transactions.

Doug

My bank accounts are 100% covered against fraud. It is a major annoyance though to straighten all the mess up. Any card can be hacked or copied. My corporate AMEX card was hacked at a gas station stop-n-rob in California. My Visa cedit card was hacked at a gas station stop-n-rob in Beaumont.

The true downside is that this fraud is seldom prosecuted. According to one of the detectives, they are still able to catch check type fraud when passed in person but the online crimes are hard to catch. Too much anonymity online and most departments do not have cyber crime units capable of tracking down these individuals.

Anygunanywhere

[steveincowtown]

As aggravating as this is, I never worry about this. Bottom line is that if you have a reputable CC company and/or bank you total liability for fraudulent charges is typically only either $0 or a max of $50.

The bigger issue here is identity theft. If someone starts taking out credit in your name, the problem becomes much bigger and can cost an immense amount of money, as well as damage your credit history. I pay $12.95 a month and keep my credit locked. If someone tries to open an account the company has to (or should) call my mobile number to verify it is me. As a back up, anytime a new account is opened or my credit is reviewed I get an alert.

....that is what works for me at least.

[VMI77]

one thing to do is only use your ATM cards at YOUR banks ATM

that decreases your exposure a great deal. I shudder when I hear ANYONE using a bank card or ATM card in online transactions.

Doug

My bank accounts are 100% covered against fraud. It is a major annoyance though to straighten all the mess up. Any card can be hacked or copied. My corporate AMEX card was hacked at a gas station stop-n-rob in California. My Visa cedit card was hacked at a gas station stop-n-rob in Beaumont.

The true downside is that this fraud is seldom prosecuted. According to one of the detectives, they are still able to catch check type fraud when passed in person but the online crimes are hard to catch. Too much anonymity online and most departments do not have cyber crime units capable of tracking down these individuals.

Anygunanywhere

My wife used to put outgoing mail in our mailbox to be picked up by the letter carrier. Someone drove through the neighborhood picking up outgoing bills and stealing the checking account information off the enclosed checks; then they went ahead and mailed in the bill and check. With our billing information they created a fake driver's license and made up their own checks. Their first hit was a phony deposit of another fake $5,000 check along with a cash withdrawal. First, my wife was accused of stealing our own money. After getting past that the bank ksecurity officer worked with us to try to catch the crooks in the act. We were fortunate in that the crooks confused the checking information with another person in the neighborhood making the scam easier to sort out. For a couple of weeks we were getting calls from businesses all over the state when one of the gang was trying to pass another check on our account. The legal system does little to nothing to take the profit out of this criminal enterprise so it was no surprise that when one of them finally got caught she had a long record of conducting the same "business."

[anygunanywhere]

As aggravating as this is, I never worry about this. Bottom line is that if you have a reputable CC company and/or bank you total liability for fraudulent charges is typically only either $0 or a max of $50.

The bigger issue here is identity theft. If someone starts taking out credit in your name, the problem becomes much bigger and can cost an immense amount of money, as well as damage your credit history. I pay $12.95 a month and keep my credit locked. If someone tries to open an account the company has to (or should) call my mobile number to verify it is me. As a back up, anytime a new account is opened or my credit is reviewed I get an alert.

....that is what works for me at least.

My credit is locked too. Never had an identity theft problem.

Anygunanywhere

[Hoosier Daddy]

Did they hack your account or just copy the number printed on the card for anyone to see?

[txjim42]

I don't use my ATM card for anything but ATM activity at my bank. I don't want "my money" in question or held up while the bank investigates. Also I don’t want to have to deal with lack of funds for other bills and the potential fall-out that could cause. I use other people’s money, credit cards... Just pay them off each month and all is good.

Some banks/credit-cards have services that allow you to create "alias" or temporary card #'s for recurring or one-time purchases. These are especially good for online purchases. This way your real credit card # is not at risk and if an "alias" number is stolen, the risk is even further mitigated by the dollar limit or expiration date you specify.

I can't remember the last time I wrote a paper check... My wife writes occasional checks to the school for kid stuff, but that's pretty much it. We had a bad guy at a pizza delivery place try to rip us off by using information obtained from a check used to pay for a pizza. It is amazing just how lazy some banks are and what someone can do with a little information. Checks now get locked up except for the few times they're needed.

In this "internet" age, too many people give up too much personal info to the public on places like Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Google+ etc... Names, addresses, phone #'s, birthdays, relatives/friends names and potentially their info, pet names, where you grew up, went to school, where you work, your cars, hobbies, favorite sports teams... Any of those ever get used for security questions online and/or at your bank? I cringe whenever people publish their vacation/travel plans to the world. Untamed social websites are an open invitation to anyone to extensively profile people for whatever reason whether good or bad. Please, don't make it easy for them…

Sorry for the rant... Having seen the seedier side of "people" and also being the father of teens who haven't, this hits home...

[anygunanywhere]

Did they hack your account or just copy the number printed on the card for anyone to see?

I have not detrermined how they accessed my information. Liek I wrote, they had my email address, cell number, name, and card number. I expect an internet site was hacked.

Anygunanywhere

[Purplehood]

I had fraud issues with my Chase Banking card after using it at various Gas Stations. It happened at least twice. I reported it each time, got a new card each time and was never charged for the fraudulent charges.
Chase did recommend that I never use my card at a Gas Station using the DEBIT card option. They said always use it as a CREDIT card when punching it into the pump.
I have done that since those incidents and not had any further problems.

[anygunanywhere]

I had fraud issues with my Chase Banking card after using it at various Gas Stations. It happened at least twice. I reported it each time, got a new card each time and was never charged for the fraudulent charges.
Chase did recommend that I never use my card at a Gas Station using the DEBIT card option. They said always use it as a CREDIT card when punching it into the pump.
I have done that since those incidents and not had any further problems.

I never use debit at stop-n-robs, credit option only. Since the debit card can be used as a credit card I suspect that is how it was used online. I have never given out my pin number.

Anygunanywhere

[sjfcontrol]

Regardless of the liability limit, be careful using debit cards online. If you're using a credit card, fraudulent charges are applied against your credit account until the situation is resolved. You're not actually out any money. If you're using debit cards, however, the money is immediately removed from your checking account, and you're out that money until the bank decides to replace it. There is no need to ask how I know this...