Big Country Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 So, some SOB apparently got a hold of one of my Discover cards information. Fortunately they flagged this quickly and the account is already closed and the fraudulent charges are being reversed. I now want to track down where it came from to make sure I have not been further victimized. It is a card that I used to use a lot for just about everything, but recently switched to an American Express for my primary card. I did some googling and I guess what happened to me is not that uncommon. Like I said, not sure where the thieves got my information from, but it started with a $1.00 Netflix charge this morning. Sometime shortly after that, they tried to put through a charge of over $500 at T-Mobile. This is what caused the flag to happen and the account to be frozen. I found out when I tried to use the card at the grocery store this morning to grab a couple Valentine's cards, a couple apples and a bottle of water. Thought it was odd that I got declined for a $16 purchase. Got in to work and tried to look up the account online and got a message that the account was frozen and to call the fraud prevention line. Very helpful, I confirmed the legit charges, they are setting it up on a new account and cancelling and then investigating the fraudulent charges. Would love to get my hands on the bastards. I just pulled my credit report about 3 weeks ago to do an annual review of it. I assume I should pull it again for me and my wife. Should I inform each of the credit bureaus about this even though it appears to have been caught before any real damage was done? Maybe I should contact my other credit card companies and let them know about this? Any advice from anyone that has gone through this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puddy Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 (edited) Happened to me a few years ago. Someone bought something from Sprint online for $400+. I knew who actually did it, a contractor worked in my bathroom that day and he didn't carry a visa card machine with him so he had to write my information down. That night is when the fraud happened. Figured I had the guy completely busted. Filed a police report, called VISA to tell them the story, called the company who did the work... crickets. It was very frustrating but the lesson I learned is just make sure you aren't liable for the money and let it go. Pissed me off that I knew who did it and NOBODY cared. ETA: I didn't contact the credit bureaus as I luckily caught it right away and canceled the card. Edited February 14, 2011 by Puddy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Square Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Had one that I barely ever use get picked up. My guess is some website got hacked for it because somehow my card company called me in Nebraska and asked if I was making purchases in Florida. The equally strange part was that it showed my physical card being swiped. So I don't know if you really have an recourse in the good ol fashioned "open up a case o whoopass" sense of revenge. Just handle your chit and move on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SayItAintSoJoe Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 (edited) My mother-in-law was a victim a couple of years ago. After tracing back her charges she believed her info was stolen at a restaurant. Ever since then I never pay with a card at a restaurant. If you think about it, it’s one of the few places where you actually let a complete stranger just walk away with your card and take it out of sight for a few minutes. All it takes is a quick cell phone pic of the front and back of your card and they gotcha. Edited February 15, 2011 by SayItAintSoJoe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursa Majoris Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Had one that I barely ever use get picked up. My guess is some website got hacked for it because somehow my card company called me in Nebraska and asked if I was making purchases in Florida. The equally strange part was that it showed my physical card being swiped. So I don't know if you really have an recourse in the good ol fashioned "open up a case o whoopass" sense of revenge. Just handle your chit and move on. Easy to grab the data needed, then load a blank card. For all intents and purposes, it is the physical card. Pretty sure this has been plugged now, with each physical card having some random character stream that must be sent each time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SheikYerbuti Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 We've had our credit cards hacked twice in the last year. Last time was about a month ago and the guy tried to charge over $13,000 in electronics. Was pretty painless to take care of. . .CC company shut the card down, reversed the charges that did go through (nothing major). The only hassle is having to reset all the autopay stuff like Netflix, Amazon, etc (which is probably where it's getting hacked in the first place. . .sigh). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaman Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Not sure if it will help but if the fraudulent purchase was done online you can call the vendor or your CC company and see if they recorded the IP address for the purchase. Who knows, these idiots might be dumb enough to have done it from their house. If you happen to get the IP address go and run it through whois you probably get the city/state and then refer the case to the local police with as much info as you can. Maybe they'll work it or won't but by reporting it at least you are making sure there is a record and they will have it on their database. That way if he/she does it again it will pop up and make it more compelling to get investigated. Hell, if you get lucky enough and find out who it is, go all the way and report to the IRS and any 3 letter agency you can come up with. If the dude is out of your State it makes it Federal when it crosses State lines. You know... let'em have it really really good. Good Luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Square Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Easy to grab the data needed, then load a blank card. For all intents and purposes, it is the physical card. Pretty sure this has been plugged now, with each physical card having some random character stream that must be sent each time. I guess, I just figured it was more than a smash and grab type job considering they made a phsyical card from the info. Maybe it is easier than I think, but it seemed smarter / more involved than your typical CC snatcher. My experience happened last July so it's not too long ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursa Majoris Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 I guess, I just figured it was more than a smash and grab type job considering they made a phsyical card from the info. Maybe it is easier than I think, but it seemed smarter / more involved than your typical CC snatcher. My experience happened last July so it's not too long ago. Restaurants are the classic place for this. The waiter carries a reader in his pocket and swipes the card into the reader, which captures all the info. You get the card back, they use the info to load a blank card. Can't remember the details of how this can be defended against. Something to do with a hashing algorithm or number string, I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocknrobn26 Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Happened to me a few years ago. Someone bought something from Sprint online for $400+. I knew who actually did it, a contractor worked in my bathroom that day and he didn't carry a visa card machine with him so he had to write my information down. That night is when the fraud happened. Figured I had the guy completely busted. Filed a police report, called VISA to tell them the story, called the company who did the work... crickets. It was very frustrating but the lesson I learned is just make sure you aren't liable for the money and let it go. Pissed me off that I knew who did it and NOBODY cared. ETA: I didn't contact the credit bureaus as I luckily caught it right away and canceled the card. Similar thing w/ us several years ago. Got a call from the bank suspecting fraud from 3 small charges. They called us, closed the acct., all was fine. Ironically my wife a few days earlier went to a local florist and the cashier said their card reader was broken so she had to hand write the receipt. When the wife told me that, I called the bank and figured they'd want that info. They casually said, "We don't think that was it, because the scammers usually wait a month or so before using the info. Thank You anyway.". I had a hard time believing they didn't even take the info I wanted to give. At least we didn't have any negatives after the fact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowboutthemCowboys Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twiley Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 I got a call about 6 months ago regarding suspicious activity. Boy was that awkward - "Sir, we have a few charges being ran up from XXX strip club and we believe them to be fraudulent." :crickets: "Sir" "Uh yeah, run them through." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpwallace49 Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 I got a call about 6 months ago regarding suspicious activity. Boy was that awkward - "Sir, we have a few charges being ran up from XXX strip club and we believe them to be fraudulent." :crickets: "Sir" "Uh yeah, run them through." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Country Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 I guess, I just figured it was more than a smash and grab type job considering they made a phsyical card from the info. Maybe it is easier than I think, but it seemed smarter / more involved than your typical CC snatcher. My experience happened last July so it's not too long ago. Been watching a lot of this show called American Greed on CNBC. There have been a couple on hackers and credit card fraud, and it seems that this is not that uncommon. They hack in, download thousands or more cards, run bogus transactions to see which ones work, then create the physical cards and go nuts with them. Even better for them is getting debit card data. They make a couple hundred at a time, hit up an ATM machine and swipe and pull out as much as they can until the ATM machine is dry, then on to the next ATM machine. Going to review the last few months of statements to make sure nothing else slipped through Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebellab Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 No real advice, but a funny story. I was on vacation in Steamboat two weeks ago and we were downtown shopping and I was looking at some shirts when the guy next to me was looking at his phone and said great, someone in Australia is trying to use my American Express. I said boy that's the diaper dirts and he added that a month ago it was his Master Card. I am not sure if this guy was careless or had bad luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bier Meister Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 I got a call about 6 months ago regarding suspicious activity. Boy was that awkward - "Sir, we have a few charges being ran up from XXX strip club and we believe them to be fraudulent." :crickets: "Sir" "Uh yeah, run them through." sorry to hear bc. i just hope i got my disney vacation covered before they held the card. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cameltosis Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 This happened to me last year. The guy charged up a ton of computer stuff and had it delivered to his house like an idiot. According to the cops we weren't the only one this guy was ripping off. The cops told us they were going to set up a sting by intercepting the next delivery or something like that and arresting him when he accepted the shipment. I followed up on it a few times and got no response from the cops and it ultimately went away. I am guessing it never happened and the kid is still doing it to someone else. The only thing I can tell you is what Puddy said, get your money back and move on. Oh, and try not to pay with your CC at restaurants. I know it sucks but I guess quite a few of these things start from waiters taking your CC number and security code. Its one of the few times someone actually has your card in hand you are not able to see him. At least thats what the cop said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.