Posted on 12/05/2010 10:11:52 AM PST by KeyLargo
Credit card thieves deliver costly lesson
December 3, 2010
By Fran Eaton
I wish this column was just a public service announcement on being careful about your credit cards during the Christmas shopping season, but it isn't. This week I was victimized by a thief while my credit card remained safe in my wallet in my purse.
Or, rather, I thought it was safe.
It wasn't until I got a call from a slightly irritated husband asking why our card was declined when he tried to use it for a purchase that I had reason to double-check our account. I was stunned to see purchases being made at local Speedways, the Crestwood Target, and the AMC theater in Schererville, Ind. Neither of us had been to any of those locations on those days. We'd been visiting family out of state.
Immediately I called the bank and canceled the card. Looking at the transactions, it became clear that a credit card had been made with my number and information. Nothing had been bought online. All was in-person. Except, it wasn't me making the purchases.
The next day, I went to MB Financial on Cicero Avenue. I was relieved that the customer service people were experienced in handling the situation.
"This happens a lot," personal banker Lara Roskos told me. "Especially around this time of the year, and in a year when so many people are having a rough time."
"How in the world does this happen?" I said. "I'm careful about where my wallet is. I don't leave my card lying around and I'm really careful about destroying any papers before putting them in the trash."
"There are people who sell good credit card numbers on the Internet," she said. "There are skimming machines on gas pumps that even the station owners don't realize have been attached. And I don't let my credit card out of my sight when I'm shopping."
But even then you have to trust waiters when your card is taken away at restaurants.
"A new scam is cashiers using their cell phones to take photos of the fronts and backs of your card, and using those numbers to create fraudulent cards," she said.
I then signed affidavits on each of the unauthorized transactions that had taken place while we were out of town, and bank manager Majde Mundi assured me our funds would reappear in our account within 10 to 14 days.
That was all good to hear, but I wondered, what would happen to the creep who went to the movies on my card?
"Frankly, it's hard to track these guys down," Mundi said. "We'll start an investigation and notify the different vendors, but chances are they'll just absorb the loss. This type of criminal activity has become factored into the cost of business."
In other words, the hundreds of dollars stolen from my account will be a Christmas gift to the culprits. That just couldn't be, I thought.
That was until I filed a report at the local police station.
"Frankly, we'll take this, but we won't be doing anything about it because none of these transactions happened in Oak Forest businesses," Sgt. Argelio Lopez told me. "If I were you, I'd go to Crestwood, Markham, Alsip and the other towns where the card was used and file reports there. It would be up to them to investigate. Wish we could help you more."
I asked the sergeant what people should do to avoid this happening to them.
"I'd use cash more if I were you," he said. "I tell my wife not to buy anything on the Internet."
Here he was telling me this on Cyber Monday, a day when Internet Christmas shopping surpassed all previous records. Can you imagine the heyday Internet thieves could have with all those card numbers?
So, on to the public service announcement.
How many times did you use your credit card or your debit card today? Where did you use it? Did it ever leave your sight? If so, you might want to keep an eye on your account over the next couple of weeks just to make sure that only those purchases are the ones coming up on your account.
The convenience of credit and debit cards will make most of us lackadaisical as our lives fill in with more and more busyness during the holidays. But take a lesson from my experience - protect your credit cards.
More than 10 million Americans fall victim to identity theft schemes, according to a recent Better Business Bureau report. It has been the No. 1 complaint to the Federal Trade Commission for the past five years.
Up until this week, I sympathized with those poor 10 million people, but I wasn't one of them. I thought I was careful enough to avoid those dilemmas. But I was wrong. It happened to me. Now I'll be anal about keeping my credit card within my sight and determining to use cash a little more often, especially at fast-food places where temporary workers are more common. It's nothing personal, it's just that I've learned my lesson.
A recent National Foundation for Credit Counseling online poll revealed that a majority of Americans fear identity theft.
"That is a healthy fear to have, if it leads them to take action," said Bob Ensinger, the foundation's chief operating officer.
I guess my fear is a healthy one. I'm taking action. It's much better to be on the offense than the defense. I'd suggest the same for you as we all do our best to have a lovely holiday season.
And just one comment to that person who enjoyed a movie, a shopping spree at Target and gas from a Markham Speedway on me: "Happy Holidays."
You could have asked.
Also why do some still print all your card numbers on, not one, but all pages of your statement? Same with bank statements.
Also I have more mail that’s not sealed come to me then I care to think about. Some mail don’t even get to me. I get others mail so I know others get my mail.
Post offices charge too much for boxes or I would go that route. I
refuse to put any outgoing mail in my box.
This doesn’t have much to do with the CC scams but...just sayin’.
That is the issue with debit cards. Once a debit card and PIN have been pulled from a skimmer they can make a fake card and pull cash out of an ATM.
You can be walking down the street, pass some one, and that some one can with the right equipment READ your credit card while it is in your wallet or purse. Saw it on the news last week.
From what I gathered from the story her card was photocopied front and back but then doesn’t that magnetic stripe carry the same information? How was that stripe recorded with the info? Was it read with a card reader then transferred? Seems that’s the way it has to be done. But in her case ....
Thanks, good idea. Will do right now.
“What would one look for at a gas station pump?”
Just what I mentioned, a different looking reader at an otherwise-identical pump. As opposed to a single ATM, you do have something to compare the reader to...just a quick glance is probably enough.
I was cheated by a bank employee many years ago. I went in to pay back about 1800.00 on a small school loan...turned out I did not need all the cash so I though I’d just pay it back rather than spend it. The bank employee scammed me and gave me some fake paperwork and I did not find out the truth until quite some time later. There was nothing I could do after so much time had passed. I learned a costly lesson....I should have payed the 1800.00 off by check...taking cash was a mistake.
Presence of a pistol-like device (pictured below.)
Very funny :-)))))
Of course the credit card companies could change the liability to the company that takes a bad card because the cashiers don’t bother to look at the picture.
There must be enormus profites in these cards if they don’t bother to close the fraud loopholes.
You know they have to.
TV news?
Local news investigative pieces and there was also a thread on FR about it. You tube it and see what you turn up.
I tried google, might not have used the right wording BUT I’m not able to see the screen well enough to see what I’m reading and not every page enlarges like FR does...on going unresolved vision problems. But I found this product that kind of backs up what the local news did.
http://www.mobileedge.com/i-d-sentry-wallet-credit-card.html
Millions of numbers are also stolen from banks internally by hackers.
We read now and then about such compromises.
There needs to be more effort to VALIDATE the purchases (and credit card requests).
Identity theft occurs because like illegal immigration (which SPAWNS identity theft) our government does not want to bother with adequate prosecution and the banks would be perfectly happy to extend credit.
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