Actually it was my husband's but same account - American Express. I have alerts set for all online purchases and large purchases. It was $747 at some pos cell phone website. Go enjoy.com- sounds like a Vegas escort service. I caught it right away put a stop to it immediately. Got the phone number of the place and called and ripped into them for it- I know it wasn't their fault. What really makes me mad is that they won't tell you who used your card and where it is shipping to. It is not a financial institution. Why does a thief have a right to privacy? Total bullshit. My advice to everyone set your card to notify you of every transaction by message to your cell phone. . Nip it in the bud.
Hey Vwhiten! Hubby had SAME problem with two weird charges in vegas (one I think was like a music download set of charges to a foreign radio/music download site.) They were small ($60 or so) , but we watch our accounts like a hawk. FYI we have lifelock, and luckily, on top of this, we were alerted to two credit cards that someone had OPENED in his name. Since we didn't approve those cards, we never would have known they'd been opened, had lifelock not let us know we had new accounts opened. So, if you experience fraud, checking accounts might not be enough. You might consider running a free credit report or something in a month, just to make sure nothing's opened in your name. The final straw was that, after all of this, someone hacked one of our joint cards and put their email Addy in as the main email. Luckily I saw a weird email and asked if he updated it...giant NO. Hopefully yours is a one time thing, but in addition to lifelock, since we kept having things happen, we knew we were on someone's radar, and we froze his credit reports for now so that no one can open anything. (That was a VMB tip, thanks guys!) I'm so sorry for experience, it feels awful and is scary to know how easily it can happen!
We have lifelock too. I love American Express. Years ago I had someone purchase airline tickets - we got notified right away. This was before there were cell phone texts and notifications. Last month 20 or so people had their debit cards hacked from a gas station in a little town of around 2000 people just down the road from us. Someone was able to get the info from the pump. I always use Amex for gas- I never use my debit card for gas. My bank also has a setting in the app where you can turn your debit card off and on.
I'm glad you have lifelock. I didn't want to suggest it and sound salesy, it just makes me SOOO nervous knowing that, if you DO have major identity theft, you're on your own to restore your credit...so I like the insurance. On gas stations, I remember years ago they had problems because they don't dispose of the printer reels properly. I've been careful ever since. Same goes with work printers...offices get rid of printers once old, but most companies rarely delete hard drives with stored image data. As with everything in life, techology has its pros and cons! My rule of thumb in life, no matter the protection, someone will find a way around it. Again, I am so sorry for your experience, but I'm VERY glad you caught it!!!!!
I have had a few breaches on 2 of my cards, both from CHASE BANK. they usually happen a few days or weeks after a vegas visit. each time I was notified from CHASE for possible fraud. It was taken care of promptly, but that violated feeling sure does suck. with tons of tourists whipping out their cards constantly, or the crooks scanning your wallet as you stroll down the strip, Vegas would be the ideal place for these criminals to find victims.
I thought the new chip cards prevented the scanning your wallet etc. My husband orders crap off the internet from little mom and pop cheesy websites. I have been telling him to knock it off unless they take PayPal. He only does this to save a few bucks from other well known internet sites and usually it is crap he doesn't even need.
A hacker on the street can only scan your credit card remotely if the card uses RFID technology - and most do not. Chances are better that a card number is stolen by a worker at one of the shops it was used at or by a skimmer on an ATM machine. This is a very interesting article on the whole RFID credit card thing: http://www.infoworld.com/article/3023422/security/why-you-dont-need-an-rfid-blocking-wallet.html
Happened to me once after I used my visa for a cab ride at Newark. Airport when we lived closer.. Visa called me to report suspicious activity,someone was gambling in an offshore casino . Maybe if they won they could use the money credited to my visa to buy something?? My apoligies to that immigrant cabbie if it wasnt him,maybe it was where we were returning from. Might have been vegas ,dont remember.
I had (2) charges show up on my card a week ago for Office Supplies that were ordered from the same company. A company that I've never used before. Both charges were for $149.00 each. My CC company took care of it.
The proper technology is chip and pin. A thief would need to know your PIN to use the card. That's how it works in Europe but we don't have PINs in the USA. There is a large gap between ID theft and someone using your credit card fraudulently. One of my credit cards gets swiped about every 2 years. The credit card company is always right on top of it and shuts my account down and mails me out a new card. It's nothing to panic over. About 5 years ago my credit card was used to purchase $34 worth of take-away food from a restaurant in Utrecht, Netherlands.
I check my charge accounts daily. Not a hassle, I have a macro to do the log-in for all cards. Over the years, I have had maybe 5 or 6 fraudulent charges on various cards. The biggest hassle is disputing a charge and the CC company issuing a new card/new number and then I have to change all the auto-billing accounts I have in use.
Over the years I have had 2-3 cards get hacked/compromised/whatever. Bank takes care of it right away. We order TONS online and use cards all the time. No reason to stop doing that. By the way, we do not use a debit card for anything. Nothing. Only for ATM for cash.
Target store credit card REDcard has converted over to chip and pin, glad one major vendor has decided to lead the way
I quit doing the "auto-billing" for this reason. I pay everything thru my bank's bill pay and now only have one credit card through the same bank. I understand why vendor's LOVE the auto-bill option and some offer incentives to participate, but I've just had a couple minor bad-experiences. One, I couldn't get to stop the subscription... they continued to bill me for 3 or 4 months after we agreed to separate. It was just a hassle. Under the electronic bill pay... when I don't want to pay a payee anymore, I just don't. I'm a freak about checking my accounts any ways, so I'm always on it.
OK, but your bank's bill pay doesn't earn you anything. No airline miles, no cash back, etc. At least my bank's bill pay is squat for rewards.
Sorry to hear about that, Val! It's insane that credit/personal info thieves have a right to privacy, too! Losing peace of mind is the worst... A few years back the son of a family friend who was working as a cashier stole my check card number and ordered a lot of items from outside our area. My bank called me to ask/inform me and I didn't have to pay for what he charged. I had to pay a $30 fee for a new account and card number, though! RICHARD
GREAT point! I find myself really trying to pay for more and more things with my credit-card for exactly that reason and then transfer money over to that account to cover the charges, but you're correct I'm leaving those auto-pay type charges "on the table", so to speak. I could go on the vendor's website and pay that way, but that's a hassle... I concede the point!
I read this earlier from another poster. (privacy) It is NOT about the bad guys having more privacy. It is about YOUR privacy. After all, how do they know who is calling and asking for this information. Wife, husband, boyfriend, crazy sibling, fraudster, etc. They just do not give out that information.
I can understand that they might not know who it is. But then why do they assume that the person ordering is you? Obviously if I am talking to a store/customer service rep and I can give them all the info they already have on the card they could tell me who ordered it or at least mail the information they have listed as the billing address. The billing address would have had to match my credit card address. How could it be an invasion of my privacy to send a statement to the owner of the freaking credit card. All I want to know is who the jerk was. Hope he is sitting in his bean bag chair on the porch waiting for the cell phone that is never coming.