Victim; Credit Card Fraud

[natebood]

On top of already having a crappy week this past week, I awoke from a nap Thursday night and checked my bank account online to find that my account was -$300+. I KNEW that I had not overdrawn my account and quickly panicked. It was roughly after 8 p.m. and all the banks were already closed. None of the transactions had posted yet, so I proceeded to call the 24 hr phone line to check on the recent transactions. Low and behold it said that I had made several $130+ purchases in Willsbury, NY! (I live in Missouri BTW).



So the next day I notify my bank....come to find out that besides the Walmart transactions, there were charges from a Circuit City, Bad Bath and Beyond, and some other transaction in GEORGIA! In total there was around $600 in charges that were obviously not made by me. To top it off, money started being taken out of Savings account to compensate the overdrawn checking account.



I spoke with the manager at my bank that had already placed a block on my account and stated that it was in fact....Credit Card Fraud. She said that these "professionals" are able to reproduce the check card and 9/10 times are able to use it because cashiers, etc. do not ask for ID`s. She told me that my actual checking account had not been compromised, but only that my Visa check card number had been. I never would`ve thought that I`d ever become the victim of such a crime. I`ve always been good about shredding all my receipts/paperwork and only buying from major, reputable online vendors.



Good News

The good news is that I`ll be getting every last cent of my money back and will be issued a new card and account number. She said that I did not have to worry about changing my checking account number, but out of comfort....I may do so in the next few days. The manager mentioned that it was good that I had caught it early on, but after $600 in charges...I don`t think it was early enough! So beware of how and when you use your credit/check cards!



P.S. You think they`ll let me be on one of those Credit Card Fraud commercials? :think:

[SpoiledMan]

Good thing you caught it early!



My wife brought an AMEX Gold Card with her into our marriage and we only used it when we dined out. About 9 months or so into our marriage we get a monthly bill that was over $1500 even though we hadn`t been over ~$300 ever in our regular charges. Reviewing the bill the charges were for gas and convenience store purchases about 60 miles from where we live. I called AMEX and explained to them what I saw and the charges were simply removed with no further questions asked. The following months bill was corrected on the statement to remove the purchases that were made after the previous billing period. IMO AMEX was a dream to deal with in the situation.

[honkeybizkit]

The more I hear about these stories it really scares me. About 2 months ago I added Identity Theft coverage on my homeowners insurance policy. The coverage was actually pretty good, and it only added $25 a year to our policy and it covers up to $15,000. It is good because it will cover whatever the bank/credit cards won`t pick up, plus in-store financing which seems to be a popular way of stealing idenities. Also covers court cost, if you can prosecute.



-Jon

[victory]

Good thing you caught it early!



My wife brought an AMEX Gold Card with her into our marriage and we only used it when we dined out. About 9 months or so into our marriage we get a monthly bill that was over $1500 even though we hadn`t been over ~$300 ever in our regular charges. Reviewing the bill the charges were for gas and convenience store purchases about 60 miles from where we live. I called AMEX and explained to them what I saw and the charges were simply removed with no further questions asked. The following months bill was corrected on the statement to remove the purchases that were made after the previous billing period. IMO AMEX was a dream to deal with in the situation.

Amex is great to deal with, as long as you`re a card holder and not a vendor.