Credit Card # Stolen

**Intercooled** · 05-15-2005, 06:07 PM

My wife and i just got a phone call from Dillards Dept. Store in Texas. The store was checking on an online order made today for a large sum of money. We confirmed that we didn`t order anything. We then called the credit card company and found out that $11,916.00 was purchased on my wifes account over the last 6 days. My wife has made some online purchases in the past and now i`m really upset and disturbed how this happened. We wont be liable for the charges, thank god!! I`ve used my card many times to make purchases from online Car polish vendors and such. Very scary!!

Just thought I`d drop a note here for all you guys to just beware!!!

**SilverLexus** · 05-15-2005, 06:41 PM

I use a card with a low credit limit just to be careful.

I`m sorry that happened to you two.

**Intercooled** · 05-15-2005, 06:44 PM

Silver, I`m thiking about getting a credit card with a very low limit just for internet purchases. I wonder if thats possible.I mean requesting a low limit from a credit card company?

**imported_perry** · 05-15-2005, 09:01 PM

Originally posted by Intercooled

Silver, I`m thiking about getting a credit card with a very low limit just for internet purchases. I wonder if thats possible.I mean requesting a low limit from a credit card company?

My company, MBNA, allows me to generate numbers with a set expiration date, limit of my choosing, and they`re only good at one vendor. I believe that Citibank may also offer that feature, and probably others.

For instance, I ordered a new hard drive for my computer this past week for $112. So I made a card with a limit of $115 set to expire next month. If the number gets stolen, it can`t be used elsewhere and someone else can`t use it at the same place and get more than $3 of stuff. And if they do want that $3 of stuff, they need to hurry because the card expires next month. Pretty safe, huh?

You should be able to request that your company lower your limit if you don`t want to apply for a new card.

Did they actually use a card at all the different places? Just online orders? Could they have stolen some of those checks that the cc company sends for you to write against your credit limit?

**Corey Bit Spank** · 05-15-2005, 10:33 PM

That`s odd, capitol one called me when I purchased college books to ask if it was me purchasing them. And I have a $500 limit, lol.

They always call my parents when they make a large purchase too. Infact, when they go on trips they call up to verify that it`s actually them making the purchases. It`s really annoying sometimes but it makes me happy to know they watch.

**kpounds** · 05-15-2005, 11:47 PM

My understanding how this is done is the thieves `park` at busy websites and bank sites and try to get the CC/debit card numbers when you go from a secure page onto a regular page and somehow they can see the numbers stored in your temporary internet files.

Best thing to do after making a purchase is logout if possible then close the browser completely (red x). That stops the `data trail` right there. Then clear out your temporary internet files ASAP before browsing again as you`ll be carrying that info along with you and someone might be able to view it. You can do it in Windows or there`s a great free program called Diskcleaner that does it one click. http://www.xs4all.nl/~mp2004/ Cleaning the temp files every so often also speeds up web surfing as your not carrying the extra files around like an extra weight.