Today's Fraud and Card Skimming

[COBI]

You have certain timeframes to report fraud activity for reimbursement. At my bank, we generally give immediate "provisional" credit (meaning if it turns out to be a valid transaction, we take it back) when you file a fraudulent transaction report.

And it's not always someone stealing card numbers. We recently had tens of thousands of dollars go through against multiple random accounts by some criminals in Spain who were just randomly trying account number and date combinations (assuming they used computer software for this), and whenever they got a hit, they would keep processing against that account until they received a denial.

And card companies "freezing" a card because of suspect transactions doesn't always work out the way we'd want; for example, I was out of town for a wedding that I was in and used a card that I didn't use often so the cc company saw these transactions happening outside of my normal area and tried to contact me (I wasn't home), and then decided to freeze my card so that I was unable to use it for the rest of the weekend.

 

[ClaireAvril]

Quote:

Originally Posted by COBI I was out of town for a wedding that I was in and used a card that I didn't use often so the cc company saw these transactions happening outside of my normal area and tried to contact me (I wasn't home), and then decided to freeze my card so that I was unable to use it for the rest of the weekend.

that sucks! You didn't call the company to verify the transacations and have them re-activate the card?
That happened to me once. My friend was trying to pay her phone bill with my credit card (she had given me the cash). the person processing the bill payment was adding too many zeros to the amount (therefore getting declines) and the CC company just started rejecting all transactions.
I really appreciate financial institutions who at least try to be on top of protecting their customers at the moment the suspected fraud is happening- not after the fact.

For the other post.. if you feel the limit on your credit card is too high.. just lower it!

 

[COBI]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ClaireAvril that sucks! You didn't call the company to verify the transacations and have them re-activate the card? That happened to me once. My friend was trying to pay her phone bill with my credit card (she had given me the cash). the person processing the bill payment was adding too many zeros to the amount (therefore getting declines) and the CC company just started rejecting all transactions. I really appreciate financial institutions who at least try to be on top of protecting their customers at the moment the suspected fraud is happening- not after the fact. For the other post.. if you feel the limit on your credit card is too high.. just lower it!

It didn't affect me (and I didn't realize it) until 6:30a on Saturday morning when we were at the hair salon, and at that time, there wasn't a 24/7 call center, so I was SOL. But it had been "hot carded" the night before after Friday's transactions.

 

[Blushbaby]

I check my online banking every couple of days, cover my pin at cashpoints and don't let waiters walk off with my card in restaurants! I'd rather pay in cash than let a random walk off with card to do lord knows what to it behind the scenes!

I think i'm pretty fraud savvy and touch wood haven't been affected by it yet.

 

[blindpassion]

My mom works for the Royal Bank of Canada and she sees stuff like this every single day, these people are getting more and more creative with their scamming... its really terrible.

 

[X4biddenxLustX]

My dad seriously thinks I'm crazy for being so paranoid about fraud. I truly don't think he knows how bad its gotten these days and how easy it is. I had asked him the other night about lowering the credit limit cause it was like $6,500 on the one and the other one was $8,000. When I seen those amounts I was just like

, I don't need that high of a limit! But he told me that it was okay and that if anything did happen, I could just tell the CC company and they'll take care of it. Umm, sure... maybe they can, but the idea of some criminal somehow getting my CC info or card and charging several thousand dollars of stuff on it still makes me shudder

. This debt agency recently tried to scam him actually by altering some old verizon bills from 1998 and 1999 and trying to say he owes them money. The zipcode and the spelling of his name was wrong so we had legit proof they were just trying to scam us. Luckily we got that sorted out and everything should be okay now.

I've been considering getting a bank account when I get my next job. During my last job I just had my dad cash my paychecks for me and my parents would just give me money whenever I needed it and kept track of my "balance" for me. I know I'm going to need a bank account one day, I just don't feel like I know enough about the banks besides deposit and withdrawal (gosh, schools should teach more about banks beyond deposit and withdrawals!). Are there any bigger banks out there that are good at protecting you in case of fraud? The ones we have around here are Citizen's, PNC, National City, and Fifth and Third bank.

 

[Odette]

Same crap happened to me just before Xmas. They took $1700. Funnily enough the bank had just sent me a new card with chip in it that does not allow it to be copied, but dunce that I was I had not activated it.

I was pissed. The bank actually called me and automatically froze my card.

I got my money back within two days and was given a new card.

I am very leery of using it now.

 

[X4biddenxLustX]

^^Thats good you got your money back even though it may of caused some trouble. I would freak out if I couldn't get mines back!


Today this morning, I just got a call from ANOTHER debt collection agency. It was one of those automated ones that just said they were a debt collection agency and are trying to collect a debt and gave a 1800 number to call back. They didn't mention any names, so Idk. It's just weird that shortly after we finally dealt with another agency and it was proven that they were a fake, another one contacts us. I just want this nonsense to stop and leave us alone!

 

[ClaireAvril]

Quote:

Originally Posted by X4biddenxLustX ^^Thats good you got your money back even though it may of caused some trouble. I would freak out if I couldn't get mines back! Today this morning, I just got a call from ANOTHER debt collection agency. It was one of those automated ones that just said they were a debt collection agency and are trying to collect a debt and gave a 1800 number to call back. They didn't mention any names, so Idk. It's just weird that shortly after we finally dealt with another agency and it was proven that they were a fake, another one contacts us. I just want this nonsense to stop and leave us alone!

OMG that is crazy! these criminals will do anything.. you have to be so careful.

 

[ClaireAvril]

Quote:

Originally Posted by blindpassion My mom works for the Royal Bank of Canada and she sees stuff like this every single day, these people are getting more and more creative with their scamming... its really terrible.

yup... I used to work for a bank.. (not RBC). I worked in the ABM department - analyzing what people are putting in the banking machine (people think no one really checks that stuff which is weird).. WE could see all the fraud that was going on via the machine. These people would have a copy of your card and your pin number.. then deposit empty envelopes into the machine then try to take the "money" out.

AT work I overhead a manager saying her account had been cleaned out.. and the person she was speaking to said it had happened to her too! When are the CDN banks bringing in this chip and pin debit card?

I think the best thing is to keep all of your limits very low so they can't leave you dry if they do get a hold of your information. And if you know that you won't be using your card for some time temporarily turn off access to your accounts and when you're ready to use the card again.. call the bank and turn it back on.

 

[X4biddenxLustX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ClaireAvril OMG that is crazy! these criminals will do anything.. you have to be so careful.

I know, seriously how can these people who work for these "debt collection agencys" (more like scammers!) sleep at night knowing that they've spent their whole day just trying to rip people off?!

I didn't call the 1-800 they left me since they didn't mention in the automated message who they were trying to contact. Plus I was just too scared to call them and say the wrong thing and then have them try to twist my words. So I ended up calling the consumer protection agent that helped us out with the first fraud agency. She said confirmed my suspicions that this prob is just another scam and that I'll have to file a complain with the Philadelphia office because they are the ones who handles the complaints for this agency specifically. Seriously, shame on Verizon for SELLING our old information to these criminals. They don't even deny they didn't sell it to them either. I'm seriously trying to boycott them soon.



I think when I open my first bank account, I don't want a bank card. For me personally I don't really see much of a use for one. I either have the money for something or will use my credit card if I really need something that badly. I always carry cash on me anyways. I also don't want to run the risk of getting my account completely wiped out. Sure I can prob get the money back if it was because of fraud but I just want to avoid as much trouble as I can.

 

[ashleydawn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by X4biddenxLustX My dad seriously thinks I'm crazy for being so paranoid about fraud. I truly don't think he knows how bad its gotten these days and how easy it is. I had asked him the other night about lowering the credit limit cause it was like $6,500 on the one and the other one was $8,000. When I seen those amounts I was just like , I don't need that high of a limit! But he told me that it was okay and that if anything did happen, I could just tell the CC company and they'll take care of it. Umm, sure... maybe they can, but the idea of some criminal somehow getting my CC info or card and charging several thousand dollars of stuff on it still makes me shudder . This debt agency recently tried to scam him actually by altering some old verizon bills from 1998 and 1999 and trying to say he owes them money. The zipcode and the spelling of his name was wrong so we had legit proof they were just trying to scam us. Luckily we got that sorted out and everything should be okay now. I've been considering getting a bank account when I get my next job. During my last job I just had my dad cash my paychecks for me and my parents would just give me money whenever I needed it and kept track of my "balance" for me. I know I'm going to need a bank account one day, I just don't feel like I know enough about the banks besides deposit and withdrawal (gosh, schools should teach more about banks beyond deposit and withdrawals!). Are there any bigger banks out there that are good at protecting you in case of fraud? The ones we have around here are Citizen's, PNC, National City, and Fifth and Third bank.

Idk where you live but if you have TD Bank (used to be Commerce) near you they are awesome. Once when I went to Forever 21 they swiped my card on a register then said "oh that ones broken" and swiped it again on a diff register and said I would not be charged twice cause the first didn't go through. Then as soon as I got home I checked my balance and there were 2 charges for the same amount from them. I called Commerce right away and they refunded my money immediately no questions asked. Also another time I signed up for a "free" credit report online and it was like free for x number of days and then you get charged kind of deal and even though I cancelled they kept charging me for stuff and my bank refunded me for that as well w/o any problems. They really have amazing customer service.

 

[X4biddenxLustX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ashleydawn Idk where you live but if you have TD Bank (used to be Commerce) near you they are awesome. Once when I went to Forever 21 they swiped my card on a register then said "oh that ones broken" and swiped it again on a diff register and said I would not be charged twice cause the first didn't go through. Then as soon as I got home I checked my balance and there were 2 charges for the same amount from them. I called Commerce right away and they refunded my money immediately no questions asked. Also another time I signed up for a "free" credit report online and it was like free for x number of days and then you get charged kind of deal and even though I cancelled they kept charging me for stuff and my bank refunded me for that as well w/o any problems. They really have amazing customer service.

I don't think there's a TD bank here, is it a bigger bank? They sound like a really good bank to have an account with. I help my dad out a lot with things, and whenever there's an issue with his bank account it takes a lot of calling THEM back to see if they've fixed the issue or not cause sometime they'll make you wait a day or two before it can be resolved.

 

[ClaireAvril]

TD stands for Toronto Dominion. if you're in Philly you won't have it there.. its a Canadian bank-- The best - I believe of the top 5 CDN banks. You may have heard of TD Waterhouse (Investments) or TD Ameritrade etc.. i think those are known in the US.

 

[X4biddenxLustX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ClaireAvril TD stands for Toronto Dominion. if you're in Philly you won't have it there.. its a Canadian bank-- The best - I believe of the top 5 CDN banks. You may have heard of TD Waterhouse (Investments) or TD Ameritrade etc.. i think those are known in the US.

It's in Canada, ohh! Yeah I've heard of TD Waterhouse and TD Ameritrade before on tv ads and what not.

 

[ms.marymac]

OMG! I just did a search for info on skimmers like how to spot them, etc. Look what came up!

YouTube - atm skimmer + msr206 for sale - please visit us at: http://www.legitbusiness.weebly.com

So people can just buy them from YouTube? I wonder how you could turn these POS jerks in?

 

[mochabean]

Fraud is seriously a huge issue right now. In the last 3 years I have had my credit card number stolen 3 times. All 3 times I was able to get all the charges reversed but it took a long time.

I think in our society right now we are accustomed to using our credit/debit card for every single transaction. It's much faster and convenient. I always used to use my debit/credit care for every single thing. But when I started noticing unauthorized transactions in my cards, I had to really look at my spending habits. So I now no longer use my debit/credit card when I buy stuff. I always use cash. And when I withdraw money I only go into the bank to get the cash. I never go to an ATM anymore. This has actually helped my spending habits. I've noticed I tend to buy less when I pay with cash rather than card! So at least that's a plus!

I know I'm anal about that stuff but I've had problems with people stealing money before so I have to be careful. Not a lot of people realize how easy it is to steal one's identity or money nowadays. I wish people were more careful! For example, I live in WA and almost all of my gas stations here have blocked off the credit card slot to pre-pay for gas. You have to physically go inside and pre-pay b/c the fraud/theft has been so high in my area. It's kind of scary!

 

[X4biddenxLustX]

ms.marymac: Whoever posted that video on youtube is a criminal and an idiot! I hope he got caught doing committing fraud and punished! Plus why would you put that on youtube anyways?! He's just asking for trouble.

mochabean: I think people today like convenience way too much, if that makes any sense. We like things to be easy so we'll find anyway we can to make things that way. Which includes using debit/credit cards on a much larger scale. I was told by my parents to try always to pay for things with cash and only use a credit card only when I have to. I can also see how it can also increase spending too, cause its just so damn easy to take your card out and just swipe it at the counter instead of counting bills and change!

Thats good that the gas stations are at least trying to do something to prevent this. I'm pretty sure the gas stations here still have a card slot to pay for gas outside. My dad always goes inside and pays with cash anyways and it only takes him like seriously 2 minutes and he's in and out of there and ready to pump gas. I can guess convenience isn't always the best thing for us.