Credit Card hacked for the 4th time in as many months....any ideas??

[jodymarie aimee]

this last time $7.10 at McDonald's in Egypt....I do not even take it outside...only use it to order online thru PayPal...supposedly safe way to pay...mostly use ebay and etsy.....

MY Bank of 30 years is stymied...they don't know why this is happening....they did tell me Friday that there are 3 major credit agencies banks use...the most secure on the planet, and one was hacked.

The local Rs hate my guts, I get death threats in the postal mail....but I don't think they would be smart enough to do this.....

[msongs]

1. cancel the card, get a new bank? do you report the death threats to the PO and PD?

[jodymarie aimee]

2. FRAUD cancels the card each time..

I do think a new bank is in order, as they have the routing # which will never change..

Written threats...PO can't do anything...this began in 2009...Cops can't seem to do anything either unless they come after me in person...all is anonymous..I take them to the DA..like I said 9 years now....they may just be getting their rocks off...

[mercuryblues]

3. Cancel your paypal acct

your credit card and your bank account and open all new ones. I'm betting your paypal was hacked.

I would consider using a pre-paid card for a month or so, just to be sure.


The small charge was just a test. If it goes through without a challenge, they buyer of your CC# goes to town

[jodymarie aimee]

4. thank you

Must and will do all 3...they have charged 100s of dollars, but bank reimbursed me so far.

[Blue_true]

14. In my case, they kept charging until they hit a credit limit, or got insufficient funds notice.

They are heartless, you are nameless and faceless to them, if your credit card limit is $30,000, they will charge every penny of that. They don't care if, as a result, you end up homeless and unable to pay bills or buy food and critical care medicines, if you have a medical condition. They are complete scum.

[ellie]

29. My PayPal

was hacked last year. It was a bit of a nightmare to straighten out.

[grantcart]

5. Three months ago I got a call from the fraud department at the bank

They had 4 transactions that they thought were fraudulent.

We settled quickly that the first three were fraud, they were used to replenish debit accounts for three different prisoners at a California prison.

It was the 4th that gave me the most satisfaction.

After talking with the bank and getting all of the details I called the Blythe California Police Department.

I asked if they had a patrolman who could drive over to the address I provided.

They did and they sent him right over.

They caught the fellow who used my account to help his friends inside as he was still eating the pizza that they bought on the card and had delivered to his apartment.

All the idiot had to do was go down and pick the pizza up and they would never have found him.

[jodymarie aimee]

6. how did your bank find the bad guy?

mine doesn't seem to have a clue...some were from France automotive shops, now Egypt...

But great news for you, Columbo...thanks so much...

[sarah FAILIN]

8. I think they are saying the pizza was delivered

Like to a home, lol.

Maybe I misunderstood, but dumb.

[grantcart]

9. They went to the house where they delivered the pizza, lol

[Awsi Dooger]

7. Great story...I had something similar about a year ago

Several bogus small charges at a company with a distinct name. I looked it up and it was a smaller rural eatery in Minnesota. I called them and described the fraud. They recognized my name and said the card being used under that name was by someone they had never seen before, a scruffy guy coming in recently to eat breakfast and sometimes dinner.

I contacted the bank and also the local police in Minnesota. The charges were small, without any major attempts, so we decided to wait. Sure enough, the same guy tried to use the card again a day later, and was apprehended. The owner called the local police as soon as the guy showed up.

[Blue_true]

17. They count on not being caught redhanded.

My debit card was hit for hundreds of dollars in sequential transactions. For some reason, I chose to check activity on that card the day after the transactions. The fraud department of the major chain where the online transactions were made stopped shipment of the goods, I hope some really big arrests came out of that, the charge grand larceny, I even hope they got all the way back to who provided the skimmer that skimmed my card.

They count of you or your bank not noticing early enough to stop the transactions and make arrests possible.

The thing that get me is the people that do this don't give a damn about what happens to the cardholder. I am healthy and was able to take the financial blow, but I could have been sickly and needed the money immediately for critical medicine, or I could not have been able to pay a Mortage because they stole my money and created a situation where I would not see it again, or would have to wait a week or more to have my account replenished.

I am glad that they caught the guy with the pizza, if I were you, I would have paid the cops to have been there when they arrested his ass.

[MaryMagdaline]

25. You are so right. They don't care. Thank God my mortgage payment went through

[Hekate]

36. We got a call about our card -- someone over a hundred miles away spent $300 at a McDonalds

The thieves got our card number because someone hacked into Home Depot's customer credit card system. Did Home Depot tell us? Noooo.

[ProudLib72]

37. $300 at McDonald's? Must have been tRump!

[MaryMagdaline]

10. I have been hacked 5 or 6 times

Last one was bad. They hacked debit card and freely wrote checks. Absolutely had my personal information, social, etc. bank could not find a solution so I froze account and I use only the other bank where my savings are.

I believe it was an inside job. The banks don’t care because they get paid by insurance.

I gave up using any debit card. Just credit card with chip. One hack since then but cc company caught it immediately because they used it without a chip.

Also a hassle because I can’t write checks at grocery store. Once I was reported as a victim, I am in some sort of national list. So ... when I need cash, I have to go to the bank and cash a check. No ATM.

I was lucky in the sense that my life’s savings are in another bank. I only bounced one small check before funds were returned by bank. The small check was to my landscaper and I was able to get cash to him before he had any penalties. I never have such a large amount of cash in checking. Knew I was paying contractors for home repairs, took a lot out of savings and put into checking. This I think was a trigger ... that and creating a new password and finally taking my husband’s name off the account (died 3 years earlier).

Recommendations? Credit card with chip only. I don’t know what else to recommend.

[Blue_true]

18. Them getting all of your personal information is scary.

One of my debit card was recently skimmed and although I cancelled the card, I am nervous that they somehow got my personal information and now can do major damage. It is scary and infuriating at the same time.

[MaryMagdaline]

24. Very much so

I debated calling the credit agencies to put a freeze on my credit. A friend of mine had to do that and says it’s a big hassle whenever she needs to borrow money. I checked six months after the incident and no one opened any accounts in my name, so hopefully it is ok now.

[Blue_true]

31. Yes, it is a hassle. It turns things upside down.

I am really paranoid about financial transactions that I thought nothing of before my latest situation.

[ellie]

30. I have no idea

I have a debit card with the chip and have been hacked three times since getting it. They are stealing from the wrong person. I have no money.

[MurrayDelph]

11. I don't use debit cards

If a credit card has a fraudulent charge that the back didn't catch, you say "it wasn't me," and they can't charge you until they show that it was.

If a debit card has a bogus charge that the back didn't catch and you say "it wasn't me," you might not get your money back until you can show it wasn't.

[GoCubsGo]

16. Same here.

In fact, the bank that holds my credit card always seems to catch fraudulent charges before I do--not that I have had many of them.
As much as I love my credit union, I don't know if they'd be that diligent with a debit card. They could be, but I don't want to find out the hard way. I'll just pay the credit card every month or use cash.

[Blue_true]

19. Or like with one of my debit cards.

They just keep charging stuff until they get an insufficient funds warning. It is truly disgusting.

[Blue_true]

12. If you can, study your transaction history.

Try to figure out when your card was compromised, that should have been some time before the phony transaction.

Recently I got one of my debit cards skimmed somewhere. Luckily for me, I somehow checked activity on that card the morning after a series of phony transactions were made. I called the company that the transactions were made at and their fraud detection people put a stop on shipment of the goods. They would not tell me much more than the charges would be reversed, but if they were smart, they would have gotten police involved and set up a goods delivery sting to make an arrest, arrests of that nature can lead to bigger arrests, at least I hope that happened.

I have been victimized by credit card fraud before, once be someone in a travel agency that did extended travel planning for me. The second time by someone in the Middleeast after I used my credit card there.

I cancelled the cards in all three cases.

For me, the debit card being skimmed is the most troubling because the card never left my hands and I previously considered all the places where I used it, including online, to be safe in that all places were well established businesses. Also, with the debit card, I am not sure that it was not skimmed at a major bank ATM, that to me is really unsettling - recently, I heard a radio report about a skimmer being found on an ATM of one of the biggest banks in Florida, at a branch in my town. I no longer do bank ATM withdrawals unless the ATM is visible to a lot of car and foot traffic and only when bank employees are at work, and I withdraw from an ATM that is attached to the bank branch building because I assume that is the first one that bank employees check when opening the branch. I absolutely NEVER use ATMs in convenience stores.

[VOX]

13. Use caution (or cash) in restaurants, or anywhere that your card goes out of your eyesight...

As things can go south quickly. A couple of years back, I paid for a meal at a restaurant with my CC, and within 12 hours my account was charged with hundreds of dollars in clothing "purchases" at a store 3,000 miles away.

The charges were immediately removed by the issuing bank, but it's ALL on you to report and do the clean up.

[Blue_true]

20. My card got skimmed and it never left my hands.

Just use cash as much as possible and if you got to a bank ATM, use it only after bank employees have been at work for a while and only use one that is visible and attached to the bank building - and I am not that is safe anymore.

Even if your card has a chip, if they skim the card number, the ex date and the security code, they can make online purchases. That is what happened to me.

[MaryMagdaline]

26. The other good thing about cc vs debit card is that you won't bounce checks

Worst that will happen? You hit your limit and cannot use while everything is being sorted out

[Blue_true]

33. Yes, that is the only benefit of a cc.

But even then, they can do major financial damage if enough money is involved. If they get business cards, they can literally bankrupt a single owner business in a day. They just don't care if people lose income and jobs. I despise them and think that they are scum.

[ProudLib72]

38. I started going inside to pay for gas because of the risk of skimming at the pumps

So what if it takes an extra five minutes. That's better than having hours of anxiety over fraud.

[Blue_true]

40. I have been doing that for a while.

My card got skimmed by a skimmer set up inside a building. I only buy online through Amazon, never had a issue with that company.

[ProudLib72]

41. I use Amazon for a lot of things, too

On occasion, they send some really strange packages instead of what I ordered. One time they sent chocolate molds and some USB connector thing. They expedited my original order, so all was good. It makes you wonder, though.

[mackdaddy]

15. They have "Single Use" credit card number services for on-line shopping.

As I understand it you get a new number each time you make a purchase from the service.

https://lifehacker.com/5831160/use-virtual-credit-card-numbers-to-shop-safely-online-keeping-in-mind-the-downsides

[Blue_true]

21. Is that expensive?

Lifehacker, sounds like it is affiliated with Lifeline, they guy that started the company and speaks for it is a major rightwinger.

[tammywammy]

22. Lifehacker is not affliliated with Lifeline

It's a blog that's a part of Gawker media or whatever it's called now.

[Blue_true]

23. Great. I will look into it. Thanks. nt

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

27. Remember to change your passwords. Seems like this coming season

we should be extra careful and vigilant about our out cyber security. Just changing your password eliminates so much. Just a friendly reminder.

[at140]

28. Been using credit cards for 35 years

at least a dozen different ones, and had only 1 problem
in all these years when a gas station charged identical amount
twice. It was cleared by the credit card company quickly.

Although once I was on the road 1200 miles from home and my credit card was rejected at gas station and motel. Luckily I had another spare card to use. Upon calling the card company, I was told it was not my fault, but the problem was the particular card group (whatever that is) was hacked, and they stopped all cards in that group. They said a new card was in mail. I said that does not do me much good since I am 1200 miles from home and will not be home for 3-4 weeks. So then they r-activated my card for one week only.

[Turbineguy]

32. I have found that Chase

bank has aggressive fraud protection.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

34. I've found the exact opposite to be true re Chase.

[GregD]

35. scrub your computer

I'm an e-commerce developer and regrettably, I hear about stuff like this far too often.

My first suggestion before you go closing accounts or such is to make sure your computer is no compromised.

I encourage you to install www.malwarebytes.com (it's free) and run a full scan. Also install a commercial anti-virus program, unless you already have one, and do a full/deep scan.

[Freddie]

39. My daughters identity was stolen

Last week. They got her SS#, DOB and home address.
1st thing she got an email "Thank you for shopping at Newport News Kohls." We live in PA. At Kohls all you have to do is give your SS# at the register and tell them you forgot your card, and they will look up your account and put stuff on your card. The thief guessed correctly that she has a Kohls card.
Then they went to both ATT and Sprint stores, opened new accounts and bought several thousands of Apple products without attaching them to phone #s, presumably for street sales.
Daughter belongs to a service that alerts her if a hard inquiry is made to a credit bureau which is how she found out about the ATT and Sprint accounts. She froze her credit at all 3 bureaus (new hard inquiries will be denied), changed her bank account and filed a police report. Pretty sure the damage is contained as they did not get her banking info and she froze all her credit cards. Said ATT and Sprint were very helpful, apparently this happens all the time although they don't seem to try to stop it at the store level.