Credit Card warning...

this happens a LOT .. that's the problem..

the common trick and it's a well known trick shown here on TV many times, is they buy something like a book etc.. a small item to see if the card is rejected.

Someone tried to buy $1200 of memory on my sisters card years ago... of course the company who were selling the memory didn't like the fact the card address / delivery address were different and contacted my sister. Who in turn contacted the place selling the memory / police / card company.

the one thing that does amaze me that people use card for really cheap purchases and that increases the chances of people using it illegally.

the worst one was my friends account, it almost caused him to default on his mortgage. Someone inside the bank was behind that he reckons as they knew ALL the details. When he passed the branch the next day it was closed for "training".. more like an audit to catch the thieving git working there.

about hhmm 15 years ago a friend sent off his annual tax cheque... the bank contacted him.. the cheque was intercepted in the post and someone scratched off the payee + the amount and doctor it from £300 or something to £7000. My friend did see the doctored cheque at the police station and was suprised how convincing it looked after they'd changed the amount etc.

if people see a quick way of making money and have no morals, then they'll do it sadly.

Chase called me about 2 years ago from their FRAUD PREVENTION DEPARTMENT to notify me of two charges in Russia that collectively accounted for $4300 or so. They had already cleard them when they called me from the FRAUD PREVENTION DEPARTMENT. Uh - like they didnt prevent it - they just informed me. I raised holy hell with them. I had my $4300 back in like a week. I told them that if I ever got another call from the FRAUD PREVENTION DEPARTMENT where they had already approved the transaction, I was notifing the bank examiners and closing my account.

They got this last one - originally a charge for like $5 US or so that was occuring somewhere in England while I was firmly planted in the great country of Texas. We can secede from this steaming POS that the US is trying hard to become. HAH. I already have my flag ready.

Dude I so totally want to go to Argentina. I was telling my son - if I have to hang out somewhere the rest of my days and if for some reason the US aint it, Argentina is it. Wine, fly fishing, bird hunting, mountains, beautiful women... if they would just all have the courtesy to speak english it would be perfect.

... if they would just all have the courtesy to speak english it would be perfect.

I have this issue with the French they live 22 miles away and have done for centuries and they still haven't bothered to adopt the language, it's just plain rude arrogance on their part if you ask me.

Anyway back on topic, what Fog said is spot on, they know full well shops have a discretionary floor limit before the shop is likely to make an authorization call the card companies should make it mandatory for EVERY transaction to be verified. It happens on-line so why not in store? And on no account have your card rolled, I'm surprised those things are still allowed to exist these days.

Also I never use an internet account that is linked to a customer account for any other purpose after I had an account cleared out by somebody that managed to get hold of details via a forum profile that was linked to a customer account with a particular company. I'm sure Cake's security isn't as lax as that companies was and it was quite a few years ago now and perhaps it is more difficult to obtain that kind of info, but I still don't take chances. I'm especially wary of something like the Propellerheads forum where it flags up what products are registered to you for all to see which must be linked to a customer account in SOME way, so I have a public profile there for forum participation which is linked to a different email to my customer account which ONLY gets used for online transactions and I don't post in the members areas. Again I'm sure they have good security there but I make sure I take responsibility for my own safety.

Having said that nobody is immune to being turned over at some point, and in the best case scenario it is always a hassle you can do without.

Guitar
I just might venture down to Argentina this year. It has been on my to0do list for way too long.

Ed
I used to do tons of biz in Europe and would hit ENgland, Scooterland, Norway, Italy, Switzerland and France on ONE (THAT IS RIGHT) One week trip. Despite the fact that I did this about 4-7 times a year, I would inevitably get tagged in Geneva or Paris with AMEX declining my card authorization. I would even call them before the trip and warn them all of where I was going to go and just how much I was going to spend, but still - somewhere on the trip I got tagged. Now I appreciate them watching my credit but working out issues in a foreign country - no matter how big the city - well it took about 5+ times longer to work out than in the USSA.

I'll be checking my card statement with a microscope for a few months.

Actually I have been checking my cc balances daily for over two years now and I do not EVER intend to stop that.

I've had some of my CCs used at about 6 times over the last 7 years.

Forewarned is for-armed.

I've been through it 4 times already, and it doesn't get any more pleasant each time.
One thing to watch out for: I got a call from "supposedly" my credit card company telling me that they had detected fraud on my account. The guy went through various questions and it became clear to me in short order that this was an additional fraudster that was trying to get me to tell him my CVC code from the back of my credit card. I really wanted to reach through the phone and twist his head off, but.........what can you do?
So, watch out for *that* ploy.
JV

JayJayVee

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxhNtMFj7rc&feature=related

it's off a show that's shown here, except this guy plays him at his own game.

What's needed is a movement to hold banks' feet to the fire when it comes to the security of personal data. How is it they can account for every penny in their vaults but can't seem to keep track of who they've given your social security number to? If they equated information with money, you can bet they'd keep closer tabs on it.

I once received a letter from my credit union telling me that customer data may have been compromised and warning me to check my statements closely. Apparently, a bank computer had been stolen from the van of a third party service vendor. The letter was careful to point out that it wasn't the bank's fault, and they would no longer be using that vendor for computer repairs.

My first thoughts, though, were: who let that disk drive full of customer data out the door? Why was that data on an employee's workstation instead of safely locked away on a secure database server? Who lost their job for that incredibly stupid move?

Well, nobody lost their job. I wrote to the bank and expressed my concern, saying it wasn't the repair shop's fault at all, but rather the incompetence of the bank's management and IT departments. I got a nice letter back that simply reiterated the most important fact: it was the vendor's fault and the bank would not be using that vendor any more. No need to concern myself that it could happen again.

Everybody who buys anything with a credit card, whether online or at a shop, should keep in mind that even legitimate businesses are generally lax with their data security. You have no way of knowing who has access to it.

A while back, an online CD retailer's database was downloaded right off the internet (bad, bad planning on the part of their IT team!). The thieves offered to sell the database back, threatening to post it online. The company did not pay, the data was posted online and downloaded by hundreds of other people. The retailer should have gone out of business over that mistake! But then, Jack-in-the-Box should have gone under when they killed some of their customers, and that didn't happen either.

I often download databases from my customers for support purposes. I've been doing it for 20 years. Not one time did anybody question the security issues. Doesn't even occur to them that they're entrusting me with gigabytes' worth of their customers' identity data. Of course, I take great care with their data, but still...I worked with another software vendor who processed credit cards. At one point I needed to get a copy of their database and was shocked to see thousands of unencrypted credit card numbers! I could have ripped off 20,000 people in one fell swoop.

I only purchase from a very few select retailers online. It's too bad, though. I'd like to buy RealStrat, but there is no way I'm sending a credit card number to Russia.

I've been hit three (!) times by these pilfering scum, the most recent being just last week.

The first two times, a very alert employee of my bank (I live in a very small town) saw that there was activity on my card in (in the first case) Spain and (in the second case) in Los Angeles. Since I'd been seen by this employee of the bank *at* the bank just before these charges were made, the employee deduced that I was not in either of these two places and called on the phone to ask if I'd made charges in these locations. In the case of the L.A. charge, the scum that was trying to buy jewelry was actually caught in the act! Made my day to hear this. Naturally, I canceled my cards and got new ones.

This most recent event was the result of the theft of thousands of card numbers through some company that handles some sort of service for VISA. Why this company would be so insecure is, as Bitflipper says, pretty mysterious and inexcusable.

So, I found out that my card number had been compromised when I got to the head of the check out line at the supermarket with all of my groceries and my card was declined. Naturally, I didn't have any cash, nor my check book with me at the time, so I had to leave my groceries at the counter and slink out of the market like a deadbeat. Not a good thing in a small town.....

There is no doubt in my mind that the security of CC numbers and other sensitive information should be made a top priority everywhere in the world. I was lucky in all three cases that I didn't get totally ripped-off by these bandits. But, surely, there must be a way to stop this widespread thievery.

Best regards,
Bill

Edited for typo

ORIGINAL: jhughs
...my wife asked if we could get that credit card feature shut off on our ATM cards; apparently not.

Realizing the exact same potential security risk, I had asked my bank a couple of years ago the very same question.

The answer was a no, of course. Which prompted me to say "I would like to close my account right now"

Took the proceeds down the street only two blocks away and had the issue resolved.

Yeah, I should go talk to them myself.
Moving the account is not so easy because we've had the same bank for 15 years and have several direct deposit and withdrawal accounts tied to the checking account. Marketeers call that "stickiness".

At the very least I should get their refusal to shut off the credit card feature in writing and that they take full responsibility for fraud.

A few other useful tips,

DO NOT mail out your credit card statements (or any other sensitive info) and leave in your residential mailbox for pickup. A thief can easily poach them, and before you know it some clown has your CC# along with your name and address. You may only realize this after you get your next statement, finding out you did not make a payment and may potentially have your interest rate jacked as a result.

Best to take all mailings to the post office, or better yet pay at your bank if at all possible.

Also, shred everything mailed to your address, even the envelopes themselves as it is an indication of who you do business with.

On a side note, It gives me a slight kick running those seemingly everyday adverts from the place with "the little green lizard" through the shredder too!

jhughs, before years ago they had a tv show on it.. basically some of them had friends in a shops and were in on it, they'd go into the shop where their friend would work, buy the goods, chip & pin has stopped a lot of that.

we used to get people attempting scams at an old work place, thing is most of them aren't anything new.

Dave (bit) it's been big news here a number of times , normally with office worker loosing an unencrypted laptop in a taxi etc. or someone couriering things to another work site.

There was talk of a cashless society, maybe that will happen BUT what happens if I want to buy a 2nd hand car etc privately? not like the seller is gonna have a method of accepting a card

You know where I think it comes from? The employees of the credit card compnaies. Who would have better access to your card? A little hacking-networking experience and vwala! your in Russia charging a bottle of Vodka!. But who knows really where the lurkers get your number. Never charge to an unsecured page, tell your credit card company when and where you're travelling and ask them to call you if there is a distant charge.