Members Lucky Posted August 8, 2012 Members Posted August 8, 2012 8 is a number for good luck with the Chinese, but 8-8 has been an odd day for me. I got a call from my bank, wanting to know if I had gone on a shopping spree this morning in New Jersey. Lord & Taylor, The Gap, and another store. Well, of course I was right here in California. But, the thieves had my credit card, which was odd since I had it too. Turns out it was a counterfeit card. So, it's not enough to worry about getting your card stolen anymore. But, I was very impressed on how fast the bank got involved. But it didn't end there. I got home and had an Itunes receipt for 699.00 for an Apple "Postcard." That's something I have never heard of. The receipt said that the product was charged to "credit card." None of the links in the email worked. Beyond that, it was sent to an email address that I do not use with my Apple account. So, I Googled "fake Apple receipts," and, sure enough, there is a scam where if you click on the links or respond, then you either get directed to a website selling mail-order drugs, or get outright malware. Since none of my click attempts seemed to work, I don't know if I got malware. Odd that the phony receipt came right after the phony credit card, but I think they are unrelated. I guess that time will tell. (The antivirus did not pick up anything. Spybot only found tracking cookies. I did not update Spybot because it gave me a list of countries from which I was to choose which one to use for retrieving updates. I didn't understand that.) Quote
Guest EXPAT Posted August 8, 2012 Posted August 8, 2012 This happened to me earlier this year. That means your credit card was "skimmed" somewhere. Do you remember your card being taken away from your presence at any restaurant or store? Chances are they scanned it and transmitted it to a van where they sent the data east to make a fake card. This is happening more and more these days. Never let any credit card leave your site for any reason. Quote
Members Lucky Posted August 9, 2012 Author Members Posted August 9, 2012 Nowadays one slides the card for most transactions, and it never leaves your hand. Restaurants still take your card somewhere out of sight to conduct the transaction. Yes, I know there are gadgets that allow a swipe at the table, but not many places have them. There was quite a buzz not long ago about credit card information being stolen, and my guess is that my number was in it. Quote
Guest Fluffypuff Posted August 9, 2012 Posted August 9, 2012 (The antivirus did not pick up anything. Spybot only found tracking cookies. I did not update Spybot because it gave me a list of countries from which I was to choose which one to use for retrieving updates. I didn't understand that.) It probably changes some of the language in the support documents or something. Just choose US. Quote
Guest NCBored Posted August 9, 2012 Posted August 9, 2012 The good news/bad news is that the banks are monitoring your usage constantly. I got a call this morning to conifrm a web purchase that apparently was using a foreign payment processor - the call came within 5 minutes of the transaction. I think credit card fraud is inevitable. Earlier this year, someone used my card info to purchase almost a thousand dollars worth of Legos via the internet or phone. The credit card company shipped me a new card overnight. Quote
Members lookin Posted August 9, 2012 Members Posted August 9, 2012 Earlier this year, someone used my card info to purchase almost a thousand dollars worth of Legos via the internet or phone. Perhaps it was OZ working on his new new website. Quote
Guest Oliver Posted August 9, 2012 Posted August 9, 2012 Lucky - Happened to me this year while in PS. Evidently occurred at a gas station there when I swiped the card. My card company notified me immediately; deleted the charges after checking with me; deactivated the card and issued a new one. It was a AAA Visa through BofA. Never can know when it might happen. I check my cards online almost every day to be sure they’re OK. Usually notify the companies when I will be traveling to a different locale for some time and will be using the card. So far, so good. Quote
Guest NCBored Posted August 9, 2012 Posted August 9, 2012 I just read an article about embedded chip & 'chip & pin' technology which are used in Europe & Canada to provide much better security. Seems the US is behind the curve on this, although some card issuers are beginning to provide them for business customers. The article said that Canadians often are unable to use their cards in the US because our card readers can't handle them. I saw a few other articles implying that you really need these kinds of cards if you travel in Europe. Can any of our frequent travelers comment? Quote
Guest EXPAT Posted August 9, 2012 Posted August 9, 2012 It's easier to use our cards in Europe than vice versa. But the chip and pin is mainly used for debit cards which are used to the extreme in Europe. I Hate HATE HATE HATE debit cards and will never use them because of the immediate access to your current account. It is so easy to skim credit and debit cards that if someone got your debit card then they have your $$. If they skim a credit card then they get someone else's money. It's an easy reason for me to NEVER EVER use a debit card for purchases ever. Having come from the card industry and having a fraud department in our tech group I know about this stuff. Quote
Guest NCBored Posted August 10, 2012 Posted August 10, 2012 It's easier to use our cards in Europe than vice versa. But the chip and pin is mainly used for debit cards which are used to the extreme in Europe. I Hate HATE HATE HATE debit cards and will never use them because of the immediate access to your current account. It is so easy to skim credit and debit cards that if someone got your debit card then they have your $$. If they skim a credit card then they get someone else's money. It's an easy reason for me to NEVER EVER use a debit card for purchases ever. Having come from the card industry and having a fraud department in our tech group I know about this stuff. It's easier to use our cards in Europe than vice versa. But the chip and pin is mainly used for debit cards which are used to the extreme in Europe. I Hate HATE HATE HATE debit cards and will never use them because of the immediate access to your current account. It is so easy to skim credit and debit cards that if someone got your debit card then they have your $$. If they skim a credit card then they get someone else's money. It's an easy reason for me to NEVER EVER use a debit card for purchases ever. Having come from the card industry and having a fraud department in our tech group I know about this stuff. What I have read says that skimming does not copy the embedded chip only the magnetic strip. ??? Quote
Guest EXPAT Posted August 10, 2012 Posted August 10, 2012 What I have read says that skimming does not copy the embedded chip only the magnetic strip. ??? That's correct which is why Europe moved to the chip and pin debit cards. You get the magstrip but can't copy the chip. But the US banks don't want to implement here because it would cost nearly $3 billion to retrofit every retailers card readers. And no one wants to spend the money in this country. Quote
Guest NCBored Posted August 10, 2012 Posted August 10, 2012 That's correct which is why Europe moved to the chip and pin debit cards. You get the magstrip but can't copy the chip. But the US banks don't want to implement here because it would cost nearly $3 billion to retrofit every retailers card readers. And no one wants to spend the money in this country. And I suspect money is being sent to make sure no laws are passed mandating the change. Quote
Members JKane Posted August 10, 2012 Members Posted August 10, 2012 And I suspect money is being sent to make sure no laws are passed mandating the change. And covering the fraud! I've had a credit card number skimmed a couple times, it's a bit of a pain in the ass but the banks generally make everything right pretty quick. For credit cards anyway, hear it can be a real pain in the ass with debit cards, especially with banks known for shitty customers service anyway (BofA...). One time was a gas station too. Not sure my number's ever been stolen online... Quote
Guest EXPAT Posted August 11, 2012 Posted August 11, 2012 Well it happened to me today. I had a text and a phone call from Citi Card Fraud Alert early this morning that over 20 attempts had been made to use my MasterCard this morning. And of course it was not me. And the only time I had my card out of my wallet over the last few months was to use a parking lot payment machine. So I told the fraud department to check to see if that machine had a skimming device on it. So they were going to check it later today. Otherwise I have no idea how they would get the number unless it was part of the larger number theft from Citibank earlier this year. Quote
Members eeyore Posted August 12, 2012 Members Posted August 12, 2012 I'm on the phone right now to Nigeria...go figure. Quote
