weird credit card thief...

[BigK]

I found an unrecognized charge on my credit card yesterday. Oddly, it was from last week and it turned out to be fraud. The weird thing is that whoever got my card number only used it ONCE and that was a week ago. I've only had this happen one other time and they made a lot of big attempts in rapid succession. This person bought themselves an e-book on Amazon's Kindle site and that's all. Amazon wouldn't tell me who it was or do anything about it, but the bank reversed the charge immediately and said they'd investigate.

It was only $9.99, but I hope they prosecute. I hate thievery with every ounce of my being. The target device that downloaded the e-book will be easy to find and I gave them the Amazon order number, but I won't hold my breath. Mostly I want them punished for making me cancel my card and get a new number.

Edited March 17, 2023 by BigK

[RED333]

Good to hear you bank is on the ball!

My bank called me last night to confirm a sale on my card as well, all were mine but out of area, so they are checking up.

[Ronald_55]

Our card company told us once that some thieves sorta go fishing. They make small purchases on lots of cards to verify which are still open. My wife had it happen with a 99 cent Apple song. The bank said then they either resell the verified good numbers or use the ones still open in a while figuring they are watched less. 

[pop pop]

I have had my card number used in California, New York, and England on three different occasions. The California chargers got over 4,000.00 in appliances. Card company refunded every time. I don't use debit card any longer, only credit card. I call and give them my itinerary when we travel now. One time we were on the road and the card was canceled. We always try and take some cash with us now. Every time this happened it really bothered me. 

[lock n' load]

That sucks. My card got hacked several years ago. The card company called me about it and refunded the money then  canceled my card. The charge was made in Jacksonville, FL. I have never been there. I figured my card got skimmed at a gas pump. Apparently that crime is growing and thieves are getting more sophisticated at doing it. Now I pay with the cashier just because I don't trust the card readers. Especially the ones that aren't monitored closely.

[gregintenn]

Everyone I know who had their credit card info stolen had it happen at a restaurant. No way I’m letting someone walk off with my card.

[Alleycat72]

Gas station once 

Large reloading supplier once. 

[BigK]

1 hour ago, gregintenn said:

Everyone I know who had their credit card info stolen had it happen at a restaurant. No way I’m letting someone walk off with my card.

Lots of sit-down restaurants don't give me that option. Do you just avoid restaurants where you can't pay at the register?

[gregintenn]

25 minutes ago, BigK said:

Lots of sit-down restaurants don't give me that option. Do you just avoid restaurants where you can't pay at the register?

I always pay cash at restaurants.

[threeshot]

I have had my credit card information stolen three different years. Each time they tested my credit card with a $1 or $1.50 small transaction.

One time they charged my credit card with a small transaction to test that the card was still valid and then issued a credit for the same amount.

Since both of those transactions were pending transactions, I would have not known about the test if I relied on seeing the transactions on my statement.

However, I have text and email alerts setup on my credit card which alerted me to the test transactions. I have text and email alerts setup with all my financial institutions.

Each year I renew my fraud alert with one of the credit report companies which gets shared to the other two credit report companies to make it harder for someone to open a new credit account in my name.

Edited March 20, 2023 by threeshot
Fixed typo

[Grayfox54]

Yep, they do a test buy. My card once bought a cup of coffee at a Starbucks in Kansas. Credit card company caught it. If it had gone through, then they would have loaded up. 

[Pain103]

On 3/17/2023 at 12:06 AM, BigK said:

I found an unrecognized charge on my credit card yesterday. Oddly, it was from last week and it turned out to be fraud. The weird thing is that whoever got my card number only used it ONCE and that was a week ago. I've only had this happen one other time and they made a lot of big attempts in rapid succession. This person bought themselves an e-book on Amazon's Kindle site and that's all. Amazon wouldn't tell me who it was or do anything about it, but the bank reversed the charge immediately and said they'd investigate.

It was only $9.99, but I hope they prosecute. I hate thievery with every ounce of my being. The target device that downloaded the e-book will be easy to find and I gave them the Amazon order number, but I won't hold my breath. Mostly I want them punished for making me cancel my card and get a new number.

Unfortunately, they won't. To those companies anything less than 5 to 6 figures isn't worth the time. They typically won't send someone to testify on behalf of the company and that will get a case dismissed instantly. Most investigators know this and won't proceed forward on behalf of the company without assurance they will attend. Now if you as a person had someone stopped locally with your card info loaded onto another card with a strip that's an easy case as long as you the victim attends court. 

[bersaguy]

I  have not used a credit card in 10+ years since I began using my bank debit card. Every purchase on my card shows pending for 5-7 days and I log in and check my account every 3-5 days and I have had one unauthorized  purchase in 10 years for $25.00 at a filling station 4 years ago and my bank refunded the money back in my account and closed out that card and issued me a new one in 4 days. I don't know if I have been lucky or what but I do carry some cash just in case. I have stopped in a few filling stations that won't accept any plastic and I needed fuel so I bought enough to get to another station with cash.

[Erik88]

On 3/17/2023 at 9:21 AM, gregintenn said:

Everyone I know who had their credit card info stolen had it happen at a restaurant. No way I’m letting someone walk off with my card.

When you go to Europe they NEVER walk away with your card. You pay right at the table with a portable card reader. I've read that when Europeans visit the US they are confused and concerned when waiters walk off with their card. Thankfully more restaurants here are starting to let you pay at your table. 

Having said that, I worked in a restaurant for 6 years and I don't think that many waiters are stealing card info. It's probably more likely that people are falling for phishing hacks through their email and then info is compromised. 

[Luckyforward]

Weirdest thing that ever happened was getting a call from Am Ex years ago saying my card had been used in Kuala Lumpur.  They called to see if I was there because it was an $8000 charge.  Nope, wasn't me!  It was a corporate card; never figured how they got the number.

[derf]

The wife had her card stolen. I haven’t reported it yet because they are spending less money than she was. 

[icruz]

I've had it happen twice with gas station purchases.  One time it was $200 on my American Express, another time it was $600 on my bank card.  All the while I still had my card.  My cards were canceled and reissued and the money was reimbursed with no issues.  

[BigK]

I use my credit card instead of my debit card every chance I get. If I had my way I'd never use my debit card. IMHO, it's way better to cancel my credit card and get a refund for those charges than for a thief to drain my checking account and me have to wait for that to be reversed.

[Dustbuster]

On 3/19/2023 at 10:48 AM, Pain103 said:

Unfortunately, they won't. To those companies anything less than 5 to 6 figures isn't worth the time. They typically won't send someone to testify on behalf of the company and that will get a case dismissed instantly. Most investigators know this and won't proceed forward on behalf of the company without assurance they will attend. Now if you as a person had someone stopped locally with your card info loaded onto another card with a strip that's an easy case as long as you the victim attends court. 

^^^^^ Exactly^^^^^^^^

[BigK]

It's only been 2 months and thieves got my card number again. This time they bought something online at Walmart.com for around $164.

The reason this is so frustrating is that we lead a completely boring/routine life. My card has only been touched by someone other than me once in the last month at the Bojangles  drive-thru. She only had my card for a few seconds and I could see her swipe it and hand it right back. Maybe it was a scanner at the gas station.

Either way, this is such a pain in the rear. I'm more careful than most people I know with their card, but I've still been got twice in 2 months. I hate these thieving jerks.

[10-Ring]

Got hit for 4 separate transactions totaling $375 a few weeks ago.  They were sports bets.  The barn made everything as easy as possible but there is still the hassle of changing everything that I had on draft.  

[Darrell]

I got a call from Costco for their Visa card a few weeks ago. They immediately caught an attempted transaction at Best Buy, refused it, and called me. I don't have a clue how the flagged it immediately, but I'm glad they did. They cancelled that card and sent me a new one within several days. That's the first time anything like that has ever happened to me.

[Tuffus]

I had a $3,000 digital camera delivered to my doorstep a few years ago. It was charged to my wife's card but apparently it had to be delivered to the address affiliated with the card itself. We called the card company and returned the camera to where it came from. No problems. They also sent us a new card after cancelling the old one.

[BigK]

I caught this last fraud charge while it was still pending. The bank blocked it and canceled the card. Walmart didn't even have the order in their system (maybe it got canceled by the thief, who knows?). Same as last time, I'm just glad it was a credit card, not my debit card.

[Defender]

I got an email and a text from Chase Saturday morning that they had declined a charge for .76 in England for Twinning Tea.  It asked if i made that charge and when I said no, they canceled my card and are send me a new one. It also said to check my account for other fraud charges and when I did there was one for 126 bucks from walmart.com.  I called them to dispute it and they said they would remove it.  Hate having to get a new card.  I check my bank daily for fraud and guess I will need to start checking my credit card as well.  I usually inly check it when I make a chare or pAY IT OFF.