Posted on 06/13/2013 12:06:12 PM PDT by Theo
I received an email and text from Discover Card this morning, saying that I might be the victim of credit card fraud.
I gave them a call, and learned that someone had charged over $10,000 worth of items over the past two days, at local stores: Walmart, Office Max, Publix, Macy's, and so on.
My wife bought two shirts for me on Tuesday from Macy's, using her Discover Card, and within a few hours someone had somehow physically re-created the card and was using it all around town.
Discover is not holding us accountable for the charges, and will reimburse us shortly. I've contacted LifeLock (where we have an account), and notified them of the breach. I've pulled my three credit reports, and it looks clean. Seems that only my Discover Card number was stolen.
I plan on filing a police report, after I receive documentation from Discover Card detailing the fraudulent use of my card. They tell me that the police can secure photos and video from security cameras at the place where the card was used, and we may be able to track down the culprit(s).
The odd thing is that just a couple of days before the fraudulent charges, we received replacement cards from Discover, because they were concerned that our account had been compromised.
Any FReepers ever been the victim of credit card fraud? Any recommendations on how to proceed? Any idea how the perps created a physical card with our credit card info on it?
Not at all. There are far more egregious — and expensive ways — to commit fraud than just credit card fraud. I know of someone whose identity was misused to the point that he had problems with the IRS — without any help to navigate the mess. Lifelock does that. They also contact credit bureaus and have them send reports, monitor who might be trying to open very large accounts or mortgages in your name, etc... It’s very cheap peace of mind. Anyone can go it alone if they wish, but I wouldn’t in this day and age. I’ve seen the mess that can happen and it’s only you to try to prove your innocence. No thanks.
That makes sense. Thanks for the info!
We haven’t yet. I’m waiting to receive documentation from Discover Card before going to Macy’s. I want to have the police report filed, and the police investigation under way, before giving Macy’s the heads-up.
LifeLock specializes in identity theft. This was credit card fraud.
They said it may have been compromised. Only the 3-digit code on the back changed, not the 16-digit number on the front.
Turns out it was closer to $14,000 that they spent over the course of 2 days. Yeah, that is a shopping spree! :-)
Thanks for that advice. I’ll make sure to confirm that with Discover.
Question: Somebody stole my credit card number and charged thousands of dollars. Why didn’t LifeLock alert me?
"To put it bluntly, LifeLock identity theft protection does not alert you about credit or debit card fraud. We have two great reasons for this..."
I'm not sure how LifeLock would know when it was you spending on your own or someone else. I think that means they would have to alert you after you engaged in any kind of commerce with your card.
Sign up for the Credit Kharma website. It’s free. Check it every month.
Holy cow..14,000, are you sure a member of the GSA or IRS didnt go on a little shopping spree LOL
a number of years ago I purchased some text books for homeschooling from a Texas publisher and used my internet only CC. That afternoon I received a nice call from the CC asking me whether I was shopping in New Jersy and purchasing hundreds of dollars of clothes.
I said no.
They said they would send me out a new card and number immediately.
I am sure the woman I spoke to called the card into friends.
who probably made up a card to splurge with.
Nasty business.
boy my cc company knew my spending patterns and caught the fraud within hours.
I was simply taking their advertising at face value.
Their ads imply that they can do it, so they should be doing it (or begin to advertise more honestly).
The truth is that all they really do is bill you.
Interesting. There are two three-digit codes on the back: a letter and a three-digit sequence number over on the left of the signature panel and the last four of the account number and the three-digit CVV code over on the right of the panel.
I just looked through a stack of old Discover cards. Sometime in the mid-nineties, they started printing the full account number on the back (four groups of four), followed by the three-digit CVV code. About 2005, they went to printing a letter, a three-digit sequence number, a patch of blank space, the last four of the account number, and the three-digit CVV.
Also, sometime around the middle of the last decade, they started the practice of sending out new cards with the same account number, expiration date, and CVV, with only an incremented sequence number. They've done it to me a bunch of times, never with any indication of fraud, but always some sort of pitch when I call the number to activate the new card. Obviously, a marketing ploy.
Most recently, they've started incrementing the expiration date by a month and also changing the CVV.
One thing to note: If a new card has been issued with the same account number, expiration date, and CVV, old cards with different sequence numbers should get declined when swiped (the sequence number is part of the swipe data). However, bad guys could still use the account online if they can guess the billing address. Typically, account number, expiration, billing address, and CVV is what you need online.
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