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?
I love the convenience of my cards, but I am trying to work myself up to going back to cash.
It just happened to me this week and I’m working on getting it resolved now.
1st step call the bank and make the card number no longer valid.
Employee at Macy’s swipes the card twice, once on the machine for Macy’s, then they bend down and swipe it a second time on their Square or similar card reader. The number was probably sent out instantly, fed into a list of stolen numbers, and then imprinted onto hotel keys (or dead cards).
The newest trick is to put the information on an empty gift card (lift a whole stack of those from the local market.) If the company asks for ID, you show them it is a gift card, and away you go.
All that said, please make sure that you triple check your bills for the next couple weeks.
Did you call Macy’s to alert them that one of their employees might be doing this? That would be interesting, if nothing else.
My only experience with this type of thing is very minimal. Had a single charge in another state at a Target store, for less than $100 of normal merchandise. I think it was a scanner error, or a cashier manually put the number in wrong (this was a few years ago, when that was more likely to happen).
Good luck. Hope you are able to get the problems resolved quickly.
The same happened to me with Discover. $10,000 worth of HVAC stuff, I believe it was, well, 2 5000 dollar charges. I told them I wanted to pay by mail now and they don’t even have a payment envelope. Oh well, I fill out my envelope and still won’t use their crap site. They didn’t like me telling them to start sending my bill again, either.
...or the person behind you in line takes a pic of your card with their cellphone.
Funny we both got 10,000 in charges and both Discover.
I haven’t been a victim personally, but I was responsible for credit cards given to some staff where I worked. A lot of times it’s the store clerk, waiter, etc. that steals the info. One time someone stole the card info, did a lot of shopping on the home channel (including several BBQ grills), then rented a storage to put it in. After I located the storage unit, I showed all the info to a policeman, that thanked me but said that they usually don’t have time to go after people committing CC theft.
Probably one of our future fellow citizens (present ‘undocumented aliens’), they are skilled at skirting the rules and gaming the system to their advantage all the while claiming victim status.
I travel quite a bit. I’ve met very few travelers that haven’t had their credit card security compromised at some point. I’ve had my credit cards cancelled and reissued while out on trips 3 times in 10 years. Someone at the restaurant or hotel gives your info to someone that uses your info to make a purchase. Twice my bankcard company has called me the same day it happened and caught the person at the hotel (major chain) where I was staying.
why didn’t Lifelock contact you first? I thought that was the point.
let me know how they help. I’ve considered getting it.
Hubby and I don’t use our credit cards anymore. We pay cash for everything via atm card. Everybody should be doing it this way.
We’ve been happily brainwashed by Dave Ramsey.
That’s what I was thinking!
Amateur! It’s happened to me four times, twice this year, twice in years past a while ago, when (in years past) my keyboard stroked had been captured. This year, I dunno why or how, nothing via my puter, I’m certain, suspecting a compromised gas station pump (via a skimmer). Relatively small charges every time, nothing like your case, and no cost to me or, surprisingly, to my credit rating. And no reason for me to start an FR thread, but I’m not flaming you, it’s all good.
The worst part has been getting on the mailing list of a computer company from whom a thief in L.A. bought $200 worth of memory, but from whom I never bought anything, and now receive daily spam.
Did the cover letter for the new card explicitly state that your card had been compromised? Did the new card have a different account number?
If not, it's probably just a coincidence. If Discover doesn't think you are using your card enough, they will send you a new one out of the blue, even though your old one hasn't expired, just to kick-start you into spending mode. IOW, it's strictly a marketing ploy, not a security issue.
It's happened to me more than once. The new card has distinctively different aesthetics, but the same account number and expiration date. If you read the mag stripe, it will be the same except for an incremented sequence number.
This has happened to us many times,unfortunately. We have never lost our cards, nor have they been “stolen” officially, but the card numbers have been hacked — and it can happen anywhere now: locally, online. It doesn’t seem to slow the thieves down either way. It’s an inconvenience but no, you don’t owe anything. We also have LifeLock, but I’ve found that they don’t really do anything on these issues since you already have zero liability on CC fraud. Good for you for being so pro-active, though! You did more than we have. It’s just so common these days, sadly. Sorry you had the hassle!
I use debits cards and don’t carry much cash working in Downtown Baltimore. Cash can’t be replaced.
How is this the same as cash? ATM cards are also subject to being duplicated, and there are a number of ways the thieves have to sneak a peak at your pin code while getting the card number.
You might use cash at the restaurant, but the ATM where you got the cash is still a weak point for security.
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