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Be careful with your Visa

thevalkrye

thevalkrye

uhh huh huh huh...member.
Joined
Jan 21, 2009
Messages
264
Just a little reminder to be careful out there using your Visa online.

I have been buying things online for a long time and have never had a problem until today. I found my card frozen when I tried to use it and called Visa. They asked me about a bunch of crazy charges on my account $2000 for this $3000 for that, all since February 1st.

Well all in all no serious damage done since they will dispute all the charges and I won't be out anything other than some time on the phone and a few days wait for a new card, but it is still a bit of a piss off.

I wish I knew how they got my card number!
 
My parents have had the card information stolen 4 times since September...Luckily their CC company has disputed all of the charges and they haven't had to pay for anything. Nothing like yours though, it was all under $500... The best one was when my mom used her card (in Cali) and another charge was made 20 mins later (in New York). The company called her and asked if she was in New York at the same time she used her card in Cali...
 
I was at a local gas station the other day talking to the attendant. We had gotten to know each other when I was managing a branch bank in town. He showed me their new credit card machine. When the card is swiped, the ENTIRE number is printed on an internal roll of the processing unit, along with the expiration date and card holder name. Most units will block out all but the last 4 numbers or maybe the first and last numbers. This one was supposed to be more secure. He is the kind of guy who is always thinking about security and he pointed out to me that when I hand over my card, he swipes it with the signature facing him. He could easily read the 3 digit security code on the back. All he has to do is remember those numbers and he can (after the person leaves) retrieve everything he would need to use that card on line.

I'm sure that there are plenty of other places out there that have similar systems, and far less reputable people running them. Glad your card's fraud monitoring caught it!
 
DirtyDave said:
I was at a local gas station the other day talking to the attendant. We had gotten to know each other when I was managing a branch bank in town. He showed me their new credit card machine. When the card is swiped, the ENTIRE number is printed on an internal roll of the processing unit, along with the expiration date and card holder name. Most units will block out all but the last 4 numbers or maybe the first and last numbers. This one was supposed to be more secure. He is the kind of guy who is always thinking about security and he pointed out to me that when I hand over my card, he swipes it with the signature facing him. He could easily read the 3 digit security code on the back. All he has to do is remember those numbers and he can (after the person leaves) retrieve everything he would need to use that card on line.

I'm sure that there are plenty of other places out there that have similar systems, and far less reputable people running them. Glad your card's fraud monitoring caught it!
Click to expand...


I think there are some federal laws preventing those types of machines from being used in retail.... You are not supposed to show the whole card number and Exp. on the same printout.
 
The same thing happened to my wife's Visa card last summer. Within a few hours she had over $15,000 in charges. The first charge came from Canada, the next charge came from Jordan. Most of the charges were for software downloads; however, one guy in Jordan bought a refrigerator and had it delivered to his home there! Another guy in Canada paid his cell phone bill!
blush.gif
 
Yeah, I was pretty taken back by the whole thing. I couldn't believe that anyone would consider this thing safe. I offered to hook them up with my processor but sadly corporate has control over that stuff. I definitely learned one place to pay cash!
 
My fiance got her info stolen from the Olive garden, I don't use my card as much after that incident. $1000 spent at the Giant, hard times I guess.
 
I had something similar happen a couple of months ago. Some transactions involving a 3rd party for an online gambling site in England starting showing up on my card which was really odd since I don't gamble (nothing against it, just not my thing). Luckily, everything was eventually resolved and I got a new card, but it was a huge pain in the arse. I have no idea how they got my cc info. The only thing I could figure was it was taken from a restuarant when I paid for dinner, but who knows? Since then I only try to use the card where I can see the transaction take place.
 
Ya on top of the big dollar amounts I had some silly ones too, like $1.00 to Itunes, 3 or 4 $20 to $30 charges to Purolator, a hostel in Ontario, some place in the US for car parts, just random unconnected places. They must put that stuff up on a site or something where people can get the numbers and try and rack up as much stuff as possible before it gets discovered.
 
I would not want this to happen to you, or me; but since the banks are charging those silly rates and miscellaneous charges, I'm not so sure I feel anything for the banks.
 
My son just has an incident in the $2000 range when someone in a foreign country used his debit card number. He was checking on another transaction with the credit union when the transaction popped up on the tellers screen. He didn't get charged but it did cause some frustration as he had his debit card being held and he had recently cancelled his credit card.

Not sure how they got the info and his PIN but had he not been checking, the funds would have automatically been taken out of his savings account.
 
Another thing you folks should be looking at carefully are your online statements. You should be watching for those $1 or 2$ charges to appear. That is how the cards are checked to see if they're active before the dirtbags go crazy charging on them. So keep a close watch on those statements.

Funny story...when mine got stolen they actually had the nerve to use it to charge an account at a credit monitoring service...ahahahhaha

Art

**edit for spell
 
Thanks for the great information! I sent the link to everyone i know.
thumbs-up.gif
 
Alot of these groups will steal the card information and then sell it online. That is why you will see multiple charges from all over the world.

I received a letter in the mail from one of my cards a few weeks back. Seems that one of the stores I had used this card at probably 2 years ago had their files breached and so thousands of cards were vulnerable. I see this issue getting worse as we continue to become more "electronic."
 
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