Watchout for Fraud Charges

[07Blazerman]

Well going over my checking account tonight, I noticed a $149.95 charge from Buy.com, posted today, never heard of them, never purchased anything from them, but after calling them to see what was going on, which was useless and my bank of course is closed today, I researched them online. Apparently they are well used for fraud charges and are in the news quite often. What makes me mad is I haven't used my bank card outside of 1 charge at a supplement store I always go to, 2 purchases of gas at Mobil about 2 weeks ago or a purchase from I-tunes 3 days ago??? And of course that $150 is my Lifetime Fitness dues coming out tomorrow, so that will mean overdraft fees, just great. Hopefully I get it back quick and not pay the overdraft fees. So I suggest you keep an eye on your credit cards or bank cards a little closer this time of the year.

 

[Busterbrown]

I feel your pain. Several years ago, I was in southern California for work and used my bank card at a restuarant. 2 weeks later, I had attempted to use my bank card at a grocery store for a small purchase. Chase put a freeze on my account for suspicious activity. I arrived home only to find that 4 large transactions were made, 2 at Radio Shack and 2 at a Game Stop, both totaling over $1500. Found out through Chase's fraud prevention that game consoles were the merchandise of choice. My bank was good to me and reimbursed every stolen cent within 12 hours. Lessoned learned: Never hand anyone your debit card (or credit card) unless you're in line of site of the POS terminal.

 

[Boricua SS]

sorry to hear man... just goes to show all of us that no matter how much security is out there... there is always a loop hole for the crooks...

definetly will be watching my funds...

 

[smitty5150]

This happened to me in November. Except for it was being used for itunes purchases in germany. Fortunately BOfA caught y right away and froze the account. I got an email at 3:30 in the morning, which woke me up(goes to my phone), and I had the money credited within an hour.

 

[Jkust]

That situation is very common. There was an article that came out on the internet from yesterday naming the top worst spots to swipe your debit card and gas station was number 2. The thieves simply put a skimmer over the card reader on the pump, sit nearby and get the data sent wirelessly to them.
Recently my business card was used upstate NY while I was traveling somewhere down in the southern U.S. They first bought Burger king food then filled up their gas tank at a pump. Basically wherever they don't have to use it in person until the credit card company suspended the card for fraud. The thing is I don't worry about credit card fraud because I have no liability however debit card fraud carries a bigger out of pocket liability. As I only balance my checking account twice a year, that puts me in bad spot.
Some of the other bad spots were any restaurant where the waitress removes your card from your site and obviously anywhere online. The lesson I suppose is charge everything and pay it off monthly.

 

[07Blazerman]

This happened to me in November. Except for it was being used for itunes purchases in germany. Fortunately BOfA caught y right away and froze the account. I got an email at 3:30 in the morning, which woke me up(goes to my phone), and I had the money credited within an hour.

My fiancee went to the bank this morning and already have the credit posted to my account. So thats some good news, and I will let their fraud depatment investigate to see where it was stolen, but bets are in now at the Mobil station by my house when I got gas the monday after Xmas, 2 days later the transaction took place, Itunes was after. I don't use my bank card very often as its tied to your checking and now I am not using it anymore, especially at gas stations which apparently are a big problem. From now on I am using only my gas card there and paying it off. And once again do not shop at buy.com as they seem to be part of the scam or at the very least don'y care about secure purchases and whether it is the cardholder or not using it.