Credit Card Fraud
By Jeff Unruh
@mypointsju (583)
Westland, Michigan
April 1, 2016 9:29am CST
I think bad people really like me, lol. In the last year I have been hit twice with fraud on my charge card. The last one was 2 weeks ago. I visited my father out of state and while at the airport, my charge card with the RFID chip inside was stolen. 6 Months ago, I got a charge card statement that I bought a total of $150 worth of starbucks gift cards.
I am not out of any money and my charge card company did take care of everything and at least the last time, they notified me of the fraud (that was nice). It must be me, but now I am a little paranoid of people and I have gone to extent of ordering charge card RFID blockers for my cards.
But now it concerns me that I am starting to look at people I don't know on when they physically get close to me. Example: I was at a shopping mall yesterday in the parking lot and someone came up to me to ask a question. I saw an antenna in his hand. When he asked questions, I told him I needed to leave.
So for people that have had fraud on a charge card, did you go through a period of time that you were a little paranoid. I stress it is not full blown being paranoid (I will still go out in public, but I look at people different. How did you react when you had charge card fraud?
7 people like this
10 responses
@scheng1 (24649)
• Singapore
2 Apr 16
@mypointsju Did you set the sms alert for your credit card?
I set mine to $1, so that every transaction that exceeds $1 will trigger sms to my phone.
In this way, I can get notified immediately whenever there is a transaction.
@mypointsju (583)
• Westland, Michigan
2 Apr 16
@scheng1
I am call my charge card company and ask if they can do that. Great idea. Thank you
1 person likes this
@mypointsju (583)
• Westland, Michigan
2 Apr 16
On this specific time, the charge card company notified me, which was nice. I do not know how they figured it out, but I was glad they contacted me. The last time this happened I had to report it to them and the charge card company did take care of it, but I had to try to explain to them that no, these were not my charges.
1 person likes this
@maezee (41985)
• United States
2 Apr 16
Whoa this is very scary. Do you think the guy had some type of skimmer device? Im sorry this has happened to you. Apparently some of our local gas stations have had people sneak on skimmer devices on the gas pumps and steal card numbers that way. I have started prepaying on my card. The only way I have ever had fraud happen was when my wallet was physically stolen last year. I got lucky - the person who took it only charged up $30 which I got refunded by the bank. What a pain. How can we prevent it if its a skimmer though?
@maezee (41985)
• United States
2 Apr 16
@mypointsju yes! You are right indeed. They can have devices or even install them in places such as Atms or pay at the pump gas stations. Is there some type of jammer we could buy? How frustrating!
@mypointsju (583)
• Westland, Michigan
2 Apr 16
From what I understand (maybe I am wrong), but a skimmer is an actual physical device that reads it from the magnetic strip your charge card. The 2 spots I used the card that day I physically saw them use it. This sounds to me more of a type of thing that they get close to you and use an antenna to get your information from your chip (RFID) on your charge card.
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
1 Apr 16
This is something that I have never experienced so far. I absolutely hate the new chipped cards which allow touchless payment because they can be used without any pin or signature. This seems insane to me because they are effectively cash, which defeats the whole object of using a card.
@mypointsju (583)
• Westland, Michigan
2 Apr 16
In long term in the USA, we will switch 100% over to chipped. This does stop people from skimming (swiping your card into a machine and getting your information), but it creates the problem with people walking by you with an antenna and getting your information. I guess whatever way the charge card companies go, the bad people will figure out a way around it.
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
2 Apr 16
@mypointsju I cannot deny the truth in what you say, but I still feel that the concept of making a card useable without pin or signature is insane.
@Blondie2222 (28610)
• United States
3 Apr 16
Yes I had fraud last year on my card someone out of state tried to get a hotel room with it and also bought 200 dollars worth of stuff on nike.com. It took me awhile to get the money back but i did as i didn't make the purchases.
@mypointsju (583)
• Westland, Michigan
3 Apr 16
At least you got your money back, but yes fraud sucks.
@TiarasOceanView (70020)
• United States
1 Apr 16
You mean someone scanned your card however they do that?
I am not sure if those special card guarding wallets are good or not.
No I have not had this experience, but I would be paranoid if I did for sure.
Good you were not out money though.
@TiarasOceanView (70020)
• United States
2 Apr 16
@mypointsju Wow this is the first I have heard of this Jeff! Seriously we must be vigilant, but arent we already? Creating a physical card even..wow.
@mypointsju (583)
• Westland, Michigan
2 Apr 16
It sounds like they got it from using an antenna, but I was surprised when my charge card company said that it was being used for fraud out of state and a physical card was being used. That means, besides stealing our information, they created a new physical card and tried to use it. My wife and I both had our cards on us. To me I amazed that someone not only can get the charge card information, but to create a physical fraud card.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21845)
• Canada
1 Apr 16
My card was hacked not too long ago. I am going to get one of those metal card covers so someone can't steal the numbers our of my pocket or purse. Haven't done it yet but haven't been anywhere I can find one lately...
@mypointsju (583)
• Westland, Michigan
2 Apr 16
I did a lot of research on how to protect it (well at least slow down the fraud activety). You can get a wallet that will protect it or a sleeve that protects 1 charge card, but you have to be careful. Some of them are not very good. When on the plane back from Florida a gentleman showed me what he has been using and he said he had luck at least for the 6 months and had no fraud activety using one of the sleeves. I did a lot of research and found like 5 sleeves and 2 passport protectors (in the USA, our passports have RFID chips inside) for like $11 and I will get them this week from Amazon.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21845)
• Canada
2 Apr 16
@mypointsju I will look on Amazon or ask a friend who uses one and see where he got it.
@dodo19 (48142)
• Beaconsfield, Quebec
1 Apr 16
I was victim of this two. I opened my credit card bill one day and noticed a charge that I never made. So I called the credit card company to find that this person had tried to make more purchases on my credit card. I explained to them that I never made any of those purchases. They were really nice about it. They investigated it, and in the end I didn't have to pay for any of the purchases that weren't mine.
@mypointsju (583)
• Westland, Michigan
2 Apr 16
Our charge card company was very good and actually reported it to us of the activety. On a side note, the last time it happened and we had fraud charges that we found on our statement, I called the charge card company and had to explain that these $150 charges are not mine and I felt like a child trying to explain it because they kept asking me, "sure the other card holder did not charge these?". Either way it is a pain.
@cupkitties (7421)
• United States
1 Apr 16
I am very paranoid about my belongings. I take every chance to check my wallet, to make sure one of the cards isn't missing and phone is still in there. The thoughts that run through my head:"SIr, it don't take that long to read the back of an oreo package", "Um why do you folks need to walk that close to me?" "Somebody just bumped my purse. Better check it". Will be glad when I can get away with just having a phone on me. Our area hasn't caught up with the rest of the world for mobile payments and such.
@mypointsju (583)
• Westland, Michigan
2 Apr 16
At least I feel a little better that I am not the only semi paranoid person with this stuff.
1 person likes this
@pgntwo (22405)
• Derry, Northern Ireland
2 Apr 16
The Card Security Services team of a credit card that I use this morning informed me someone had tried to charge a small amount, less than $5, to my card, at a hotel in the US recently. There had been several other attempted transactions, all denied by the card issuer sometime yesterday. Once the person I was talking to had determined I still had the card in my possession, and that the last transactions on my card were legitimately made by me, they asked me to cut up the card and advised they will be sending a new PIN and card to me in the next week to 10days.
Some other advice was offered, including ascertaining if I had an iPhone or iPad (I do not), so I am not sure if the card details had been used by someone with one of these devices (where the phone effectively becomes your credit card!).
It can happen so quickly. Be careful, know where your card is, when you last used it, and always check your statement each month. Meanwhile, I have to shop today using a different card, so another PIN to remember for a while...
@KuznVinny (768)
• United States
5 Apr 16
So far, so good, although I have known some people who have suffered difficulty.
