So we occasionally get calls from our Credit Card Vendor (let’s call them BANKCO), asking us to call back about possible credit card fraud.
This has always turned out to be a false alarm. Usually it happens when I travel, or if I use a card I haven’t used for a while, or if I buy something odd. Sometimes it’s not clear why they call.
Anyway, we’re always wise consumers and never call back the number they leave, but instead call back the number on the back of our card. After all, anyone can leave a voice mail message saying that they are the security and fraud department for BANKCO and please call us back at the following number, right?
So I called back the number on my BANKCO card, and talked to the nice lady who transferred me to another nice lady when I explained ablut the call I’d gotten. (The call had come in while I was dropping off Kay at spring break art camp. I’m glad I was diligent about returning it.)
The nice lady at BANKCO confirmed I was who I said I was, then asked me about a few transactions. Yes, I bought X from Amazon. Yes, I bought Y from the Village Hat Co. Yes, I bought Z from Blizzard for World of Warcraft. Yes, I —
— um, what was that last?
Okay, so my memory isn’t what it ought to be about details, and I started pondering whether any of the game stuff we do is via Blizzard (or even for something we did with Blizzard that we didn’t cancel). Not WoW, for sure, but …
… no, nothing on Blizzard. NCSoft, yeah. Sony, previously. CO was with Atari/Cryptic. No Blizzard.
Sinking feeling.
How about with Skype? Um … no, I have a free Skype account, but have never spent any money on it. Belkaart? Um, quick Gmail check, but I don’t —
That charge was made in Egypt? Egypt? I think not.
How about Avon Online? Well, not me, certainly, but while I don’t think Margie uses Avon Online, I don’t know that for certain.
I IM her. Nope.
Safeway for gasoline this morning? Yes! A legit charge! Yes!
FriendFinder? Not unless Margie is looking for love in all the wrong places.
Netflix? Nope.
A charge to 2co.com from Viet Nam? Yikes!
So the fraudulent-looking charges go back to last Friday. Which is the day I returned to the States. Now, then — Thursday I was in Chile. And while I am not certain, I think it altogether possible I used my BANKCO card down there, at some place that didn’t take the Corporate AMEX.
(Note to self — also check out charges on Corporate AMEX card.)
I don’t know that someone grabbed my number and info in Chile and sold it to folks in Egypt and Viet Nam and so forth. It could have been in Australia. Friday night I handed my card to a waitress at a restaurant here in Denver. Fraud can happen anywhere.
Still, it’s kind of funny-feeling knowing that my beloved BANKCO card (or its number and expiry and 3-digit-security-code) were out there being used by strangers. Who evidently, really like cosmetics, because there were some big charges to Avon Online.
So BANKCO has reversed those charges, and cancelled the card number, and will notify the credit companies and all that. And a new BANKCO card will show up Friday (it’s too late for them to overnight one for tomorrow). Which is okay — I can use something else tomorrow if need be (I hear the government actually issues paper scrip that you can use to pay for transactions and all debts public and private — remarkable!).
Kudos to BANKCO for monitoring stuff and getting hold of me and all that. Yes, they have an interest in doing so. But they they also did so very politely.
Always check your credit card statements, kids. Most of the fake transactions were small ones, which (if not overused) I might not have noticed.
(Shivers slightly.)
The most irksome thing will be figuring out what we have that charges automatically to that account, and updating those numbers. Irksome.
Well, at least now I’m glad I never played World of Warcraft — I might have gotten really confused.
You could have been scalped 3 months ago, the fraudsters often let some time pass to allow you to forget all the places you have been and make sure there are lots of possible suspects.
Personally I once spent $1,300 on a hotel in Thailand. The amazing thing was it was 6am on a Saturday in the UK and I was still in bed*. The Card company phoned me the same day, so I would have needed a VERY fast jet. It was part of a spate, which I believe were traced to a filling station (which, surprisingly, is part of a major supermarket chain).
(*No, it wasn’t St Crispin’s day, no matter how unmanned I may appear to be)
Glad this was a clean fix and not a whole identity theft thing. We had an issue with Discover 2 years ago right before we left for vacation and we had to delay the travel for a day to get the card back (I only have a couple these days for the required traveling for work and Masonic stuff).
I saw a short bit in the news on how restaurant servers can use a small device to swipe your card data easily and almost invisibly (pun intended) while they are walking to the cash register from your table. Apparently there’s been a rash of such data theft in Breckenridge recently, so I don’t think that being in Chile or Australia put you at particularly greater risk. Changing card numbers is a PITA, but I suppose we should be thankful that we aren’t liable for fraudulent charges.
It seems to me that, with about 30 seconds of time, it would be trivial to write name, credit card number, expiry date, and the 3-digit code. Waitstaff certainly have the opportunity for that — and since only the 3-digit code doesn’t come across in a credit card swipe (but is easily remembered), any other particular vendor can grab the info without too much trouble.
The timing and opportunity make me think it’s Chile most likely, but I certainly can’t prove it, and would be willing to hear whoever it is.
Margie’s proposed this as info to promulgate for our Italy trip in a few months:
Call your credit card company in advance to let them know that you will be abroad.
Give them contact info for when your are abroad.
For ATM/Debit cards, use a secondary account with limited funds in it, moving more online as needed.