Debit Card Fraud

[41magsnub]

Have a $.56 charge from JHD PRODUCTIONSDEER PA NYUS on my debit card in the pending transactions section.  I am in Montana and really do not recall doing 56 cents worth of business with a video production company in Deer Park New York!

I am pretty sure that somehow my debit card number was compromised and this is a test transaction to see if it works or not.  I do not know exactly where this may have happened, I do not use this card online at all.  I rarely use it at all, I use it as an ATM card rather than a debit card.

I have canceled this card, formally disputed the $.56 charge, and tonight will do a credit report on myself to make sure nothing else untoward is happening!  I may end up doing a police report on it if the bank asks me to, though that would feel stupid over 56 cents.

[Boomhauer]

Ayup, test transaction.

[PTK]

Test transaction for certain. This is why I daily monitor my accounts. 

(Aside that was rather amusing - typing "test" while my left hand was too far over by one column of letters yielded "mommy parts", which is also rather applicable)

[Mabs2]

I had some people call me wanting me to order some magazines.  They had a couple I was interested in and they were cheap.  I still wasn't convinced they were legit, but I was still curious.  Then they read me my debit card number to confirm they had it right.
I canceled the card the next day.

[HankB]

A year or two back Discover Card called me to inquire about 97 cent transaction from some place called "Cheaper Karaoke."

Yep - test transaction. If it went through, a BIGGER transaction would have been made. Card cancelled, new one issued.

I had some people call me wanting me to order some magazines.  They had a couple I was interested in and they were cheap.  I still wasn't convinced they were legit, but I was still curious.  Then they read me my debit card number to confirm they had it right.
I canceled the card the next day.

I would NEVER purchase ANYTHING from someone who called me . . . only if I made the call would I give out any information. You did the right thing to cancel the card - it HAD been compromised.

[TechMan]

I was out at the range a couple of Saturday's ago and the wife took a call from our bank.  They wanted to see if I had made a $1 dollar charge to snapfish.  I had to wait to Sunday to talk to a customer service rep to tell them to cancel the card.  She had stated that the had slowed down the processing of the transactions on Saturday, but they declined a $49 charge to some place.  Got to love the CC thieves.

[Mabs2]

A year or two back Discover Card called me to inquire about 97 cent transaction from some place called "Cheaper Karaoke."

Yep - test transaction. If it went through, a BIGGER transaction would have been made. Card cancelled, new one issued.
I would NEVER purchase ANYTHING from someone who called me . . . only if I made the call would I give out any information. You did the right thing to cancel the card - it HAD been compromised.

The only reason I considered it was because I had given my phone number to a magazine place less than a week prior.
A completely unsolicited selling would go ignored by me, but if that had happened I'd have never known they had my card.

[MechAg94]

I got a bad charge on one of my cards last week.  I am still waiting on the replacement.

[41magsnub]

The only really inconvenient part of this is I am down to $6 in my wallet and now I have to actually go into the bank and talk to somebody to withdraw more cash.

[Fly320s]

Test charge?

I wish I had a test charge. Thieving bastiges rung up $2100+ on my CC.

My CC company automatically canceled one of the charges, but I caught the other $1800 in medical supplies and an Apple Store charge.

[French G.]

So, Do not ever use a bank card online, nor let it out of your sight in retail transactions.. It may say Visa and it will work, but you're going to have one heck of a time getting your money back once your bank account is zeroed.

The # to my Chase CC got lifted, probably at a restaurant, to their credit Chase promptly called me to ask if I was making cash withdrawals at [Dave Barry]I am not making this up[/Dave Barry] Aziz's Quick Stop in Midland, TX. I was pretty sure I was not since I was firmly in Virginia when they called.

Had a card locked down before too because it did not match my purchasing profile to be buying expensive jewelry in the Bahamas. Probably because I don't get there every week. Good looking out credit card people, but you kinda dented my days plans of drinking, eating, and gambling since I use my CC for most overseas transactions. 

[kgbsquirrel]

Had it done recently, with a CC I hadn't used in over 6 months. Credit to the Mastercard folks because they immediately called me when my card was suddenly used in Strasbourg, France. The disconcerting thing was the thieving bastard tried to use my card to purchase information on me from a people finder website, which then resulted in me getting spammed with telemarketer calls from yet another company trying to sell me BS and them miraculously having: My address, phone number and banking information to include the CC number. Rather unhappy week.

[danib]

41magsnub,

I joined this forum, b/c I saw your post online and wanted to let you know that this happened to me yesterday as well. My charge was for .43 cents. I called the production company and they said it was a scam so I called the bank and disputed the charge and closed the card. I can't figure out how our card number was compromised, I live in North Carolina. I am sure there are going to be a lot more people replying to your post as well.

Good luck!
Danielle

[Monkeyleg]

I was ripped off for $1400 from three fraudulent credit card transactions back in January. In each case the thief had the correct information: card holder name, address, phone number. In two of the cases the thief put a shipping address that was different than the billing address. I'll usually do some checking if there's a different shipping address to make sure it has some relationship to the person, ie workplace, relative, etc.

In one of the three, I shipped to the card holder, and the card holder claimed he didn't order the product (and that he was under no obligation to return it). I gave the credit card company all of the info I received, including his IP and the name of his hosting company, his cell phone number and the date and time on which he called me, and the delivery receipt from the post office. The credit card company ruled in my favor.

Some of these people are really sophisticated in their techniques and make it hard to spot fraud. The worst thing is that the credit card companies just don't care. They make money on fraudulent transactions, too.

[Ben]

Often this isn't a test transaction, but a monthly income. I had that happen to my fed.gov credit card some years ago. I immediately disputed the transaction and requested a new credit card. While doing so, the rep told me that these small charges will often reoccur monthly on someone's card. Because it's such a small charge, people who have a lot of monthly auto-transactions never even notice it, simply thinking it's a transaction fee for one of the auto-deductions. Multiply $0.99 by fifty or so thousand, and even if half the people dispute the charge, you've got a nice little monthly income for a while.

And the pisser is that the rep also told me that most credit card companies almost always absorb the charge on disputes under $10 because it costs them more than that to process the dispute. So even if you don't get charged, the crooks still get their money. Might be different now since identity theft is so much more prevalent than five or six years ago, when this happened to me.

[lee n. field]

Had it done recently, with a CC I hadn't used in over 6 months. Credit to the Mastercard folks because they immediately called me when my card was suddenly used in Strasbourg, France.

A couple years ago.  I had a card refused at Staples.  Later that day the card company called.  "Did I make a multiple hundred dollar purchase in the Netherlands at 4 in the morning?"   "Uhh, no."

[AZRedhawk44]

(Aside that was rather amusing - typing "test" while my left hand was too far over by one column of letters yielded "mommy parts", which is also rather applicable)

Former co-worker was in the middle of a support gotomeeting with a client, and part of his routine when finishing a particular task is to test it with a simple text string.

Embarrassing when "that" comes out when you meant test.  And it's a 50-something year old secretary lady on the other end of the phone.

[Firethorn]

Embarrassing when "that" comes out when you meant test.  And it's a 50-something year old secretary lady on the other end of the phone.

Eh, less embarrasing than doing it to an under 30 type, I'd say.  A 50 year old secretary likely used to actually type, thus would have a fair chance of understanding the error.

Though as a touch typist, I'm more likely to get rwar if I'm off home row.  I have to haul my middle finger over unnaturally far to hit the w instead of the e.

There's a mistype I discovered once with a right hand word though.  Don't remember what it was, unfortuantly.

[Nick1911]

Eh, less embarrasing than doing it to an under 30 type, I'd say.  A 50 year old secretary likely used to actually type, thus would have a fair chance of understanding the error.

I think you underestimate how many people in my generation (20-30) type on a keyboard all the time.

[HankB]

Just got my Visa statement . . . nothing due, but there was a $14.95 charge to an on-line boats-for-sale website that was cancelled the day after it posted.

The site looked legit, but really, how often do charges on the wrong credit card get cancelled one day after they post, when the real owner of the card doesn't know until he gets his statement?

I called Visa and had them cancel the card and issue a new one. Maybe it was a legitimate mistake . . . but then again, maybe not.

[Monkeyleg]

The site looked legit, but really, how often do charges on the wrong credit card get cancelled one day after they post, when the real owner of the card doesn't know until he gets his statement?

I've done that with credit card payments. I'll get to thinking that there was something funny about an order, do a little more checking, find that the person who ordered it wasn't really the card holder, and cancel the transaction.

Our Mastercard was charged for $97 back on May 4th for Direct TV. We didn't order it, of that I'm sure. We were staying in a motel at that time as we waited for the movers to arrive with our furniture. No idea how someone got the card number, as we don't use that card (APR shot up to 21%).

[KD5NRH]

I think you underestimate how many people in my generation (20-30) type on a keyboard all the time.

I think you overestimate the number who can touch-type effectively.  I know my lousy 36WPM has gotten me at least one job over several other applicants.

[230RN]

My bank was "kind" enough recently to send me a debit card. I don't recall asking for one.  Haven't signed it or activated it or anything, but figured I could use it for online purchases.

(I rarely buy stuff online, but when I do, I call to get the total with shipping, or print out their final "cart" page and send it in with a check.  Slow, but what the heck.)

OK, so now I have a burning question: Any theories on how these crooks might have got hold of your card information?  I know a lot of you said you have no idea, but what are the possible pitfalls? 

I may just destroy that debit card.  I got along fine after I destroyed all my credit cards twenty years ago, so I really don't need it.  My middle name is Cashncarry.

[Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas]

Any theories on how these crooks might have got hold of your card information?

Things like this and this happen all the time.

And there are gadgets sometimes attached to ATM card slots which copy your card data.

[lupinus]

My bank was "kind" enough recently to send me a debit card. I don't recall asking for one.  Haven't signed it or activated it or anything, but figured I could use it for online purchases.

(I rarely buy stuff online, but when I do, I call to get the total with shipping, or print out their final "cart" page and send it in with a check.  Slow, but what the heck.)

OK, so now I have a burning question: Any theories on how these crooks might have got hold of your card information?  I know a lot of you said you have no idea, but what are the possible pitfalls? 

I may just destroy that debit card.  I got along fine after I destroyed all my credit cards twenty years ago, so I really don't need it.  My middle name is Cashncarry.

Lot's of ways it can happen.

For online purchases I highly suggest using a credit card. Resolution is usually easier and it's not your money that's tied up in the mean time.