Scottman111

Long story short, I've had the same credit card (Visa) through my bank since I was 18. I've paid it off in full every month since I've had it, and have never had a single problem.


Fast forward to this week - I get a call from my bank that my account has been flagged for suspicious purchases. I confirm that I have never been to Arizona and did not make the charges, and also tell her that I have the card in my wallet.

She goes ahead and has the card canceled and says I have a new one coming in the mail.

I get the statement in the mail today with the charges:

Total of $486.23 at Autozone, Hollister, McDonalds, and Walmart in southern Arizona over two days. According to the bank lady, I just need to call Visa and dispute the charges and things should be okay.


Has anyone else been in a similar experience? I guess I'm wondering proactively what else I need to worry about with this situation to protect myself and my identity, now and in the future? Can this negatively affect me in any way, even though I've done nothing wrong?

And any insight on how they could have pulled this off? Seems like they'd have to swipe something at these locations, right?

Thanks in advance for any help!

NSXNEXT

iTrader: (2)

I've had my AmEx card number stolen 3 times in the last 10 years. They immediately cancelled the number/card and issued a new number/card.

It will have no effect on your credit or anything else. Biggest thing is to always check your credit card statement and report any unauthorized charges immediately.

AZuser

Same thing happened to me in Aug or Sept of last year with my Visa card. I had possession of the card too.

About $500 in charges at places I never shop at.

My guess is the account # was swiped at one of two bars I visited that week since I hadn't used the card in a long time since that week.

I was notified of the suspicious charges by phone and when I told them I didn't make any of those purchases, they cancelled the account and said they'd issue me a new card.

I had to contest the charges by printing out, signing, and sending in a form. I did have to pay my credit card company the amount first, but then they credited me the amount once they received the signed forms.

TLtrigirl

iTrader: (1)

i've had this happen twice on the same credit card that i had NOT used in 5 yrs. small charges like $40 on internet sites. visa closed the acct and issued a new card to me. i get the new card, leave it in the envelope and don't even activate it. the following month, i get the statement on the new card i have NOT used in forever and did NOT activate...more $40 charges for internet sites. call visa, they cancel the card and, like the first time, they send the charges off to their fraud dept.

the 3rd time was on the card i always use. i checked over my statement and i have a couple of charges to places or items i would be never heard of. i call visa, they close the acct and issue a new card.

it doesn't seem like it matters whether its an active card or an inactive card, the people who are low life enough to hack or inercept CC numbers, will find a way to get them.

nothing happens to your credit, you owe nothing to the CC company. they will do their own investigation and try and hunt down the scum. all we get is aggravation and worry to deal with this type of crap.

the only other thing you may want to do, get your annual credit reports (they are free once a year) and look them over to make sure everything is what it is suppose to be. you can never be too safe when it comes to identity theft.

ohsixMTee

iTrader: (2)

I've had it happen with my checkcard on a few occasions, only with M&T Bank...if that's who they are anymore. lol

I mean, the money gets recovered but it's a painful few days......one time some prick bounced my account down to about -900 bucks. And then purchases began to clear and I gathered another 8 or 9 NSF charges. Needless to say after that bank recovered my money I switched to Wachovia and now Susquehanna which is who my wife works for.

Very annoying that people have nothing else to do but wreak havoc on others.

doopstr

If you recently went somewhere that you gave your card to someone and they walked away with it (restaurant), that's where your card info was stolen. Another place could be a gas pump where someone put a little attachment onto the front of the card reader. Once someone has skimmed your card it's pretty easy for them to make up a new card with your account info.

1Louder

I've had this happen too - like others have said, contest the charges and you should be OK. It won't reflect on you.

The last time this happened I set up e-mail notifications on my charge card. Any charge over $40 I get an e-mail - most of the time hours after the transaction. It allows me to know very quickly if something is wrong. I'd highly recommend that.

Also allows me to know when and where my wife is shopping. Drives her crazy....

Scottman111

Everyone, thanks again for the responses!

I talked to Visa and their "Dispute" department. To my surprise, there was no note whatsoever on my account when he pulled it up. I figured since they caught it and notified me in the first place that there would some kind of flag, but I guess not.

According to him, they are now going to start a fraud investigation. I should expect an affidavit in the mail within 15 days that I need to follow the directions in and mail back to them (again, not sure why this wasn't done automatically when they caught it?)

I asked about what to do with the current statement, and he tells me to just pay the charges I tallied up and ignore the rest, so I will.

I also find out that there was almost 70 more dollars posted to the card after I was notified, which also didn't turn up on the statement I was sent. So I'm thinking I might have to do the process over again next month for that amount, but hopefully not. I'll wait to see what info I get in the mail before I worry about that.

Overall, I only spent about 10 minutes on the phone, and the service was good. I have yet to receive my new card though, which sucks for me because I use it as much as possible, and I'm missing out on the bonus points I get for using it. Not a big deal though.


doopstr - That's the conclusion I came to as well, and I won't bother trying to think of where/when it happened because I use it all over in person and a few trusted places online (not to say it couldn't have happened there).

Louder - I was also suggested by a friend to do the notification thing, which I will



EDIT: I'll update the thread later when stuff starts happening for future reference

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

Yeah same thing. They sent me the form. It's nothing but a few questions asking was the card on you or at home, any family members have access, stuff like that.

Makes you really wonder. Either it's really easy to do this, or the CC companies are really poor at protecting this stuff.