I don't use my Discover card often but I stopped at the market on my way home to grab a couple things and it was rejected (twice) so I gave the clerk some cash and went on my way.

When I walked in the door my wife said she got a call from Discover about some "questionable charges" and quickly asked me about a couple charges. I knew nothing about them. We tried to access our on-line account to review our statement but were frozen out.

I just got off the phone with a customer service rep. After reviewing our statement, we found 10 illegitimate charges over the course of a couple days. Hopefully that's it.

My wife uses her card all the time Sometimes nonstop for days on end . I don't know if she swipes it or they make an impression or what. But she's going to have to be more careful and we are going to have to scrutinize our statements even more carefully in the future.

In the past month I only used it for a small Amazon on line purchase (cheap for 7" shoot n c targets) and I let my kid borrow it to buy a review book for school at Barnes and Noble.

Discovery is covering those charges and are sending out new cards. They are pretty proactive in trying to detect fraudulent card use. He said they work aggressively in prevention, protection and conviction. This guy was great but you could tell he gets a lot of these calls. In all, I've always been a fan of Discovery and even more so today. The did good by me in a bunch of ways.

I know this is a sign of the times but I'm still (dare I say) peeved! I still feel like my privacy has been violated. And frankly I despise those little twerps who feel like what I have worked my butt off for is somehow theirs. I would love some info on these idiots to go over and give them the ***whippin' they so desperately need to function civilly in society. Then I'd kick their ***** one more time because clearly they deserve it.

A note to all; get those carbons if they make an imprint, know who you are dealing with and review your statements.

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paws for friendship

I had my cc hacked twice in about a six month period. The bank caught it the first time and I caught it the second time. I paid the card off after the second time and cancelled it. No worries now.

Do not blame the wife or yourself. Most likely a store you used the card at somewhere down the line had their systems hacked. A few years back a huge credit card processor was hacked and millions of cards were replaced. My Visa was one of them.

You know, that's a great point kwselke. I didn't ask them if they had some systemic problem on their end or it was isolated to my account. Regardless, I think we became somewhat complacent in our card use and review.

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paws for friendship

Avoid using cards at gas pumps. That's where the skimmers are placed frequently.

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SOS USA

I think Discover is prone for hacking, or maybe because it gets the most use here, but mine was just frozen for the same reason. That makes 2 new cards in the last 3 years. I have to say though, Discover is on top of things as they called immediately. The charges were minor, perhaps just a probe to see what they could get away with until the thieves did some real damage.
PITA to notify all the people who bill us automatically.

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Sure you did

I had a phone call last week from my bank asking if I was in Greece, I told them no. Someone charged $850 (and some odd number) but they credited that amount. Cancelling the card and changing all the auto pays was the hard part. Same thing happened 3 years ago, but it was India that time. The wife and I are careful, but who knows. At least the bank was watching out for unusual purchased and it didn't cost any more than a minor inconvenience and some time changing things over.

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Minimize the variables

The more you use your credit card for everyday purchases the more likely it will be hacked, so get use to it. You can set up your cc account so that it posts the balance daily to your computer. If you see anything wrong you can resolve it immediately. And if anyone don't know what their balance is they shouldn't have a cc.

Welcome to the club! My AMX and MC have both been hacked in the last year by sex shops, and at my age these establishments are not high on my list. My friends think that it is funny, but it is a pain in the a**!

As long as you deal with first rate credit card companies, they will catch it and cover the charges, and issue new cards overnight!. It is just a sign of the times that we live in!

medxam

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Doc Garrett
Dead Man's Doctor

If it is a pain there you are going to the wrong sex shops.

I have had it happen to me a few times.....I did find out during one of the incidents (about 12 years ago) that my wife had bought a $12 ring on the home shopping network....they in turn sold our credit card numbers to over 10 different businesses. People magazine was one...they charged my card $588 for a couple year subscription (who the hell reads nearly $600 bucks worth of peoples magazine anyway?)...I got enrolled in a meat club in Nebraska for a couple hundred (the owner is the one who gave up the home shopping network after being threatened with being locked up)...then a vacation got booked on the other side of the country (hotel, rental car, food ..all expenses paid) as well as a ton of other things totaling nearly $9k bucks!....this all happened to while we were away in Florida. The bank noticed we were in Flordia using the card but seen charges popping up all over the country. The bank froze the account and after threatening to lock everyone the hell up I got majority of my money back....this was a Debit card so it was cash withdrawn from my checking acct not just added to my credit card account. Luckily the debit card has a Visa logo which protects you from things like this.

If you're upset now, wait until you file your tax return and the IRS tells you you can't get your refund because someone already filed your return......

If somebody is dumb enough to file my name they will be in for a nasty shock.

Been nailed twice in the past year with a debit card. First time the lady at the bank told me not to use it like a debit card except in an ATM and use it like a credit card instead so you don't enter your pin# Anyway I took her advice and just last Friday I got popped again buying beer in a convenience store. How cruel was that? Anyway so much for the use it like a credit card trick. Do check your account twice a day so you will catch it when it first happens. Most of the time they'll hit you for some small amount to see if it will go then nail your hide to the barn door. As for me except for a few select places I trade on line it's put the card away and back to the cash and carry. I've had enough of this bull myself. Spence

My Amex have been compromised twice, both times in restaurants, so I now walk my card to the register/card unit so that it never leaves my sight, not foolproof but it substantially decreases risk, In most of Europe and Canada, the point of sale machines comes to the tables and card company's are now issuing their replacement cards with chip/pin technology to make it more traveler friendly even though that innovation is slow to start over here.

I use a debit card as I used to use a check book, my bank issues little books large enough to keep your card in and register your purchases, I enter my purchases at least 95% of the time or at least put the receipt in the register to enter later. The other day I needed to withdraw some cash and noticed that I was exactly $130 short of what I ought to have. I kept note of that and waited for the bank statment and noticed the charge went to Western Union, I haven't used Western Union for decades and called the bank to kill the debit card and had to go down and file a report to get credited the amount falsley withdrawn. Western Union was not very helpful and would not release any information regarding who had withdrawn the money, they weren't good English speakers either. People that do this kind of white collar crime should have their dominant hand removed surgically and stuffed up their asses permantly.

My card was stolen a few years ago by a woman who was sorting mail on the night shift at the local post office. She had stolen several dozen and was giving them to her ex-con boyfriend. I had two cam corders that had been purchased with my card at the local Walley World. I got them to pull up the video of the purchase and immediately recognized the perp. The postal inspector set her up and when he got through with her I baited the ex-con with an old girl friend who needed a favor. He thought he was going to meet her but I was waiting for him instead when he showed up...in a stolen car. He may be getting out about now.

It happened to me two months ago with my Corporate AMEX card.

Got a call on the cell phone on a Friday morning at about 0500 from AMEX security division wanting to know if I had my card in my possession. I verified that it was in my wallet and they informed me that my card had most likely been cloned as they were showing $952 and change in gas purchases in the last six hours. They closed the account immediately. Only bad part was I was out of town with low cash supply. AMEX FDX'd a new card to me at the hotel in Hattiesburg, MS on a Saturday.

About six months ago it was with MC and those damned CC checks they put in your statement. $210 and change for groceries at Kroger.

Class III

In spite of this being a known problem, restaurants especially run off with your card and bring it back when they are ready. I had my number stolen like this (the next day Dell Computers, fancy dresses). They need to devise some way to swipe at your table or just pay going out the door.

This would all be solved if they would use the "chipped" cards they use in Europe. At restaurant there,they bring the card reader to you where you put in a pin that matches to the card. Since they don't take ur card, u don't have to worry about someone copying the numbers in a back room.

sent using tapatalk

Firstly, update malware definitions on your anti-malware software. Download and install at least two from a well respected source. Look for rootkits, trojans and key loggers. If you do any shopping over the internet, key loggers can sit hidden on your computer and record key presses. They can bypass any security on the store's end.

If you use Linux (and Apple), harden your system.

Malicious computer crime is now bigger then the drug trade. Its not the kid with the computer in basement you have to worry about; its organized crime who have rings of hackers working for them and state sponsored labs.

I have a tactic with this response. "Do you want to tell me or the FBI when they have your facility locked down and you all stood facing the wall". It at least gets you the senior supervisor in double quick time. I learned to do this after Service Merchandise lost a ring belonging to my wife during their bankruptcy.

They use a hidden camera to capture you putting in your PIN number. At a target ATM (or restaurant), they'll install a card reader into the machine that many people can't tell is not original equipment. That copies the information from your card and a nearby hidden camera captures you entering your pin.

Russian organized crime is big into this. My card was captured this way at an ATM that my wife used. There was a whole rash of this in my area and then the cards were used at a small college town an hour and a half away from me. They got me for $700.00. I tried to get the video to look at from the cops but they never got back to me after getting a search warrant for the video and I eventually said "screw it". A lot of this more sophisticated fraud is coming from eastern Europe.

The thing that pisses me off, but that I completely understand, is that law enforcement doesn't have the time or resources or cooperative complainants to investigate and prosecute these cases until they're well into the millions. Even if law enforcement is willing to put the effort in, as in the case of a smaller department that also has little crime to deal with, the credit cards companies and banks don't want to devote the effort. It's cheaper just to pass their losses on.

Terrorists and criminals from big to small aren't going to ruin us by flying airplanes into buildings, they're going to win using credit and insurance scams to fund their operations. Did you know the first credit card wasn't issued until the early 1950's (Diners Card)? We've sure come a "long" way.....

I remember when I was kid, way, way, before credit cards, crooks would slip plastic garbage bags into bank night depositories. Then pick up the bag before the bank opened. Try to tell the bank that you made a night deposit (that's been stolen) when you bounce a check. Times were pretty good then but there's always somebody that would rather steal than work.

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SOS USA

Watch out for this one:

I was called and asked if I made a computer purchase in Delaware. NO!
Then they asked if I bought electronics in Connecticut. NO!

I was told that my card ending in 1234 was used to purchase those items and they figured they were unauthorized purchases. I would be covered and new cards would be sent, they went went through the whole process with me and I was very thankful.

They verified my address, they verified my name and my wife's. They had me verify the cards were still in my possession and I had not authorized any purchases out east. I read them the security code on the back of the card to prove I still had the card.

After all that was done my wife and I were thankful the nice card company called when something suspicious happened.

Then I started thinking.

I just gave someone who called me all my information AND the security code from my credit card, and all they had when they called me was my name and the last 4 of my card.....

I immediately called the credit card company and talked to the fraud department and had my cards cancelled and reissued.

I felt like a schmuck. Watch out for this trick, it happened to me 15 years ago when we weren't so cautious.

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Kirk / Spock 2020

As long as the thief spends less money than your wife does with the credit card, no problem. I'd let him go.

Ditto on the 2 cards in 3 years for false charges. Mine were on an AMEX card. Two charges might have been what you called "probes" that almost flew under my notice: one for was for a Netflix charge and one was for a cellphone Ap. Both were small charges but definitely noticeable to me (I'm archaic in my electronic usage) .

My wife and I try to use cash as much as possible to avoid giving our cc to too many strangers. We also carry our cc's in passport wallets because electronic scanners have been reported in use in our area.

Remember when you could shop, throw the bags into your unlocked car, and keep right on shopping?

My wife purchases fairly large quantities of product wholesale via a credit card, then sells the product retail. She has purchased a fraud protection system that within a couple of minutes after her purchase they call her to confirm that she just made a purchase. Thats about the best protection you can get, but I don't use a cell phone and often my purchases and transactions are away from the house, doesn't work well for me.

This is why I mostly deal in cash. Restaurants, gas stations, WalMart, gun shows, taxis (why would you EVER swipe your CC into the iPhone of a cabbie that hasn't showered in days and barely speaks English!!), almost everywhere. I have to use CCs on the interwebs, and there are a couple of auto-pays that I use for convenience, but otherwise, it's cash.

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Insert short witty words here

Just a simple question. Did you just buy anything from Sportsman's Guide? I got a card and they were the ONLY charge on the card but it got hacked. I mentioned it on another site and got SWAMPED with others who experienced the same.

I did. Bought something that is. Too recent to notice a hack...

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Kirk / Spock 2020

Last time my flight touched down from mexico, almost as soon as I turned my phone on, Visa security calls me "You haven't been in Colombia, have you?" I told him no, and he said he didn't think so.... That he knew where in MX I had been, and told me! Also said they'd froze the purchases in Bogata.
Just goes to show how much Card issuers actually know, and how Visa can track your movements if they feel the need.
I've pulled two people out of MX that were being forced to drain their accounts (debit card), maximum allowable daily---day after day, and Visa noticed it was unusual, so an alert was issued to their bank, who contacted NOK.

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Halfway and one more step