AMEX CARD MESS---WATCH YOUR CREDIT CARD

[Airpark]

Got a very interesting call from AMEX....wanted to know if my wife was on an international vacation trip.

I said ..no..she is right here with me.

They said she was spending money in Brazil, Saudia Arabia and India.

Asked how long she had been out of the country...I said Never..

We chatted a bit and they started unraveling the mess....cancelled her card...told me to immediately upon receipt of my statemen call them for anything that looked suspicious or was not ours.

It is out there.....THEFT....in a BIG BIG way....Check everything on your card statement.

It CAN happen to you.



Revised 12.22.11 at 22:22

It was really AMEX...NO, they did not ask for card numbers, etc.

Privacy...forget it...you ain't got none anymore...

In fact they told me a lot about myself and my personal and financial condition that I had no idea AMEX had or knew about.

They immediately cancelled her card...sent me another one by UPS Overnight and it actually arrived overnight.

Had to sign for it.

 

[s&wchad]

If I were you, I'd phone American Express. I'm skeptical of calls I receive and NEVER give out any sensitive information unless I initiate the call.

 

[jkc]

Why wasn't there this sort of diligence when my ex was squandering my money on exotic purchases? Note the italicized x please, I don't recall any of her spending on purchases involving the alternate consonant. These both may be reasons she's the ex ...

 

[A10]

If they asked you to read them card numbers or provide names and dates of birth, I would recommend calling Amex asap. They don't do stuff like that. I have had Visa call and check twice if I was using a card I don't normally use. Once they notified me they cancelled my card because of purchases going to Africa. Scary stuff!

 

[W.E.G.]

Jeez, who HASN'T it happened to?

They got me, then they got my wife (several times - several different cards actually).

Just down the street a few weeks ago, some character installed a "skimmer" on the ATM machine, and got EVERYBODY who used the machine.

Buy silver, AK-47's and 9mm pistols.

Its coming.

 

[hittman77]

Even there is no way to totally protect yourself from identity theft or misuse of credit card information, there are basic precautions you can take that will help.

~ Carefully review your statements every month.
~ Have your cards (if possible) with a LOCAL bank or credit union. In the event of a problem or dispute, you will have far better success dealing with someone local.
~ Use credit cards over debit cards. You have longer to dispute charges and most times the issuing bank will work FOR you to reverse the charges, etc. Many times with a debit card, once your money is gone, YOU have to fight to get it back.
~ Look into a credit monitoring product that covers all three credit reports and sends you an email alert when there is activity on your file.
~ Get your free credit reports once each year as allowed by law. BTW ~ Freecreditreport.com is not "free".

 

[John Wyatt]

I got a similar call from American Express a few years ago, asking if we were using our card in England. We were not, and the transaction was denied. Card cancelled and a new one sent. Nice to know someone is paying attention out there.

 

[Packard]

American Express is very good about contacting people when spending goes outside the normal parameters.

I have a Amex Platinum card ($450.00/year). You get a lot of travel benefits, but the best thing of all is when you call customer service you automatically get shunted to their most experienced staff. As soon as they recognize the platinum card number you are moved out the automated system and you are speaking with a real live person.

 

[DCWilson]

Discover is also first rate about this. On one occasion they called me to tell me they had denied some charges because they were obviously outside of my normal purchasing patterns and wanted to confirm improper use. They sent me a new card within a couple of days.

About two months ago I happened to check my Discover account on line and saw that an invalid charge had been posted within the previous few hours. I called their fraud line, and they killed my card again and sent me a new one in short order.

I think the stolen-card type of credit fraud is much better recognized today than it was even 10 years ago. Expert systems can actually stop a lot of false charges now; in years past everybody had to wait for a false charge to be recognized before anybody would react.

 

[CO_Kid]

Even there is no way to totally protect yourself from identity theft or misuse of credit card information, there are basic precautions you can take that will help.

~ Carefully review your statements every month.
~ Have your cards (if possible) with a LOCAL bank or credit union. In the event of a problem or dispute, you will have far better success dealing with someone local.
~ Use credit cards over debit cards. You have longer to dispute charges and most times the issuing bank will work FOR you to reverse the charges, etc. Many times with a debit card, once your money is gone, YOU have to fight to get it back.
~ Look into a credit monitoring product that covers all three credit reports and sends you an email alert when there is activity on your file.
~ Get your free credit reports once each year as allowed by law. BTW ~ Freecreditreport.com is not "free".

The above are good tips. I'll add to that, try to bank with a credit union over a run of the mill "bank". They're usually more responsive to helping you.

Case in point. In October, someone got my wife's debit card number and made a $1,800+ purchase in Egypt at a building supply company. The bank called us, and we told them the charges weren't ours. We've never been to Egypt, and never done business with that company.

Now the kicker, since the charges were "pending", and it was an electronic transaction, the bank said they couldn't stop the payment. Which left us with no money in our checking account for 4 days. Somehow, the transaction didn't complete, so when it was time for the transaction to post, it simply vanished and we had the money back. Cards cancelled, etc.

Fast forward one month to November. SAME ******* THING. The bank allowed the same company in Egypt to try to attempt the same transaction for the same amount. This time, they were successful and got our money. I was beyond angry. We had to do the dispute forms, and after 5 days this time with no money, we got it put back. The idiot branch manager closest to my house even made a JOKE about our situation.

After the second time, we opened an account with the credit union our car loan is through. Good decision. First thing we asked was what they would do in the above situation. We were told that they would cancel the transaction if it hadn't completed (which our old bank said couldn't be done), and if the transaction completed before it was noticed, the credit union would reimburse the money immediately, THEN investigate, and if the investigation revealed that we were lying, they could simply take the money back out.

 

[m657]

It was due to an extremely unpleasant but otherwise petty issue AMEX FUBARed over 15 years ago that I cancelled and cut up all my credit cards.

Haven't missed them, and it's amazing how often some contact via phone or email someone somewhere is trying to straighten something out for me on accounts that don't exist.

 

[old bear]

It CAN happen to you.

It did happen to me. My visa card was hacked last week, someone ordered 500.00 + $$ of stuff at Kole's.com with it.
Visa canceled the charges and has issued a new card. Now all I have to do is change all my online credit card info; which is a large pain in the fanny.

As Chad posted, if you get a call from a credit card provider, nicely refuse to give them any info, and explain you will call the number listed on the card in your hand; then do call the C.C. provider.

 

[1 old 0311]

I got hit last year for $4500 in charges, I did get it back. Someone stayed at the Hilton in Madrid Spain, rented REAL nice cars, then flew to London. Same thing Hilton, and top end rentals. Next to Paris, same gig.

Heck I have never had a vacation like that but SOMEONE did on my card that never left my pocket.

 

[Packard]

When I lived on Long Island I had one Visa card that I used exclusively for my home-based business. At some point I noticed that there were some fraudulent purchases made on my card and I notified Visa.

The fraudulent purchase was also made on Long Island and I had only one vendor on Long Island so I was pretty sure that that was the source of my card number.

One of the purchases was to a florist. I called that florist implying that I was a private detective working for Visa. I told them we needed the name and address to which the flowers were sent. They complied.

I called that number and got a young woman on the phone. I again implied that I was a detective working for Visa and unless she gave me the name of the guy who sent her the flowers we would report her to the police as receiving stolen goods. She gave up the name.

I then called Visa and told them who stole my card. Their answer was, "We already issued you a new card; it should arrive in a couple of days."

I asked them, "Aren't you going to file charges against this guy?" They replied that is was not cost-effective to do so and they would not.

I did contact my vendor on Long Island and the employee was fired.

But it stuck in my craw that Visa knew who the thief was and chose not to do anything about it.

 

[cowart]

BTW ~ Freecreditreport.com is not "free".

There IS a legitimate free credit report site - see
https://www.annualcreditreport.com

 

[Dvan34]

Using Paypal to buy online is probably much safer than using your credit card online with many of these companies. A couple of years ago I went into a SEARs store and bought a pair of shoes with my Amex card. Later I received notice that I had bought several hundred dollars of items at SEARs. Amex straightened it out. PayPay even has credit cards so you don't need to had anyone a card at a restaurant. If they have your card out of sight long enough someone can copy the information or even switch cards. It is better to take your bill and card and pay it personally rather than let a waiter take it to the cashier and leave it out of your control.