Credit Card Theft

You might want to call the gas station to let them know they may have a "skimmer" on their pumps. (I think it's called a skimmer.) This happened to me recently, too. A hassle but the bank caught it before any of the charges went through.

Yes, the economy is bad. Is that the only question here?

Interesting to take Christ's name in vain AND mention Easter in the same sentence.

Happened to my husband 8-9 years ago on his corporate American Express.
Of course, I'm the one who opened the almost $8000 bill and start noticing he could not have made all those charges. Can't get ahold of him, never at his desk. So I called AmEx myself. Explained I was not the card holder, not even an authorized user but couldn't get a hold of my husband and I was 99.9% sure charges where not his. They shut it down, just on my word until they could get a hold my DH. None of the charges were his, and he even signed a document giving AmEx to prosecute.
The upside, if there is one, thieves like that are usually not too smart. And in our case not only did they buy a cell phone in their name but also airline tickets in their name, but with my husband's card!

Sorry that happend. My husband's card was compromised three times with fraudulant charges; each time our financial institution caught it on the first try and immediately froze the card and called. Yes, times are hard and is not a good reason to commit fraud, but its good that it's caught by your financial institution. We all have to safe guard our finances.

If you look up ID theft, you can find the direct FTC site that details how to handle fraud like this.

At least you know that BoA was watching your card.

My husband's debit card was thefted a while ago too... pretty sure it happened when Home Depot's credit card swipers were down and the clerks had to use the "old fashioned" carbon paper things. The little thieves charged $200 at a video game store, but we didn't have to pay any of it. Similar thing happened to my sister after being at a bar one night... allegedly (we know it b/c of the records), the bar tender wrote down her credit card info and promptly booked two tickets to Afghanistan, complete with an overnight in LA.

No, the economy isn't that bad- people have been doing this for years! 20 years ago, my dad's cell phone account got hacked and they wracked-up $1000 in calls to Cuba. Lovely. There have always been fraudulant people and there always will be. Fortunately most banks don't require that you pay the charges.

Sorry you had to endure this, and have your nap interrupted :) I know it is hard. I went through it a few years ago.
No the economy is not THAT bad but some people are just lazy and greedy, always looking for a handout, something for nothing and dont care about consequences. I feel sorry for most, no some of them, make that a few of them. Mostly because they were not taught any better.

Its important that we as parents continue to teach our children the important fact that actions have consequences and the outcome of those consequences will ultimately effect them. Teach our children to remember they reap what they sow...

I work in a bank. Even when the economy was good, credit card fraud, check fraud were horrible. The difference is the technology they are using to copy the cards or create checks has "improved/advanced". It is horrible. The things that can be done by stealing someone's name and address, let alone basic bank info. Electronic transactions are also increasing in the fraud area.

It's happened to me twice, both with Chase debit Visa card. Both times it was about $500 before they caught it. After the second time, I changed banks to a smaller local bank. I NEVER use it online, I try to only use Paypal.

Happened to me also about 3 weeks ago. Like you I was lucky and my bank caught it. No we were not making purchases at Amazon at 2 am.

Where I used to live, I found credit cards in the laundry room and the had all been messed with by razor blade they slide off the numers and letters and make cards to match any of your cards so not just skimmers! My mother had someone add charges to her debit back east (were on the west coast) so that must have been how they did it. Drug use takes away feeling of any remorse. They dont care about anyone but themselves. Pray that they get help? The drugs they use now are at no point of return, they,ll never be themselves again. You can try changing your acct # from time to time. Best way is not to use credit cards if you dont have to. Definitely Not on the internet.

Happened to me 3 months ago. Someone racked up 1000$ on my credit card in one day. My credit card company took care of it when I filed identity theft. People can be scum.

Hopefully your bank will take care of it plus any additional charges that were fees. I have had this happen. Immediatly change cards as I think you would anyway. I think these days it is so easy to get a number....with all the online shopping and such people do. It is pretty scary.
We have been really careful to not use a certain card online...so if it were to get us, then we have a low limit on that card. But it is hard when people do debit all the time, I am sure swipin the card is really opening ourselves for trouble. It does really suck. Be glad that your bank is on top of it and fraud alerts stand on all your cards. We have it on our gas card too....... Good luck

This happened with my husband's Chase debit card. They took $500 out two days in a row & we were contacted by Chase fraud dept. Come to find out one of those scanners was used @ the Walmart gas station and around 100 people were affected. It's a shame some people are too lazy to make their own money.

Do you have a playstation? My girlfriend's husband's credit card number was stolen by whomever hacked into the playstation server and got 75 million names and credit/debit card numbers used to purchase movies, netflix, games, ect through the playstation console account.

Just a thought

You should feel lucky that this was an isolated episode of credit card theft. The company will cover the charges, close the existing account, issue you a new card and life goes on. The other kind is identity theft - where you name, social and b-day are used to create new accounts. The thieves then pass your information on to their friends who create new accounts. Then one day a collection agency calls and wants a police report to cancel the charges. Then you have to renew the fraud alert on your credit report every three months. That's a nuisance! We've been dealing with that for two years and 13 fraudelent accounts.

I bet it was the gas station. There is a small device that blends into the Credit card outside pay that steals your info and transmits it a short distance (like a car parked outside the station). This is why I ONLY pay inside or at a military gas station (they have attendants checking your military ID outside because only military can buy the gas, so there is always someone watching...). I have never had mine stolen but I know most of my friends have.