Credit/Debit card #'s stolen again! **Rant**

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Originally Posted by Madeinhb

Also our credit system should be like Europe with the swipe and pin. In France, when we want to pay at a restaurant or something, the waiter brings over a machine and hands it to you. You put your card in, enter your pin to confirm charge and take card out. Give machine back to waiter. Waiter never touches your card, sees the numbers, etc. also no signatures.

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I think that would be a great idea and believe it was proposed in the US, but I think too many complained about the inconvenience of the extra steps.

We had over $6,500 charged up on an AmEx card two weeks ago in Montreal, ...a place I've never been.

The Authorities aren't concerned with our piddly identity theft problems, I've been there too and that's essentially what I was told, by one of the top dogs in the DPD Detective bunch. They "don't have the resources".

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Originally Posted by rondog

The Authorities aren't concerned with our piddly identity theft problems, I've been there too and that's essentially what I was told, by one of the top dogs in the DPD Detective bunch. They "don't have the resources".

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I'm sure they'll get right on it as soon as you vote yes on the mil levy. ;)

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Originally Posted by Skully

I think that would be a great idea and believe it was proposed in the US, but I think too many complained about the inconvenience of the extra steps.

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Not so sure it was inconvenience. It was more the cost to change everything. Personally I hate receipts. I wish they could do electronic receipts like Apple does.

I have yet to have my card info stolen, but I have had my card shut down multiple times by the bank. First time was because I tried to date a teller, she killed the card one weekend. Almost got stranded because of it.

Last time was with my business card. They shut it off because I kept making the same purchases I have made at the same locations I have made them for the last two damn years. What. The. Fuck. Pissed me off and I had to call my parts suppliers and apologize.

We've had similar things happen with one of our cards, and our Xbox account (you have no idea how much money can be charged on an Xbox account...). I haven't been on the Xbox in forever, but still use a card.

Now I would suggest getting a Walmart, or prepaid green dot card (we have both). You can refill them at Walmart, and most grocers. The key is to only put the ammount that you will immediately spend on the card, and not extra. It does make it kind of troublesome, but it keeps you from losing money. Even if they do get your card number, they can't do anything with it (as long as you don't drop a bunch of cash in the acciunt). Either way, with the extra account, you can feel safe in that they can't get to your actual bank account.

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Originally Posted by colorider

I never use my debit card and no bills are automatically taken out of my account. Call me paranoid, but i don't trust anybody with my account or having access to my money.

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I never allow ACH. Bill pay on my terms from my account.

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Originally Posted by Skully

You know I think it is. I get hit at least once a year.

I had a bank associate tell me in a previous hit that they test to see if it works with small purchases then attempt larger ones. Mostly online as to avoid being seen in person to be linked to the stolen number. You think they could easily trace to where the product was shipped to if they were serious about catching these fuckers.

I rarely ever carry cash, and only use my credit/debit cards as credit. I never have automated payments as I agree with Colorider, dont like others to have access to my accounts either. More areas that can be a compromised by hackers.

I am lucky that our banks have been really great when these things happen, always get covered, I am grateful for that at least.

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This is why AMEX security is generally better. Unless you're at a gas pump, AMEX rejects any pre-auth attempt as fraud. I often have to call or reply to an auto-mailer for online e-tailers that attempt pre-auth in their checkout process.

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Originally Posted by Madeinhb

This is why my wife and I have 3 checking accounts. 1 joint account where direct deposits go and we pay bills. Then a checking for me and 1 for her. All I do is transfer money from joint to mine when I need to spend money. If my debit card is stolen, I can live without it, but the joint account is never effected.

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That is a very good strategy and one I should have pointed out in my list. We don't have joint accounts but that's what works for us.

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Originally Posted by Madeinhb

Also our credit system should be like Europe with the swipe and pin. In France, when we want to pay at a restaurant or something, the waiter brings over a machine and hands it to you. You put your card in, enter your pin to confirm charge and take card out. Give machine back to waiter. Waiter never touches your card, sees the numbers, etc. also no signatures.

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That's funny considering my card got hit once for an online purchase made in France.

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Originally Posted by hatidua

We had over $6,500 charged up on an AmEx card two weeks ago in Montreal, ...a place I've never been.

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AMEX is great about handling fraud.

dang, I travel all over the country and never have the CC company call me about anything. about 5 years ago my visa had an issue where some california company used some type of computer program to pull credit card numbers. I caught the test charge of something like .27 and called visa right away, they cancelled and had me a new card by the time I got home from my trip.

I use my CC for everything, pay it off every month, never use my debit card, don't attach my checking to paypal or anything like that.

Cash cash cash

Wife and I are using the envelope system. Pain in the ass at times but it's working and I don't worry about CC numbers getting swiped.