Check Your Bank Statements Regularly

[dusty]

All of these differing (though similar) points of view are interesting and educational. However, you haven't heard the whole story yet. Within an hour or so after initiating this thread, I got an email alert from my bank. They had detected unusual activity on my charge card and wanted confirmation that they were my purchases. There were three charges that together totaled a little less than $1000.

I contacted the bank immediately. They froze mine and my wife's Visa card. I just checked the online statement and all of the unauthorized charges have been removed. The bank has assured me that I have no liability for the unauthorized charges. That is good to know.

The only down side is that we are now a 'cash only' operation because all of our plastic is frozen. It is a good thing that the neighborhood bank is close by. I just got back from there. I drew $500 out of the account and that will just have to last until all of this is resolved.

My wife and I will be rethinking how we are handling the banking affairs.

[reible]

So is this related?

http://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/commu ... 18621.html

Ed

[JPG]

...Credit cards are 'paid' monthly(or optionally carry a loan balance incurring interest charges). When paid monthly you get use of a 'loan' for a brief period of time at no interest....JMHO

I have to (compelled to) wonder why it is a good thing to get a no interest loan for one month, but it is a bad (silly) thing to get a 12 month interest free loan? [FITax]

??????

Is that what you meant to say????

[jsburger]

A similar thing happened to me a couple of months ago. First, let me say I use my debit card everywhere and have for years and years and years. I pay all my bills on line through my Credit Union's bill pay feature. I only have two credit cards and they get paid in full every month. I don't use the debit card for on line purchases. I only use the credit card. My credit union has an app for your cell phone called Card Guard. When either the debit or credit card is used a notification is sent to my phone. If I swipe my debit card in a store I usually get the notification before the cashier hands me the receipt. Another feature of the app is that you can turn the cards off from your phone so no charges can be made.

So the point is a couple of months ago I got two notifications on my phone for charges of like $.29 and $1.xx. I don't remember exactly. I logged into the app and it showed that the credit union had denied the charges and where they originated. It was some Bead & Breakfast in Georgia. I found them in the internet and called. The guy says yes this happens a lot. And you are not doing anything about it?

So, I called the Credit Union and had the card cancelled and a new one issued. I asked why the two small amounts and she said that lots of time they ping the card with a small amount to see if it goes through. That seems strange to me from a scammers perspective. That is a dead tip off to the bank. Hit it with a big amount and if it goes through you got the money.

I have had a debit card since there have been debit cards and use it all the time. That was the first problem I ever had. I will continue to use it just as before the incident. The card guard app is a great tool.

The other thing is if you monitor your accounts and report fraud to your bank they will remove it weather debit or credit card. If not you need another bank.

[swampgator]

Florida's department of Agriculture representative, Adam Putman, has sent several notices to the population at large to guard both your debit card and credit card. Like most of the other commentators here, I abhore the debit card for the same reasons. I do have two credit cards, one for small purchases I can pay off each month and the other, because of the lower interest rate, is for larger purchases. At the moment, I am shopping for a dishwasher and will put it on that card. My wife has a (I think, Visa) card from Bank of America and they have sent several offers for 0% interest for 12 months. I will put the longer term purchases on that and pay it off as quickly as the funds can make it happen.

Another issue here, is that scammers will often test a credit card with purchases under $1. If the account owner ignores it then the scammer submits a purchase for a large amount and then disappear. Viewing your account on a regular basis is great advice. I hope none of you loose any money or have anymore violation of your financial security.

Steve, the old swampgator

[mountainbreeze]

The only down side is that we are now a 'cash only' operation because all of our plastic is frozen.

The same thing happened to us - 3 times in as many years. Now we each have our own card so if one of them gets hacked, it can be shut down and we still have another card to use.

[ERLover]

Eye opening especially on debit cards. I check my debit/bank account almost every day, 2 charge cards a few times a week, but will up that, and use my debit card much much less, and CCs more.
I agree, Dustys friend was able to get his passwords and then suddenly a banking problem, coincidence?

[Ed in Tampa]

All of these differing (though similar) points of view are interesting and educational. However, you haven't heard the whole story yet. Within an hour or so after initiating this thread, I got an email alert from my bank. They had detected unusual activity on my charge card and wanted confirmation that they were my purchases. There were three charges that together totaled a little less than $1000.

I contacted the bank immediately. They froze mine and my wife's Visa card. I just checked the online statement and all of the unauthorized charges have been removed. The bank has assured me that I have no liability for the unauthorized charges. That is good to know.

The only down side is that we are now a 'cash only' operation because all of our plastic is frozen. It is a good thing that the neighborhood bank is close by. I just got back from there. I drew $500 out of the account and that will just have to last until all of this is resolved.

My wife and I will be rethinking how we are handling the banking affairs.

Wasn't earlier this week when an "unnamed source" had all your computer info. Perhaps more people than you know have all your info. I think it is time to look into lifelock. I suspect someone has placed a Trojan on your computer and e erythronium you have on it was being sold to the highest bidder

[Ed in Tampa]

There seems to be a new trend with debit cards they don,t always require a PIN number. I know Sam's started allowing purchases without a pin and I stopped using my debit card in Sam's. Sams was the only reason I had a debit card which is also my ATM. Monday I will shut off the Debit portion of my card.

As I understand if your debit card is hacked you may or may not get your money back depending on bank and situations. If you credit card gets hacked by law they must give back all except the banks can charge up to $25. Most give it all back.

[dusty]

There seems to be a new trend with debit cards they don,t always require a PIN number. I know Sam's started allowing purchases without a pin and I stopped using my debit card in Sam's. Sams was the only reason I had a debit card which is also my ATM. Monday I will shut off the Debit portion of my card.

As I understand if your debit card is hacked you may or may not get your money back depending on bank and situations. If you credit card gets hacked by law they must give back all except the banks can charge up to $25. Most give it all back.

You might want to check to determine if you can "lock" your debit card from home. I know that I can "lock" and "unlock" using my banks online banking applications (built in). If you can, I strongly recommend that you not even consider using your cell phone to do online banking. Why??? I am just paranoid about cell phone security (the lack of).