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2 years ago on New Year eve we got hit. We bought gas and used the card from our checking acount to pay at the pump. On monday we got a phone call from J C Pennys wanting to verify our purchase from them. I told her we did not order any thing and she told me to call our bank right away. The bank stopped any transactions by suspending the cards, We normally don't use a card for anything so I knew where the first tranaction on this card was at. It seems someone had put a skimmer reader in the gas pump. Fron Sat afternoon until Monday mid morning they had rang up charges totaling more than 15,000 dollars fron states in Mich where we live to 5 or 6 sourthern states. I filed a police report and was told they could not do anything because it was used out of state. They did go to the station and the pump I told them and the card thing was still there and then I never heard anymore from them. The bank took care of everything and kept us informed of everything going on. It took a coule of months before everything was settled but we never heard anymore about it. I was amazed at how fast the card info spread thru the state and the card was used in sex shops, computor stores they bought several computors, and at I tunes just to name a few.

We've never taken any precautions and, luckily have never been hit. But, after reading all you guys' stories, I think we'll start.
I've always been a bit leery of just handing my card to a waitress, but never even considered some of the other situations mentioned here.
I really appreciate all your valuable input. And, thanks to Dusty for starting off this thread.

Gene Howe wrote:We've never taken any precautions and, luckily have never been hit. But, after reading all you guys' stories, I think we'll start.
I've always been a bit leery of just handing my card to a waitress, but never even considered some of the other situations mentioned here.
I really appreciate all your valuable input. And, thanks to Dusty for starting off this thread.

Thanks Gene but wish I had never had a reason to start this thread.

Fortunately, it cost me nothing more than a few very anxious minutes and some frustration. Frustration because the bank would tell me so little. They bated my curiosity with a letter and when I called for clarification all I got was some vague double talk. The person I was talking to was more interested in impressing me with what they had done to save me.

I have never had my identity compromised when using cash!:D

Gene Howe wrote:We've never taken any precautions and, luckily have never been hit. But, after reading all you guys' stories, I think we'll start.
I've always been a bit leery of just handing my card to a waitress, but never even considered some of the other situations mentioned here.
I really appreciate all your valuable input. And, thanks to Dusty for starting off this thread.

Actually handing a charge card to the waitress is fairly safe. Even if she steals the number you aren't responsible for any cost incurred.

Never Never hand them a debit card!!!!!!!!

The biggest thing is letting personal info out. Never give out personal info for any reason. And if a bank or some card service calls or emails you never give them info. Tell them you will call back the Phone number on the back of your card or the bank number listed in the Phone book. Never call a number listed in an email and give them personal info.

And if you are real paranoid (like me) never use a cordless phone to conduct business, call on a corded phone.

One thing I forgot to mention is that each transaction on any card is carefully recorded. My credit union with which I have my two credit card (MC) sends me a listing of every transaction at the end of the year. They only show the last 4 digits of each card, but every transaction is recorded with a date/time stamp, store and how much. It is also broken down by food, gasoline, entertainment and miscellaneous.

But, I like dealing with cash. It does two things. Keeps you off the grid and everyone accepts cash. Also, if you don't have it, you don't spend it.

Dusty, good thread and again, I am sorry for your troubles. Please keep up posted so that we all learn how to prevent and protect ourselves.

swampgator wrote:One thing I forgot to mention is that each transaction on any card is carefully recorded. My credit union with which I have my two credit card (MC) sends me a listing of every transaction at the end of the year. They only show the last 4 digits of each card, but every transaction is recorded with a date/time stamp, store and how much. It is also broken down by food, gasoline, entertainment and miscellaneous.

But, I like dealing with cash. It does two things. Keeps you off the grid and everyone accepts cash. Also, if you don't have it, you don't spend it.

Dusty, good thread and again, I am sorry for your troubles. Please keep up posted so that we all learn how to prevent and protect ourselves.

Only problem with cash is if you lose it or it is stolen it is gone. With a credit card you are out nothing other than the time it takes to call the card company and tell them your card is gone.

My bank gives me the same break down on every transaction each month. I go over it carefully and investigate any thing that appears to be wrong.
Plus I know where every dollar is spent each month. Which is great for budget planning and end of year income tax deductions such as Doctors and medicine and such.

On top of all of that my card is free and they pay me 1% on food and misc., 2% on clothing and 3% on resturants and gas rebate on every dollar I spend. That is a better return on my money than I can get in a savings account in the bank. Also it is very nice to see that amount knocked off my bill every month. in effect they are paying me better interest to spend money than I can get saving money. Since I pay the bill each month I have no interest charged. To me it is win win win

BUT YOU HAVE PAY IT OFF TOTALLY EVERY MONTH, if you can't do that then you will find yourself in a big hole real fast.

I have been thrilled with the two primary credit cards we use. One company did catch attempted fraud prior to it becoming an issue for us and called plus emailed me immediately. Some spammer had made purchases with two vendors we never use. Problem averted. The second situation ended up not being fraud. My wife and I attended our oldest grandchild's wedding in another state. What made this all very interesting was our cross country move a few weeks before, then attending a family reunion a couple of days before flying to Texas for the wedding. Lot's of charges in some nine states over a six week period. Once landing in Texas because both our daughter and her husband were out of work, a lot of spending on Grandpa's part to be certain the wedding happened. Bank of America once again called and emailed while we were seated for the family dinner the night prior to the weeding. I went outside and called them back and allowed them to read the long list of large charges back to me. I assured them I had made each charge and would pay the entire bill once we returned home. Then I choked as I realized how much money I had spent. The next day my bride and I went shoe and hat shopping. Hey there is no place like San Antonio to stock up on western wear. When the bill came I had to borrow money from savings but felt very comfortable with a bank that cared enough about me to hold me accountable as the looked out for my best interests. Now that I am retiring there will be no more big spending for this ole guy. Jim