Credit card fraud..

[Kev]

I recieved a telephone call from a very sweet sounding young women, who was calling from TD Trust. She said "Mr. *** have your used your credit card today?" In which i replied "no i have not." When was the last time you used your card? I said last Saturday at the liquor store. She said "do you have you card with you?" I said " yes i do." "Is the last four digits ****" I said yes they are. Oh she said well your card was used today to make some purchases. How much were the purchases? There was one purchase for $1900 hundred at a electronics store, another for $2300 at a furniture store, and $250 at a pharmacy. ($250 at a pharmacy that one i still don't understand. Whatever the thieving little shit has that needs drugs i hope it kills him.) "There were also some other minor charges. I'll have to close that account and issue you a new card, you can pick it up.....slight pause... January 2 at your TD Trust Branch. January 2nd i said thats along way off. Yes she said "its the holidays."Pissed off i was tempted to say "no shit genius," but thought better of it. I think her voice was making me go all mushy inside. I said "where were the purchases made?" She said "In Quebec." Well i'm in Vancouver and have never been to Quebec. She went on further to say that the purchases will show up on my account and that i should just ignore them, they'll be deleted along with the interest on the following statement.

So here i am at the end of the year without my most trusted friend... my card. I do have other cards but i always find myself using that one. I even have interact but i never used it.

This credit card fraud is quite the little scheme. You have to have the ability to double swip a card and from there with a little know how print out a new one. (Ok its a little more involved.) You can then walk into any store...make the purchases...walk out with no one suspecting anything. When the credit card companies catch on you have already maxed out the card. Try robbing a bank of $5000 grand. With crecit card fraud you don't need a gun. Its all so neat, a suit and tie crime.

My rant. MX all --- Kev

 

[joebear]

it happen to me last week. I just received a replacement card today.

 

[happywanderer]

Some turd got my number years ago and it took my bank a year and a half for them to straighten out my credit. Not fun.


TTFN

 

[kooldogg]

THis happened to me 5 years ago, the CINC treated me like a criminal. All sorts of problems.

 

[Big Bear]

I've had this happen to me several times over the years as I do a lot of international traveling, including once in Brazil and once in Greece. The Brazil one was the most amazing. They charged the cost of a first class ticket from Rio to Spain and about $3,000 for furniture. The bank called my house and asked if I was in Brazil and if I would have been purchasing an airline ticket. My wife said yes I was and I was there on business so I could have purchased the ticket. Unfortunately they didn't tell her where the ticket was to or she would have told them I wouldn't have made the purchase It was only when I got home and found my card maxed out that it became apparant I did not make those purchases. The card was used for business and had a high limit so they got over $15K on it.

The one in Greece also resulted in a call from the bank because the place where the initial charges were made was infamous in banking circles for making false claims. In this case the bank did something smart (unusual for a bank) and suspended all payments from that point on until verified by me. I had to swear a statement as to what charges I had incurred and which were questionable and was warned that false statements would be grounds for fraud charges. They then compared my signature against the ones on the receipts and in most cases it wasn't even close. Apparently I was just one of a number of people who got taken and they believe it was the result of my card being double swiped by a waiter at a restaurant.

After the last one I was warned by my bank to take better care of my cards or they would charge me the costs of the transactions and/or cancel my cards. However when your business expenses are averaging over $15K a month they want to keep you as a customer. Made a lot of fequent flyer points over the years on epense charges but unfortunately I am no longer in that business.

 

[hot rod]

I got taken in a different way a few years back. A month or two before my card was due to expire, I went to use the card and found it maxed out. Turns out that my new replacment card (which I figured was coming but didn't know when) had been lifted out of the mail. Whoever did it must have worked or had a friend at a gas station because it was maxed out for a few thousand dollars of gas all bought on one day in $200 lots. The card compnay was easy to deal with on it (I guess it was pretty obvious that they weren't legitimate charges) but I do recall having to sign some sort of "declation" and get it notarized to send back to them.

A girl I worked with had her purse stolen at work. She noticed it mid afternoon but had used her purse at lunch, so the thief had a couple of hours head start at best. Even so, the card had been maxed out at the Bay in that short space of time.

Personally I think they need to come up with some better security system for using credit cards (embedded biometric info or something like that) but then again that wouldn't prevent fraud over the net or by phone.

 

[gala]

I had someone apply for a lot of credit cards in my name. Somehow they got my name, social insurance number, and birthdate. They made up a new fake address and employer and then applied for a bunch of credit cards and loans. Then they somehow got them out of the mail when they were sent to the fake address. All told they opened up seven different loans and credit cards. That was a year and a half ago and I am _still_ dealing with the consequences. All the bogus items have been removed from my credit report now, so big things like mortgages aren't screwed up. But it's still a headache for little things.

Most recently I had to drop a $250 "security deposit" to get a new mobile phone. There is a "verified fraud victim" note on my credit file which requires lenders to ask me for two pieces of government ID before extending any credit--which is fine by me. But since the mobile company doesn't do a full credit check they don't see that instruction, they just get back an indication from Equifax saying that there is a problem. I could have avoided the $250 deposit by spending hours arguing on the phone, but it was easier to pay it.

I don't even WANT to remove that credit warning from my file. I think it should be standard practice to ask for ID before extending credit, but apparently lenders ordinary assume that anyone who knows your SIN, birthdate, and address is really you.

 

[Kev]

I just picked up my new card today. I was told it wouldn't be ready until January 2nd. I guess thats my present. --- Kev