Protect yourself against credit card fraud!

[Cetawin]

Dang lady I am so sorry. I have found that with the help of my banks, the bank must speak to DH or I before thy will authorize a charge of over $499.00 and they send me an email alert for anything over $249.00.

We have a separate account for all online purchases as well and it has a limited amount of funds in it that I replenish monthly or as needed.

It also helps to change your Pin number every 30 - 60 days. I change ours about every 45 days. Whenever it is changed, I just simple write the new number on the calendar/dry erase board in the kitchen with our code phrase. That is ubber helpful for you both to have a code phrase that tells the other something has been changed. Something that no one would notice as meaning anything....like Boat Payment due 0007 or whatever the new pin is.

You may want to sign up with credit report.com as well for alerts. You can see what is on your credit report and any changes, right down to your address change is sent to you. We just went throguh all of this because DH had a defaulted credit card of over $5,000 balance show on his and a Foreclosure in Michigan. Neither were his debts. It took us 4 years to get them cleared off his credit report. Because we had no idea they were on there until we ran our credit reports one day and they accounts had been on there for over a year without us knowing it. What a pain.

Speckledhen and I were discussing this issue recently and both they and we, have services on our cards cancelled. For example, the daily limit on the only card of ours that pulls cash is $100.00, the rest can be used for credit purposes/POS and they have the $350 and $500 restrictions on them but you cannot withdraw cash usign them.

It may seem like a nuisance but taking all the extra precautions with changing PIN numbers limiting transaction and so forth, really pay off in the long run.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Thanks Lady Hawk. It was our business account and they used DH's card. I talked with the bank experts and asked about changing the pin number on a regular basis.

They said the card was run as a credit card-- so that means that the thieves manufactured a card and pretended to be him. Alot of places don't ask for ID they just run the card.

I noticed that they used it at places where the store help are typically younger and more naive and probably wouldn't ask. McDonalds, Old Navy, Victoria Secrets, Popeyes Chicken and Dunkin Doughnut. They must have had fun!

It is actually the stores liablility if it was run as a credit card and they didn't check ID. Not ours and not the banks problem. However I am much smarter and will look everyday now and more closely!

But thank you for the wonderful ideas and I will be doing those also now!

 

[Tala]

I pay somethin like $4 per month for Discover card's credit protection service, which they call me if weird stuff pops up, and I get a quarterly report from all 3 credit agencies ---- which I think is nicer than having to run them up myself all the time. I really think their service is worth the price, others that I had on other cards were nowhere near as good!!

I have 3 credit cards, and two of them have very very small balances. I buy gas or something, wrap the receipt on the card, and put it back in storage. I can compare the receipt with my monthly bill. I mainly do this to maintain a good credit record.
My Discover card has the only big balance and we are working on paying it off, not using that card for new charges either.

We use our bank debit cards off and on though, and I admit that I never change my pin. This month there is *no* money to use them for, so we aren't using them at all. If we don't have the cash, it's not getting bought -- which sucks a little, but it does save you money in the long run! We do have online banking though, and we check the account fairly often (but not daily).

 

[Cetawin]

Oh yes....I politely tore into a young gal at Arby's one day over that. I do not sign any of my cards...they all say "SEE I.D." on the signature blocks...she ran the card and when she asked me to sign it I refused. She said "You have to sign" I said "YOU have to verify that I own the card" See flipped it over and blushed. I proceeded to explain to her how important it was to take a moment to view the card and ask for the identification....I told her most people will appreciate your asking them.

Thank goodness it was a present in person situation that holds the company at fault not you guys. Ours was not that way which is why it took so long. The mortgage, the guy had stolen my husband's and my military IDs which has all the info on it...he then got ID using my husband's info and forged documents. What a nightmare it was...I had to pull out his deployment orders and various other documents proving he was not in the country at closing at etc etc....thank heaven I had kept all that stuff.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Good for you Lady Hawk that you let her know what she didn't and should have done. I have done that exactly too! Some of them don't seem to think it is a big deal.

I had identity theft about a year ago. From my ex brother in law. Racked up over 1500 in charges by hitting the ATM's and taking out the max allowed.

I didn't even know until months later when I did a credit check on myself. Ohhhhhhhh boy! I didn't know who had done it at the time but found out quickly.

Lucky that I never had the card. The ex had it but he passed away and they were the executors of his will. Got the card a year later in the mail along with the pin number and went on a spending spree.

Wasn't I surprised when the Fraud people asked if I knew the "Person" (they caught him in the act on camera)

Ahhhhh Yep! He looks familiar!!!!! Even with plea bargining it was still a Felony.

I don't feel one whit of remorse for the idiot thief either.

 

[SillyChicken]

we got nailed once.... from overseas (you can tell because they have change.. ex $100.49, vs full dollar amounts because of the exchange rate) They drained our acct in one day... we just got paid, and paid all our bills so naturally all the checks bounced. We had no cash for food or gas for work. It took a week for the bank to refund our money and cancel all the fees. We think it was the result of card numbers being compromised at the bank end. We recieved a letter from them stating we were listed as being compromised.


Also, something else.. credit card purchases under 20 dollars doesn't need a signature! So I could take anyone's cc or debt card and spend 20$ and not even sign for it!

 

[aprophet]

when I make a online purchase I use a prepaid debit card I only put on the card the amount for the purchase and go online and purchase what I need the card I have can be reloaded at a 7-11 2-3 minutes from the house this has been working well the last coupla years normally the card only has $5-20 available until I load it

 

[dot n'dave]

As manager of a retail store, I can tell you that if there is no reason to ask for ID, we dont.
Unless we know there was fraudulent activity we are not liable. At least in my company.
Why should the store ask for ID if the card is signed? If we had to stop and ask for ID from every plastic user, we'd have a bunch of ticked off customers on our hands, and quite frankly that would be sales lost. So if a customer hands me plastic I swipe and they're on their way!
I am a firm believer in the idea that banks OWES YOU! They should always take care of problems like that and no one else. They are lucky we do buisness with them. If my job didn't force me to have direct deposit, i'd stuff cash under my mattress (but that's another can of worms!)

My point is, these companies don't care and you should watch every dime of yours!
Besides I cant see Dunkin Donuts asking for ID as you buy a coffee!

 

[beckt]

dotndave. I also work at a gas station/convience store. And if it says see ID or has no signature (which some do) then I always ask. The customer is much appreciative when I do. The others in line will get over it. I also have see ID on the back of my debit card. And let me tell you it ticks me off when they just run it without asking for ID. There is 1 store I shop at will ask for ID everytime anyone uses a ccor debit card. They know me there but still ask because it is policy.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

dot n'dave :

As manager of a retail store, I can tell you that if there is no reason to ask for ID, we dont.
Unless we know there was fraudulent activity we are not liable. At least in my company.
Why should the store ask for ID if the card is signed? If we had to stop and ask for ID from every plastic user, we'd have a bunch of ticked off customers on our hands, and quite frankly that would be sales lost. So if a customer hands me plastic I swipe and they're on their way!
I am a firm believer in the idea that banks OWES YOU! They should always take care of problems like that and no one else. They are lucky we do buisness with them. If my job didn't force me to have direct deposit, i'd stuff cash under my mattress (but that's another can of worms!)

My point is, these companies don't care and you should watch every dime of yours!
Besides I cant see Dunkin Donuts asking for ID as you buy a coffee!

I would beg to differ with you on this. I feel it IS your reponsibility as a store operator to make sure that the purchases are being made by the authorized card holder. That is part of the job of ringing up items.

You look at ID to see if the signiture matches the ID so you know if this is the right person. Debit cards are different because they need a pin # and only the owner of the card should have that. But a credit card is a different story.

If the people in line don't like it too bad. No the bank shouldn't be responsible for a store operators lack of checking a card. It wasn't the banks fault. They didn't send the thieves out there.

Our bank reversed all charges and they (the bank) were not liable either, the store operators were, due to their lack of competence in checking ID properly.​