Why you should check your CC balance online regularly.

[Crusty McPottydoodle]

All I can say is I am glad I had a niggling feeling to check tonight. I discovered that as of Monday, someone had been racking up HUGE charges on my account. They over-maxed it. The only reason they were able to do this was because I had been approved for limit increase.

My first clue was my balance was about twice what I thought it should be, then I noticed that my available limit was almost NEGATIVE $600!! Because there are still at least 2 days of charges that haven't been cleared and posted yet, there is a difference between what the limit should be based on the balance owing and the actual available limit. The $800 flight was the first thing to jump out at me, then the fact that all the bogus charges were in Pounds Sterling - over $5K in bogus charges!

I have no idea where my card could have been compromised, but I sure wish I had checked my balance a couple of days ago.

Fortunately, the CC company has been awesome. New card next week and once all the charges have been posted, they will send me a letter with them listed which I am to sign saying that I am not responsible for them and then they all get reversed on my account.

In the mean time, what a PITA!

I always check my bill carefully and log in a couple of times a month, but I know I will be checking daily now.

 

[Whitehouse Quail]

 

[speckledhen]

Could be it was compromised due to the information being online in the first place. Wouldn't be the first time. I never put any information online about bank accounts, charge accounts, etc. I know everyone is buying things online daily, but I still don't trust it, even with supposedly "secure" websites. You can also check it by calling the customer service line on the telephone.

 

[chicknerd]

Quote:
Its all online everywhere - even your stuff. All they are doing is waiting for you to set up a password but that doesn't mean your accounts are not online! They are! Doesn't matter if you have a password to check it online or not. I agree with speckedhen, I never use online banking accounts because they ONLY cover it if THEY decide it was fraud. And they deny real fraud all the time. I use an ATM card only. Most people dont realize the risks in using a debit card are not the same as a credit card. It is a bank card and again the bank can deny any fraud and you are stuck!

Actually it is not that it is online, it is how secure is your internet connection? For wireless you need to use at least WPA and a good password that is changed regularly and you need a password on your router for wired internet. You also need to name your connection. Too many people just set up and assume they are secure. It is so easy to do a wireless search in an area and look for names such as linksys which means a newbie setup an unsecure account. Easy to hack into and use!

Secured websites are as secure as going to a retailer. At actual retailers you have to be careful of scammers that attach readers to real readers in order to steal cards. They are small and hard to detect. When your card is swiped by the cashier, it is also getting swiped by the reader and stored. And you or the shop owner may have no idea. Always watch your card being scanned. This is most prevalent in restaurants, but it could be anywhere. It happened in a major grocery chain here an even the managers had no idea it was going on.

And did you know that only blue or other non black colored gel type pens are the only kind that cannot be removed so that a check can be forged? Never use black ink pen on a check. Blue is harder to fake (never use red). So again, it isn't all the internet.

And finally if your credit card was compromised I STRONGLY suggest you call the three credit reporting companies. They will put a temporary 90 day freeze on your credit - in case the thieves have more information than you realize. This does not cost you anything. And you need to call twice for you and your DH. They are considered separate accounts.

Just FYI