(OT) Identity Theft

On 2012-02-14, Christina Websell wrote:

"Bobble" wrote in message
...
Jill


What a pain! I never use a debit card any more, only my credit card. I
pay in full by the due date to avoid interest, and get cash back once a
year (over $100 depending on total spent) just for using it. That way,
nobody can access my bank account.

Why do you think your credit card is safer than a debit card? It isn't.

You can dispute the charge and not pay that part of the bill with a credit
card. With a debit card the money is whisked out of your account right then
and you can have checks bouncing all over creation as a result.

Bud

William Hamblen wrote:

On 2012-02-14, Christina Websell wrote:

"Bobble" wrote in message
...
Jill


What a pain! I never use a debit card any more, only my credit card. I
pay in full by the due date to avoid interest, and get cash back once a
year (over $100 depending on total spent) just for using it. That way,
nobody can access my bank account.

Why do you think your credit card is safer than a debit card? It isn't.

You can dispute the charge and not pay that part of the bill with a credit
card. With a debit card the money is whisked out of your account right then
and you can have checks bouncing all over creation as a result.

One would hope that the bank is on its toes and that somebody notices
the irregular charge, declines the purchase and puts a hold on your
account. My bank has done this a few times if something doesn't look
right to them. Often the charge is something I meant to buy, but it's
outside my regular spending pattern, so they question it. Usually all
I have to do is call them, and, after jumping through a few security
hoops, verify that I was the one who made the charge. Not a big hassle.

One time, though, it was quite a big hassle. I was visiting my family
in Florida, and was planning to drive from my sister's up to see my mom.
So I needed to rent a car. My sister took me to the rental place, and
I used my card to pay for it - but my bank declined. I was pretty shocked
by this, because I was sure I had enough in the account to cover it.
Since it was a Sunday, I couldn't call the bank to find out wtf was going
on.

My sister put the rental on her card, and that generated a bunch of
fees and extra charges, because the person who was paying for the rental
was not the person who would be driving the car. Don't even ask me to
explain that - if you understand, no explanation needed, and if you
don't, I can assure you that you're not missing anything.

The following day, I called the bank to ask what happened. Turned out
I had plenty of cash in the account, but I had neglected to tell them
that I was leaving the state, and out-of-state purchases are automatically
declined unless they already knew I would be there. It's a good policy,
but I do kind of feel like I'm on probation, having to let them know if
I'm planning to leave town.

--
Joyce

May the great galactic kitten always purr you to sleep.

"Joy" wrote in message
...
"Bastette" wrote in message
...
Christina Websell wrote:


"Bobble" wrote in message
...
Jill


What a pain! I never use a debit card any more, only my credit card.
I
pay in full by the due date to avoid interest, and get cash back once
a
year (over $100 depending on total spent) just for using it. That way,
nobody can access my bank account.

Why do you think your credit card is safer than a debit card? It
isn't.

If you claim to the credit card company that a false charge appeared on
your bill, you don't have to pay that amount until the issue is resolved.
(If it's resolved in your favor, then obviously you won't be charged for
that purchase at all.) Meanwhile, you haven't lost any money. Whereas
with
a debit card, the money comes out of your account at the time of the
purchase.

I haven't had this happen with my debit card, but it does worry me. My
bank
has assured me that they would put the money back into my account if
there
was a dispute about a purchase, but not all banks do that.

--
Joyce

Right. With a credit card, you definitely have recourse. With a debit
card, money can actually be withdrawn from your account. You may get it
back, but it will probably get time.

Joy


I do have recourse, but I have to wait for WalMart to issue the credit back
to my bank. This could take some time.

Jill

"Joy" wrote in message
...
"MaryL" wrote in message
...


"jmcquown" wrote in message ...

Don't ask how or why but some idiot hijacked my bank check card and
ordered
himself a laptop computer from WalMart. I received email confirmation
from
WalMart stating my "order" is ready to be picked up. Primary pickup
person,
me. Alternate pickup person, someone named William Nguyen in
Westminster,
CA. I thought surely this person wouldn't be stupid enough to use my
email
address... but yes, they were. No one said criminals are smart. Heh.

Just to make sure this wasn't someone's idea of a joke I checked my bank
account. Sure enough, there's a pending debit against my account for
that
exact amount. I'm waiting for the bank to open so I can call and dispute
the charge.

I've already reported the card (online) lost or stolen, which f***s me up
no
end since I don't carry cash. Meanwhile, I contacted WalMart. "Do not
let
anyone pick up this merchandise! I didn't order it. I don't know anyone
named William Nugyen in California." I've already gotten an email back
from
WalMart stating they've credited the money back to my account. (That
could
take two billing cycles. Meanwhile, I've got bills to pay! Dammit.)

Now I just have to wait for the bank to open so I can get them to try to
reverse the pending transaction. Grrrrrrrrrr.

OB Cats: Persia's curled up on her crackle sack behind me, oblivious to
any
of these financial worries. She got her Sunday Fancy Feast dinner last
night and is happy as can be

Jill



I think I would also file a police report. They might not do
anything...but this guy sounds foolish/stupid enough to try to pick up
the laptop. If so, it would be nice to have a "welcoming committee"
waiting for him.

As MMJ said, these crooks sometimes start with small purchases (*not* the
laptop) just to see if the account is active and they can get away with
it, then move on to larger purchases. I once found a charge of $2.00 on
my credit card that was a "donation" to the UN Children's Fund. That was
followed a day later by an attempt to secure round-trip air fare from
California to London. The credit card company took immediate
action--cancelled the phony charges and sent a new credit card, but it
did take more than a week to receive the new card. The card had not been
out of my hands, and the charge was made by computer by someone in still
a third location (a small third-world country)! One possible explanation
is that various stores and credit card companies have managed to lose
large amounts of our personal information, and crooks have sometimes
gained access to that information. In a different (and smaller) vein, a
friend of mine found that someone had actually had checks printed with
her account number and had passed those checks in a town she had never
visited. In that case, the final assessment was that someone working in
a department store had "fed" the information to a friend. The bank did
cover the cost, but it took awhile.

MaryL

A few years ago, a man was arrested for credit card fraud. He worked at a
local department store, and stole the numbers of customers who made
purchases from his department. It didn't take long to catch him,
particularly as he was so stupid as to use the numbers to charge things at
the store where he worked.

Joy

No one ever said thieves are the brightest bulbs on the planet. Years ago I
worked at a restaurant doing the bookeeping. I handled the computer stuff,
entering info into accounts payables, receivables, *payroll*, etc. They
hired a new manager who immediately changed the computer passwords and
locked me out of the system. I complained to the regional manager, saying
there was something really suspicious about this. Turns out I was right.
This doofus added a bunch of people to the payroll system... his wife, his
kids, nieces and nephews. He was creating fake work schedules and having
paychecks issued to all of them. Lord only knows how much money he managed
to steal before someone sat up and took notice.

Jill

"Bastette" wrote in message
...

snip
The following day, I called the bank to ask what happened. Turned out
I had plenty of cash in the account, but I had neglected to tell them
that I was leaving the state, and out-of-state purchases are automatically
declined unless they already knew I would be there. It's a good policy,
but I do kind of feel like I'm on probation, having to let them know if
I'm planning to leave town.

--
Joyce

May the great galactic kitten always purr you to sleep.



I have never had any problems when traveling out of state, but was always
warned that I should notify credit card companies before international
travel. So, I called two companies (the two I was taking with me) before
going to Greece and Turkey three years ago. They thanked me but said it
really wasn't necessary. Nevertheless, I did the same thing last year
before leaving for Figi/Australia/New Zealand. Once again, I was thanked
profusely but told I would not have had to do that. The only one that told
me that it was really essential for them to have been forewarned was my
bank, where I notified them that I might be using my ATM card. I did not
have any trouble at all in using any of the cards, yet I have heard others
who have had the same problem as you cited. I suppose part of it relates to
the particular credit card.

MaryL

On Feb 13, 7:04*am, "jmcquown" wrote:
Don't ask how or why but some idiot hijacked my bank check card and ordered
himself a laptop computer from WalMart. *I received email confirmation from
WalMart stating my "order" is ready to be picked up. *Primary pickup person,
me. *Alternate pickup person, someone named William Nguyen in Westminster,
CA. *I thought surely this person wouldn't be stupid enough to use my email
address... but yes, they were. *No one said criminals are smart. *Heh..

Just to make sure this wasn't someone's idea of a joke I checked my bank
account. *Sure enough, there's a pending debit against my account for that
exact amount. *I'm waiting for the bank to open so I can call and dispute
the charge.

Wow, what a jackass William Nguyen is! have fun in the pokey, Billy-
Pie. Don't drop the soap.

Good on Wally World to be on top of it so quickly!

Blessed be,
Elizabeth

"BfloPolska" wrote in message
...
On Feb 13, 7:04 am, "jmcquown" wrote:
Don't ask how or why but some idiot hijacked my bank check card and
ordered
himself a laptop computer from WalMart. I received email confirmation
from
WalMart stating my "order" is ready to be picked up. Primary pickup
person,
me. Alternate pickup person, someone named William Nguyen in
Westminster,
CA. I thought surely this person wouldn't be stupid enough to use my
email
address... but yes, they were. No one said criminals are smart. Heh.

Just to make sure this wasn't someone's idea of a joke I checked my bank
account. Sure enough, there's a pending debit against my account for
that
exact amount. I'm waiting for the bank to open so I can call and dispute
the charge.

Wow, what a jackass William Nguyen is! have fun in the pokey, Billy-
Pie. Don't drop the soap.

Good on Wally World to be on top of it so quickly!

Blessed be,
Elizabeth


Apparently they've heard of this guy before. I haven't bought anything from
WalMart in about 10 years. I was surprised (and appreciative) by their
responsiveness.

Jill

"jmcquown" wrote in message
...

"BfloPolska" wrote in message
...
On Feb 13, 7:04 am, "jmcquown" wrote:
Don't ask how or why but some idiot hijacked my bank check card and
ordered
himself a laptop computer from WalMart. I received email confirmation
from
WalMart stating my "order" is ready to be picked up. Primary pickup
person,
me. Alternate pickup person, someone named William Nguyen in
Westminster,
CA. I thought surely this person wouldn't be stupid enough to use my
email
address... but yes, they were. No one said criminals are smart. Heh.

Just to make sure this wasn't someone's idea of a joke I checked my bank
account. Sure enough, there's a pending debit against my account for
that
exact amount. I'm waiting for the bank to open so I can call and
dispute
the charge.

Wow, what a jackass William Nguyen is! have fun in the pokey, Billy-
Pie. Don't drop the soap.

Good on Wally World to be on top of it so quickly!

Blessed be,
Elizabeth


Apparently they've heard of this guy before. I haven't bought anything
from WalMart in about 10 years. I was surprised (and appreciative) by
their responsiveness.

Jill

that name is a commonly used in scams I seen it as least a dozen times in
those attention I need your help with an important matter scam emails

Dave had a good one today- he got a phone call from "Microsoft" saying
they'd identified a problem with his PC which they could sort out for
him for just $40 he just had to give them his credit card number/
expiry date/number on the back and they could sort it out in 10 or so
minutes. As he was on the phone he said "I don't have a computer" and
was nearly deafened by the noise they made slamming the phone down

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

"Lesley" wrote in message
...
Dave had a good one today- he got a phone call from "Microsoft" saying
they'd identified a problem with his PC which they could sort out for
him for just $40 he just had to give them his credit card number/
expiry date/number on the back and they could sort it out in 10 or so
minutes. As he was on the phone he said "I don't have a computer" and
was nearly deafened by the noise they made slamming the phone down

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

LOL! That's a great response.

Joy