Someone cracked our bank account . . .

[LAJennifer]

And went on a big shopping spree yesterday - in Bakersfield, CA - totalling $5300.00. Apparently they were shopping using a debit card with my husbands debit card numbers on them. He hasn''t lost his card, so I''m just baffled how this happened. They went to Target, Best Buy, Babies R Us, Linens & Things, Ross, Home Depot. Has this ever happened to any of you?

 

[strmrdr]

someone that had physical access to his card ran it thru a mag strip duplicator.
Thats why most stores now have you run it youself.
They get all the security codes that way even the ones that are not displayed but used by the software in the machines internaly.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Oh no -- this is just terrible! This exact thing has never happened to me, but a debit was somehow posted to my account from a **** shop in Michigan one time. The bank never provided me a satisfactory resolution on how it happened but the $ was put back in my account promptly.

 

[Kaleigh]

Yikes, that''s awful.

 

[icekid]

that''s terrible!

For this reason, we do not use our debit cards. I am too scared that someone will steal the number, and then we''ll be out the cash until we can prove that it was not us. With the credit card, they don''t make you pay on the fraudulent charges while they''re being investigated.

 

[metro]

How horrible!

 

[FireGoddess]

That is absolutely horrible. I hope they catch that (#*)@(#*$@#&.

 

[Stone Hunter]

Terrible. I hope your bank is behind you in this and that they resolve it quickly.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Date: 2/13/2007 4:08:11 PM
Author: icekid
that's terrible!

For this reason, we do not use our debit cards. I am too scared that someone will steal the number, and then we'll be out the cash until we can prove that it was not us. With the credit card, they don't make you pay on the fraudulent charges while they're being investigated.

We don't either. We put everything on a VISA and pay the balance at the end of the month. The couple of times we have had unauthorized charges, we didn't have to pay until the CC company resolved it (and we, of course, didn't have to pay).

ETA: I am so sorry this happened to you!!!

 

[KimberlyH]

I had this happen and was left with $0 in the bank while they resolved the issue; it took them 2 weeks. It was a terrible experience and I''m so sorry this happened to you.

 

[SuzyQZ]

O M G

That''s terrible!

 

[KristyDarling]

Stories like this really scare me. And even scarier still is how common they are! Just 2 days ago my husband found out that someone changed his online banking password!!

No money was taken, but still, someone tried to gain access. I keep telling DH to stop doing that online banking but he refuses, citing the convenience.

Frickin'' loser thug thieves!!!!! I hate them!!!

 

[LAJennifer]

Thanks, everyone, for all the responses. I was wrong about how much they spent - it was actually almost $7000. It didn''t drain the account, but what a PITA! The bank said it would take a few days (I wonder how many) but they will put the money back into our account (luckily they didn''t drain the account). The bank (WAMU) canceled my husband''s card and verified there is no activity today.

It''s so funny to see where they shopped - they went to the same Linen''s & Things twice, for about $500 each time. Does anybody know what kind of an investigation takes place? Do people who do this ever get caught? I''m tempted to call the stores myself and say "WTF??"

 

[Mara]

there was a story on CSI recently about a shopgal in a high end dept store who would show very high end purses to customers and she''d put a card scanner in one of the pockets. she''d hand the purse to a customer who was asking to see it and once it got within a certain distance of the consumer, it''d scan all the cards in their wallet, ss card, dl, credit cards etc. she would end up with tons of information on super wealthy customers.

now it was just a TV show but i bet things like that do exist! and the innovativeness of those types would probably constantly amaze us. in this information age all sorts of numbers and info on each individual is floating out there whether they want it to or not.

it''s scary but you can''t always prevent it unfortunately, even being savvy about things doesn''t always work out. it seems like one of the best things to do is to work with a company for cc''s or bank accounts that will support and assist you in times like this and has good fraud protection.

 

[FireGoddess]

Please let us know how helpful WaMu is in this case...I know I use them and definitely want a bank that does its best to help its customers!

There are just such scary things that go on...even ATM machines that have a fake scanner on there that sends your card info to the thief who installed it...and the camera on the ATM records you typing in your pin # so they have that (which is why I always cover my hand with the other hand when typing in the pin)...

 

[cpster]

Ugh...sorry to hear this! The bank keeps sending me debit cards, but I always reject them saying I want an ATM only card. I''ve always been paranoid of losing it or having what happenned to you happen to me. At least with an ATM card I have to enter my PIN. With check cards they just swipe them like credit cards. The bank should make you whole since most have some sort of fraud guarantee.

I wish more places would ask for ID as a part of their normal process.

 

[monarch64]

So sorry to hear this happened, LAJennifer. They should be able to figure out who was using your card based on the times of day the transactions occured...the store personnel can go through their journal tapes from their registers and find the exact sale $ totals and times, then view their surveillance film of the cash registers...

Most likely what will happen is the person will be caught trying to return the items they purchased because they will be hoping for a cash refund since a debit card was used as a form of payment. The person probably will not go back to the same exact stores to make the returns, if they are at all above the amateur theft level.

I don't know if any of you remember, but a while ago there was a thread on retail and marketing schemes, and one topic that was brought up was how stores ask for your personal information when you make a return...this is the kind of case where if this person who stole LAjen's husband's debit card is dumb enough to fill out their own personal info, or an even an alias they've used before (which is probably also on record somewhere as I'm sure this is not the first time they've done this sort of thing), that information will help catch the person.

The police you are working with should be working with the loss prevention teams at these stores...those people need to be on the lookout for high dollar returns from purchases made with a debit card in your husband's name. Hope this info helps.

ETa: I just noticed you said they used the card at Target...Target is one of those places that will just scan your receipt, take back the merchandise, and give you your cash back from a debit purchase, no questions asked, I believe.

 

[perry]

Unfortunatley, this is a somewhat common problem. There can be electronic scams as well with electonic banking.

I decided that I didn''t need a debit card; and don''t need electronic banking either.

Works great.

Cash or credit card as appropriate, I only use my checkbook for bills I pay from home.

Keeps things simple.

Of course, I''ve had an interesting problem with a credit card company who recieved - but did not cash - my check. While it has been a frustrating experience the last several weeks... I hope that it is now straightened out.

Usually the banks these days are pretty forgiving. I wonder when that ends - or when the banks will have to start charging for electronic access accounts to pay for the fraud that occurs with them.

Perry

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 2/13/2007 6:39:32 PM
Author: Mara
there was a story on CSI recently about a shopgal in a high end dept store who would show very high end purses to customers and she''d put a card scanner in one of the pockets. she''d hand the purse to a customer who was asking to see it and once it got within a certain distance of the consumer, it''d scan all the cards in their wallet, ss card, dl, credit cards etc. she would end up with tons of information on super wealthy customers.

now it was just a TV show but i bet things like that do exist! and the innovativeness of those types would probably constantly amaze us. in this information age all sorts of numbers and info on each individual is floating out there whether they want it to or not.

it''s scary but you can''t always prevent it unfortunately, even being savvy about things doesn''t always work out. it seems like one of the best things to do is to work with a company for cc''s or bank accounts that will support and assist you in times like this and has good fraud protection.

That wont work with current cards but when they switch over to RFID http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RFID it will and its coming.
Some gas cards are allready using it.
Mobile is one of them.

 

[KittenKat]

Oh my goodness... This happened to my husband''s card over the weekend! And they drained one of our checking accounts.

LAJennifer, I haven''t had time to read the entire thread - but what bank are you with? I am guessing you''re in LA?

We''re with UBOC.

Ugh... our lil theif spent over $100 at KFC, $600 at Ralphs... and paid their cingular bill (among many other sprees!)

 

[FireGoddess]

Date: 2/14/2007 5:01:37 PM
Author: KittenKat
Ugh... our lil theif spent over $100 at KFC, $600 at Ralphs... and paid their cingular bill (among many other sprees!)

Wow, are they dumb? Holy cow! Get the number and call ''em up! "Hello? You paid your phone bill with my card? I''m gonna get you, sucka."

 

[AndyRosse]

Date: 2/14/2007 5:40:28 PM
Author: FireGoddess

Date: 2/14/2007 5:01:37 PM
Author: KittenKat
Ugh... our lil theif spent over $100 at KFC, $600 at Ralphs... and paid their cingular bill (among many other sprees!)

Wow, are they dumb? Holy cow! Get the number and call ''em up! ''Hello? You paid your phone bill with my card? I''m gonna get you, sucka.''

LOL FG!

How dumb of that thief, sure hope they get caught.

 

[Skippy123]

YES it happened to me. It just happened that I looked at my cc online and I noticed some purchases in the United Kingdom!!!

I have been to the UK but not then. They made a cc like mine and used it even though I had mine at home. I guess it is important for us to look at our on line banking and cc often!!!! So sorry!

 

[Shay37]

Oh, my this is really scary. Someone used my DH''s credit card number a couple of months ago, and the company called us immediately because it was not for something that he usually did. Took the charges off, and changed his account and number. he has a chase card.

shay

 

[CareBear]

Similiar thing happened to me too. This person somehow made a duplicate of my card with the PIN and was withdrawing money from the bank ATMs! They took out 2k in 2 days. Thank god I check my balances online frequently else they would have cleaned out my account. I was later told never to use your debit card as your credit card because it''s a third party that owns the swipers at the stores and once you swipe and type in your PIN, they can steal that information and reproduce a new debit card. Scary!

 

[KimberlyH]

Date: 2/13/2007 6:14:42 PM
Author: LAJennifer
Thanks, everyone, for all the responses. I was wrong about how much they spent - it was actually almost $7000. It didn't drain the account, but what a PITA! The bank said it would take a few days (I wonder how many) but they will put the money back into our account (luckily they didn't drain the account). The bank (WAMU) canceled my husband's card and verified there is no activity today.

It's so funny to see where they shopped - they went to the same Linen's & Things twice, for about $500 each time. Does anybody know what kind of an investigation takes place? Do people who do this ever get caught? I'm tempted to call the stores myself and say 'WTF??'

When my debit card was duplicated I filed a police report online at the request of the bank and never even recieved a call from them to verify.

On a different occasion I had my purse stolen and the stores had video of the people who used my credit cards. It was a man and a woman of a different race than me and the store still allowed them to make the purchase (the clerk didn't ask for ID). Even with the pictures, the police informed me they wouldn't pursue the case as it cost too much money to persecute petty crime.

ETA: These thefts took place in two seperate counties in CA, Sacramento and San Diego.

 

[parrot tulips]

Date: 2/15/2007 10:40:14 AM
Author: KimberlyH

When my debit card was duplicated I filed a police report online at the request of the bank and never even recieved a call from them to verify.

On a different occasion I had my purse stolen and the stores had video of the people who used my credit cards. It was a man and a woman of a different race than me and the store still allowed them to make the purchase (the clerk didn''t ask for ID). Even with the pictures, the police informed me they wouldn''t pursue the case as it cost too much money to persecute petty crime.

ETA: These thefts took place in two seperate counties in CA, Sacramento and San Diego.

Ooohhh...stories like this make me so upset (enough that it''s brought me out of lurkerdom). I had a similar experience, but luckily it was with my cc rather than debit card. Long story short, it should have been easy to catch the crook (the person had my cc Fed-Ex''d to their apartment and used the same ATM daily for cash advances totalling nearly $14,000). I only found out about this because the cc company wanted to verify "my new address." Anyhow, neither my local police department, nor the San Francisco police department (where the card was mailed) would do anything. They both said it was out of their jurisdiction, and besides, I wasn''t the victim, the cc company was. Didn''t make sense to me, but since there wasn''t much else I could do, I signed up for credit monitoring with one of the major credit bureaus. I set up alerts so if there are any unusual charges or inquiries into my information (including requests to send out new cards), I immediately receive an e-mail. Unfortunately, I don''t think this works with bank account info.

 

[jaz464]

Date: 2/13/2007 3:58:32 PM
Author:LAJennifer
And went on a big shopping spree yesterday - in Bakersfield, CA - totalling $5300.00. Apparently they were shopping using a debit card with my husbands debit card numbers on them. He hasn''t lost his card, so I''m just baffled how this happened. They went to Target, Best Buy, Babies R Us, Linens & Things, Ross, Home Depot. Has this ever happened to any of you?

Were all of the purchases made online? If they don''t have the card, how were they able to buy things?

 

[partgypsy]

That Sucks!!!

A number of years ago I was shopping with my sister. We were at a store in a mall, and then we went to get gas, and at the gas station my sister realized she didn''t have her debit card. First I thought my sister was being her usual flaky self and somehow lost it, but what happened was the store clerk didn''t give her card back and passed it to her accompliances, who within 2 hours purchased around $500 in shoes (this was 10 years ago). Luckily since my sister reported it promptly they were able to arrest them, including the store clerk who had apparently done this before.
Still it makes me steam to think about it!

 

[LAJennifer]

Date: 2/15/2007 1:49:40 PM
Author: jazmine

Date: 2/13/2007 3:58:32 PM
Author:LAJennifer
And went on a big shopping spree yesterday - in Bakersfield, CA - totalling $5300.00. Apparently they were shopping using a debit card with my husbands debit card numbers on them. He hasn''t lost his card, so I''m just baffled how this happened. They went to Target, Best Buy, Babies R Us, Linens & Things, Ross, Home Depot. Has this ever happened to any of you?

Were all of the purchases made online? If they don''t have the card, how were they able to buy things?

Purchases were made in the stores with a card in hand - my husband had not lost his card. Apparently duplicates had been made from a scan swipe.