I hate thieves

[Icculus]

I'm so pissed off I could spit. I just had to cancel my credit card for the second time in 8 months because its been compromised and fraudulent charges are showing up. I'm fairly careful with my online purchases and browsing habits; just not sure how this keeps happening. It really drives me up the wall though that some lazy worthless low-life son-of-a-bitch thinks they can try and mess with my finances instead of getting a job. Its not like going to work everyday is my favorite thing to do, but I do it and work very hard for my money; only for some piece of shit to try and steal it from me. I guess in this case since its credit its technically the bank's money but had it not been caught it would still be my responsibility (+interest). F'ing ridiculous. And what makes it worse was I was going to buy a couple of lowers today from G&R. Guess that will have to wait till I get this mess sorted out. Anyway, rant over, just had to vent for a couple of seconds. Sorry everyone

[sadmin]

Do you use Ebay and pay without paypal? That method stung me twice before I just had to learn to only use paypal with Ebay... I feel ya', sorry for your troubles.

[kry226]

Going out to eat can get you too. They come take your card away after dinner and write the number down while they've got it. Then bam, next thing you know, they're buying video games on ebay with it. Happened to me twice.

Something to think about.

[CarlosDJackal]

At one point the most common cause for this were Gas Stations. A lot of the clerks would print out the information from gas pump purchases and then sell them to their low life friends.

Have you considered getting yourself some Identity Theft service or something (IE: Lifelock, etc.)?

[Icculus]

Going out to eat can get you too. They come take your card away after dinner and write the number down while they've got it. Then bam, next thing you know, they're buying video games on ebay with it. Happened to me twice.

Something to think about.

Pretty much only pay cash at dinners now for that exact reason



Have you considered getting yourself some Identity Theft service or something (IE: Lifelock, etc.)?

I haven't. It always seemed like a scam to me in that my understanding is all they do is monitor the 3 major credit bureau's (which I can do free once a year). Am I completely underestimating the benefit of these types of services and would it actually catch something like fraudulent charges on a card?

[SteveL]

I haven't. It always seemed like a scam to me in that my understanding is all they do is monitor the 3 major credit bureau's (which I can do free once a year). I am completely underestimating the benefit of these types of services and would it actually catch something like fraudulent charges on a card?

My wife sells insurance which requires a credit check. She gets people ever so often who tell her they have Lifelock and that they'll have to call in to authorize their credit to be pulled because they think it's going to be blocked. Unfortunately for them that's not the case and they're usually pretty disappointed. She pulls their credit all the time (after they've signed the appropriate forms of course) and Lifelock doesn't have anything in place to stop it.

[PrivateCitizen]

I feel ya. It bites!

I have to wonder … at this point, why are the numbers even ON the card?

Given the amount of fraud, etc that goes on I find it mind-numbing cards are still issued with the number plastered in it with embossed characters. You can use a phone to take a picture or photo copy it in an instant.

You should get 2 pieces for an account … one you carry for POS purchases and one you keep at home for internet purchases.

It would solve half the issues.

[austinN4]

I have to wonder … at this point, why are the numbers even ON the card?
Good suggestion, but the numbers are on the card in case the terminal won't read the mag stripe and they have to enter the number by hand.

I have been stung by the restaurant charge also, but I do use Paypal whenever I can on Internet purchases.

[CarlosDJackal]

My wife sells insurance which requires a credit check. She gets people ever so often who tell her they have Lifelock and that they'll have to call in to authorize their credit to be pulled because they think it's going to be blocked. Unfortunately for them that's not the case and they're usually pretty disappointed. She pulls their credit all the time (after they've signed the appropriate forms of course) and Lifelock doesn't have anything in place to stop it.

I have Lifelock and they actually blocked the credit report that they tried to run against me last year for an Auto Loan. They also do monitor your credit. My credit card (Visa) also does the same. They actually call me for any unusual expenditures.

[usmcvet]

Sorry to hear about that. It can be very frustrating.

[M4Fundi]

They got me earlier this year. CHASE actually caught as they called and asked me if I was making large purchases at all the Walmarts in Ohio... never been to Ohio. I went in to deal with it and they told me that that month they had had over 20 million card numbers stolen largest on record at that time and that it was hackers just stealing different large companies data bases and to expect it to happen again and again.

[DaBears_85]

I have a separate bank account for online purchases. When there's something online I want to buy I transfer that exact amount of money into the account. That way if someone gets ahold of my debit card number through an online transaction there's no money on it and it will be declined. If there's some reason I do have to cancel the card, it's not tied to my main bank account so I don't have all my finances essentially frozen while going through the process of sorting out fraudulent charges from actual ones. Took me a couple of canceled cards to finally figure this out. I know you're talking about an actual credit card rather than a debit card, but it's something to think about.