WWTBAM Bored

I don't think we've ever had one. It could get interesting over time. So I'll start with mine today on my Amex Optima card.
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December 23, 2014

Portero Luxury: $4,935.22 (nope, not mine, but they have some nice stuff, mostly out of my price range)
Jockey.com: $1.00 (that's more like it, but still no)
Jockey.com: $1.00 (when at first you don't succeed......)
Yahoo Wallet: $1.00 (cash type stuff is always best, but no no no, not on me)

I don't use this card much compared to my other Amex card. I used it on TicketMaster.com on Friday. That is where is must have been hacked from. Prior use was online on online on 12/9 and 12/4. Last in person use was 11/24. Typically hacked numbers are used rather quickly so I'll go with TicketMaster.

BackInTex wrote:I don't think we've ever had one. It could get interesting over time. So I'll start with mine today on my Amex Optima card.
__________________________________
December 23, 2014

Portero Luxury: $4,935.22 (nope, not mine, but they have some nice stuff, mostly out of my price range)
Jockey.com: $1.00 (that's more like it, but still no)
Jockey.com: $1.00 (when at first you don't succeed......)
Yahoo Wallet: $1.00 (cash type stuff is always best, but no no no, not on me)

I don't use this card much compared to my other Amex card. I used it on TicketMaster.com on Friday. That is where is must have been hacked from. Prior use was online on online on 12/9 and 12/4. Last in person use was 11/24. Typically hacked numbers are used rather quickly so I'll go with TicketMaster.

I had that happen on one of my credit cards, and the credit card company called me the day it happened to check with me. Credit card thieves will often try to process a small transaction or two to make sure they have a working number before they hit you with the big transaction.

I assume you've already called them to cancel the card.

Someone was planning a little getaway with my card in Ventura, CA, while I sat here in MT at my desk, a month or so ago. With my card in my wallet. Luckily, my bank was right on it.

silverscreenselect wrote: I assume you've already called them to cancel the card.

Yes. New card being sent 1-day express, no charge. CC company actually flagged these. They were never approved.

I've had numerous problems over the years most of which I posted here. I don't think I mentioned that most recent one because it was so minor.

I have my accounts set-up to notify me via both text messages and email when a transaction is made. Unfortunately Bank of America takes hours to do so. I was notified one day that a Eurail Pass had been purchased with one card. I immediately called them but was told I'd have to wait until it was fully processed before I could report it. I also found a very small charge at some New York resort before I got the text. When I checked the next day both charges had totally disappeared from my account. I don't know if that was a posting error or whether they caught the charges and reversed them before they were fully processed. They didn't hold or cancel my card so I didn't pursue it further.

silverscreenselect wrote:I had that happen on one of my credit cards, and the credit card company called me the day it happened to check with me. Credit card thieves will often try to process a small transaction or two to make sure they have a working number before they hit you with the big transaction.

One of my tax clients, who runs a specialty item side business where all of the transactions are e-mail order/charge card stuff, always kvetches (righteous kvetchation?) about folks who try to order a minimum order and have it kick out. Sometimes they try several times with different cards; his rule (and it's posted on his webpage) is that you get two shots to get it right. He's also gotten to the point that any international order (other than Canada) has to be prepaid via Western Union transfer because he had so much trouble with fraud on those orders. His thought is that most of those folks are just testing out bogus cards to see if they work or not.

He also said that one credit card fraud specialist said a common trick is for them to make a small donation to a charity to test a fraudulent card. Somehow that sounds doubly wrong.

What happens many times is a credit card is 'authorized' by a vendor. What happens is the credit card processor sends an authorization request and amount to the credit card company. They are supposed to send a release of the authorization, but sometime they do not. That is how many gas pumps work and on reason not to use a debit card. The pump will authorize for $50, then when you are done pumping the $35.75 worth of gas, they charge you $35.75. However, the authorization may stay until it expires (3-7 days). The money never leaves your account, but is not included in your available balance putting you at risk of overdraft or other denials when you in fact have the funds. Most online merchants pre-authorize $1 to verify the account is active.

Rental car companies put a $250.00 hold on your card until you get back & pay up. What $250.00 is going to mean if you really do abscond with their $25,000.00+ car is anybody's guess, but that charge could screw up your balance if you're near a limit & they haven't processed your latest payment to them yet.

The first time my card number got stolen they bought only on-line downloadable things: A half and half combination of ice skating videos and porn. (Ice porn?). Process of elimination figured that the number got stolen via one of the old-fashioned 3-carbon credit card receipts that was in use at Pep Boys at the time.

Another time both my card number and a friends were lifted at a restaurant we both went to at the same time. The numbers got sold - his was used to buy groceries in Virginia while mine did the same thing in Georgia. My card was refused the first time it was used at a Kroger but a short time later was successfully used at another grocery store.

I think there was one other time where the CC company called us first for the suspicious charge.

Should mention that we've never had any problem with getting all fraudulent charges removed.

jaybee wrote:The first time my card number got stolen they bought only on-line downloadable things: A half and half combination of ice skating videos and porn. (Ice porn?).

What, you've never heard of ice porn before?

lb13

ghostjmf wrote:Rental car companies put a $250.00 hold on your card until you get back & pay up. What $250.00 is going to mean if you really do abscond with their $25,000.00+ car is anybody's guess, but that charge could screw up your balance if you're near a limit & they haven't processed your latest payment to them yet.

That may be true of the last rental car company you used but not true of all of them.

Bob Juch wrote:

ghostjmf wrote:Rental car companies put a $250.00 hold on your card until you get back & pay up. What $250.00 is going to mean if you really do abscond with their $25,000.00+ car is anybody's guess, but that charge could screw up your balance if you're near a limit & they haven't processed your latest payment to them yet.

That may be true of the last rental car company you used but not true of all of them.

Rental car companies usually put a hold on the card for that amount (or sometimes more, depending on the rental period) to make sure you're good for the rental. The fear of absconding with their rolling stock is a cost of doing business, and that's why they have insurance.

If you use a debit card with, say, a VISA logo on it, that's where you might get in trouble with the hold, as discussed before. Some car rental places won't take a debit card of any kind and those that do have some very specific language in their contracts and websites (if you're inclined to drill into the fine print) to warn you about that. But, every year, I see someone cry the blues on a travel website because they used a debit card on holiday, either for car rental or for a hotel (which also puts a hold on the card) and suddenly finds out their vacation money is on hold and they can't do a thing about it.

Oh, and found it!

I generally use Hertz because I get a AAA discount with them. If someone else is cheaper yet & doesn't have their pickup/dropoff point 1/2 hour from the airport, I'll go with them instead. I think the deposit depends on the city you are flying in/out of in addition to the rental company. I'm pretty sure I've had this done to me in Atlanta. But its been 2 or 3 years since I've rented a car.

Fourth or fifth time it has happened to me occurred two weeks ago. Someone tried to charge three dollars and change in upstate NY while I was out of the country. I had told the credit card company I would be out of the country, and they called me to report the fraud.

For me it was at Mecca about ten years ago. After I made a charge at one Mecca in NY, another charge surfaced a couple of hours later at another Mecca in California. The card company caught it, froze the card, and tried to call me as other attempts were made to shop on my behalf on the left coast.

What I do not like is when they threaten to freeze your card because "out of state purchases are being made" when in fact they're being made by you, traveling out of state. Gotta remind myself to get the CC co my cell phone #, as they've previously phoned in those warning calls to my home phone. Which I do periodically check, on trips, but still. (Cat periodically unplugs the phone, too, sending messages into Verizon's service & rendering earlier messages unavailable.)

Bank of America froze my card again last night. I tried to use it at the same Mecca I've been going to since I moved here. They sent me a text message while I was trying to pay saying it had "suspicious activity". I used another card instead of holding up the line any longer.

That makes at least ten times I've had problems with a BofA card at Walmart. They must get a lot of fraud from them.

littlebeast13 wrote:

jaybee wrote:The first time my card number got stolen they bought only on-line downloadable things: A half and half combination of ice skating videos and porn. (Ice porn?).

What, you've never heard of ice porn before?

lb13

LOL - found it?