Dchiefransom

My bank account was emptied while the wife was not monitoring it. They used my check card number. She had told me that only one of us was allowed online access to the account. We got all the money back. One ticket was coming in to SFO on a Saturday night, so I went over there to report it. The ticket agent acted pissed that I was there, and so did the police officer I talked to. I told him I was just reporting it, not sticking around to confront anyone. He said if they detained the person I could be sued. I answered that it would be improbable if she was in posession of stolen goods-the airline ticket. He said that the person with the ticket most likely bought it at a discount off e-Bay, and the seller was the thief.

Red Rider

These hackings seem complicated. Our credit card called us while we were overseas, to report unusual activity. Fortunately it was us; we were heartened that the CC company was monitoring our usage.

I'm sorry for all y'all's fraudulent usage; hackers ought to be ... well, use your imaginations.

Tom Bombadil

That wasn't a password then, it was a hint to get a new password.

They would have to have your name and CC number, your mother's name and your email account and email account password, to steal it that way. That's a lot of information. If they know that much, they can hurt you.

For they would have to attempt to log-in to your on-line CC account, then request a new password, and pass the "hint" question to get it. Then would have to log in to your email and know that password, in order read the email from your CC company with the new temporary password.

CB HI

I heard that Visa/Master Card had a huge security breech, just the other day. Check your accounts for awhile.

robtown

Last night our credit union called. Someone had tried a $1076 purchase and a $500 Western Union transfer with one of our check cards. They canceled it even though none of our 4 cards ended with the same digits. I vaguely remember that one of our old cards had the same last 4 digits.

BillK

FYI. I recommend free password programs like Password Safe (click here) to create and store passwords. Programs like this allow you to easily create passwords from random characters, maintain unique passwords for each site, and store the list as an encrypted file.

JohnDThompson 

PayPal allows you to create single-use credit card numbers. I've used this to pay for items when I don't quite trust the vendor's security. Log into your PayPal account and click on the "PayPal Plugin" option. You don't have to install the plug-in to be able to generate a single use card number.

reverborama

This is really interesting. I had a call from Chase Security earlier in the week with the same thing. Two very small charges on my card. We canceled it right away and I am still waiting for a new one. I was leery at first so right after I got off the phone I called the number on the back of my card and confirmed that I had, indeed spoken with Chase Security and that my card was now canceled.

As a computer programmer, I'd love to talk to the guys/gals that wrote the software scanning their database, because you know that's what's tipping them that the card is going to be used for fraud. Some clever people out there -- on both sides unfortunately.

linux_author

the problem is with Visa/MasterCard, which allow charges to card numbers by fraudulent authorized 'merchants,' and then pass responsibility off to banks and then bank customers - in many cases, charges are allowed without input of the card's expiry date!

rae

I just read that there is a new "worm" out there that has been infecting computers through a flaw in windows--but even though the worm has been detected, so far it has just been lurking and it is not known what it will do if/when activated...seems it infects through other than the usual paths (like email). Anyway, MSN has a fix available for the flaw and also a free one time use program to detect and repair--so get the update if you don't do it automatically.

stapfam

Now this is not about fraud.

Now me and the wife are very frugal with credit and Credit cards- I do not have a credit card and the wifes one is paid up every month. If we want anything we pay up front and the credit card is only used for online purchases for convenience and insurance.

Tonight we have had one of our savings Banks phone us up. They want us to take out a credit card. Our credit rating is superb and we can transfer any other balances we have to this new card at a special low rate---

No thanks-


The reason we have no financial problems is that we do not have any outstanding credit- we do not have credit cards with a debit sitting on them and we don't want any credit.

Whay am I only offered credit when I don't need it?

oilman_15106

I went through a spate of fraud charges on a card. Pain in the rear.

The bank said it was due to the way gas stations do their credit card purchases. When you swipe your card the oil company attempts to charge your card $1. If it goes through then your card is approved and the $1 gets put into the purchase. Crooks using computers try to charge card numbers $1 and when a charge goes through, bingo, they have a good card number to lay to waste with fraud.