Fraud

[Directive]

Looks like I am the victim of a debit card skimmer. Got an email from my bank, as I set up to let me know when my account drops below a certain dollar amount. I always have a balance in my head and should not have gotten the email. Someone was using my info for a ton of Lyft rides ($10 to $20 each) and tickets for about $475. My bank is good and is taking care of it. Went thru this work for extra security and lockout for the credit reporting agencies and my bank gets hit. I used my card twice in the past week. Price Chopper and Stewarts ATM. I don't think it was at Price Chopper so I will have to inform that Stewarts that there ATM might have been tampered with.

[palmboy5]

Ah sucks.. a few months ago I got a fraudulent charge on my credit card too. Possibly also from a skimmer? Who knows!

It was a single charge though, $630 on draftkings.com.

But yeah, the bank takes care of it.

So you use your debit card directly? Why? That's an account with actual money in it and would possibly leave you with not having access to any money until it's resolved...

I strongly prefer to use a credit card instead (any card, even one with no membership fees and no benefits/points) as a buffer or first line of defense. Because even if that card gets stolen and charged through the roof, I'm not actually out of any money. Worst comes to worst I just refuse to pay off the balance while I continue to work with the bank to remove the charges. Whatever gets charged to it is just a number that doesn't affect me until I say otherwise.

[2005]

I had it happen to me once as well, lots of CRAZY stuff happened.

They spent about $2400, and at that time as a broke college kid I never had any more than about $200-$300 in the account.
It was a debit card, so I over drafted and kept getting hit with overdraft fees as some of the things I had set up to be paid
like my phone bill and something else hit the account like two or three times trying to get the money.... so I got whacked like
two or three times in a row for each thing at like $35 each for the over draft. I got hit with late fees on the bills that couldn't
get paid of course..

I apparently did two background checks on my own mother, applied for a small business license, donated money to a wildlife
conservation group that doesn't accept donations, and had several charges at a gas station a few states away from me. I had
to fight tooth and nail with the bank to get them to take care of it. I had to file appeals on all the charges, and they so boldly
told me that if the appeals were denied, I'd be charged a fee for each denied charge. To start this whole appeal process, I had
to personally contact each of these charges and find out the who, what and where. That took a good 3-5 hours of my life and
then had to fill out all the appeals myself.

So the bank finally accepts the appeals and reverses all the charges, but were still trying to hit me with all the overdrafts! I had
to basically argue that had their system not allow the fraudulent charges, my account wouldn't have overdrawn. I was basically
to the point where I said "Look, either you refund the fees or I'll walk right across the street, open a new checking account, and
you'll never see me again". The guy said well you'll still have to pay, to which I replied "I wouldn't hold my breath, I've been a
customer here at this bank for 12 years, had loans here, did all my banking through you..... and now this crap... you won't see
one red cent of that money".

They ended up eventually canceling the overdraft fees as well. But what a freaking hassle. I spent at least 10 hours of my own
time in resolving this, during finals week no less of my 3rd year of college. REALLY didn't have the time to waste, but had to
get it takencare of.

The two biggest kickers, they wouldn't freeze or close my account while it was still overdrawn and I didn't have the money to
bring the balance to zero. So, in plain english, I asked them "If whoever is doing this, is still doing it, there is nothing that can
be done to stop them?" All I got was a "That's correct".

The other is that one of the people who was using my info actually gave my last name and some random first name... so they
were kinda somewhat smart about it? Maybe they claimed they were my brother or dad or something.

To PB's point, I've been using a credit card as my primary way of spending. Not only do you get the fraud protection, but I get
a few hundred dollars each year in "rewards" on my Amazon Chase visa. I get 5% cash back on anything I buy on Amazon
because I have prime. You also get like 1% cash back on everything, 2% on groceries, and 3% at gas stations. Free fraud protection
and $400-$500 in "free" money each year is pretty darn sweet. You can also use privacy.com to generate "one time use" credit cards
and some other things, I was thinking about that but the system I use I think is pretty good.

I have a savings account that has never been accessible any other way than walking into the bank. I keep a good portion of my free
cash there. I have a checking account that HAS been not only used online, but was also compromised. I keep the account active,
but never keep much cash in it.

I use a credit card for almost everything, and pay the bill with the checking account. If the checking account gets whacked again,
then only the money in the checking is at risk.

The only way to make this better would be to have the savings account with no electronic access or usage, at another bank. If
Bank A's checking account gets whacked, and Bank A wants to play hardball... they can refuse to let me have the money in that
savings. If the savings is at Bank B, then Bank A can piss up a rope.

I could also close, and open a new checking account at Bank A, since the original account has been compromised before. But I
think that could affect my credit score, since that's the oldest account I have open.


TL;DR -

Get a good credit card, you can find a decent amount with pretty cool rewards. The amazon chase visa has no fees, cash back
and the interest rate of any credit card only matters if you carry a balance. I have an amazon chase visa, a samsclub master card,
and a walmart master card. Two of the three cards have a limit north of 5K... so if I had to do so I could use them in an emergency
for a big purchase. Or if I was going to buy a big ticket item, and had the cash to pay right away, I could use the card get the cash
back.

Only use your debit card in emergencies. I keep a little bit of cash in each car, like $20 so if I needed gas or something and lost my
wallet, I had some. Ialso keep two or three hundred in cash hidden in the house.

[Directive]

I agree with Palmboy5 and way ahead of you. I will only use my bank card now if I need cash. Anything else will go on a credit card, plus I can earn more points on my credit cards. I put the higher security on the credit reporting agencies and locks since the Equifax problem.
Wow, 2005. Diaria of the keyboard?

[2005]

LOL - "Keyboard diarrhea" now there's a funny term......


I basically feel strongly about the subject, being a victim of it myself during a time in which I REALLY didn't need
to have that happen... not that there is ever a good time for it I guess. So it was a trip down memory lane with a
half a book of suggestions.

[Directive]

I understand. It is a hot subject. People suck who think they can get something for nothing at someone else's expense. I am a firm believer in the fact a person can be smart, two people can be smart, a crowd of people tanks the intelligence level.

[palmboy5]

To be technically correct... those people DID get something for nothing at someone else's expense. Those Lyft rides? Gas station pumps? They got what they (didn't) pay for and practically won't ever be caught.

Shame of life

[Directive]

Yes technically, but they didn't get anything for nothing. Someone paid for it and in this case probably the bank. I don't believe in something for nothing. There is always a catch. I am normally an easy going and mellow guy but this kinda got me going. I only hope they are caught and pay for there crime and mostly learn a lesson.

[2005]

I agree with you there Directive, I hope they get what is coming to them.

Thankfully, in many cases those people do get "some form of punishment".
The likelyhood it would have been for this specific incident is very very low
but even still, the good news is that these people tend to either get greedy
and do something stupid to eventually get caught or this "path" in life leads
them towards behaviors for which they will eventually get caught and punished.


I earn my living, worked hard for my education that enables me to earn my
living and I am responsible with my money. It's sad that someone else feels
they are entitled to it. Even though my incident didn't "cost" me money, it did
cost me a lot of time during a span of time in which I didn't have the time to
spare. Time is money.

[Directive]

I was a "hoodlum" until my late 20s. I learned my lesson late in life. I am grateful I didn't screw myself into not being able to do anything with my life. I got my head out of my ass and made something of myself. Now I am in a stable job and a stable relationship. Been working for Hart Alarm Systems for about 15 years now and married 20.