FlimFlam, I Think I got Scammed!

[merotek]

Not so much a scam, but in my haste to pick up some magazines during the Great 2013 Gun Ban Scare, I broke several of my own rules when it comes to online transactions.

I made purchases at some websites that looked kind of shady to say the least, never received an invoice, they never took the money from my account, and of course I never received the product. I knew something was wrong when I clicked submit and didn't receive an email invoice, but I didn't pay to much mind to it as several of the big boys websites were experiencing overload as well.

Anyhoo, loooong story short, now many months later, my debit card has been hacked. I was charged a $1.00 charge from some website I had never heard of which made me suspicious, but I figured $1.00, meh... The next day I was charged $168 from a fedex in Tennessee. Having not dome any business with fedex in over a year, I immediately called the bank and had them cancel the card. The next day the bank called me and asked if I wanted to let the $768 charge go through for airline tickets... OMG.

I am telling this story in hopes that I save someone else from a nightmare of customer service calls. If you see a $1.00 charge on your account from somewhere you know you didn't do business, call the bank, this is a "fishing ping" they are just checking to see if your account is still active before they start running through charges.

 

[BogWalker]

I find your avatar to be suiting for such a situation.

 

[Ricnzak]

Yeah happened to my corporate card. 1 dollar charges from three parts of the world in one day. We shut it down immediately. We have had our cards hacked from gas stations and restaurants quite a few times with all the travel we do. The last time mine was I had only been at national chain hotels or food chains.

 

[possum_128]

Has happen to me more times than I can count. This is why I check my accounts every day at least once, most times once in the morning and once at night.

This is how they operate, they take a small amount from your account, a dollar of less, this is to see if you notice, then wam, they hit you up again for a much larger amount.

Check often and question any amounts you or the spouse nit not make and contact your bank as fast as you can.

 

[merotek]

Yeah, I assumed it was a bad website, but it would be so easy for a waitress, pizza guy, gas attendent, etc... to copy your numbers and sell them up to a year later with no fear of getting caught. Kinda sucks for us :P

 

[jerryv]

This kind of crap is why I don't have a debit card, don't do online banking or bill-paying, don't use ATM's, don't have a PIN number, don't use Facebook or Twitter, and use paypal almost exclusively for online purchasing ..

I don't need the key to my money floating around in cyberspace. Not all 'progress' is good.

 

[level0]

This kind of crap is why I don't have a debit card, don't do online banking or bill-paying, don't use ATM's, don't have a PIN number, don't use Facebook or Twitter, and use paypal almost exclusively for online purchasing ..

I don't need the key to my money floating around in cyberspace. Not all 'progress' is good.

I'm the other way on this. I only use my cash or my debit card for purchases - I have a credit card but it's for emergency use only. I only pay my bills online, I don't even have checks if I wanted to write one. I'm with you on facebook and twitter.

 

[littletommy]

Some friends of ours dined at a local chain restaurant a while back, and used a credit card to pay. They left and got in their car, and while still in the restaurant parking lot, the womans phone rings, it's the CC company, and they had noticed a $40 something charge for food at the restaurant, and immediately after that was a $600 charge to some department store website. The waitress had rung up the food, then jumped on a nearby computer to do a little shopping, all while being about 3 feet from a video surveillance camera!

 

[mbills2223]

This kind of crap is why I don't have a debit card, don't do online banking or bill-paying, don't use ATM's, don't have a PIN number, don't use Facebook or Twitter, and use paypal almost exclusively for online purchasing ..

I don't need the key to my money floating around in cyberspace. Not all 'progress' is good.

 

[cook4army]

I also recently had the same problem. I ordered stuff from a place called Personal Choice Outfitters. I received an order number, but never anything else. I ordered three seperate orders within 3 days of each other, not thinking anything was suspicious, using two different cards and two months later, no order, no change in status, and one of my CC gets charged $1775 for plane tickets. My bank calls me and questions the purchase, to which I told them I didnt make it. They then tell me that there are four other charges pending, which they immediately cancel. The CC company cancels my card, and re-issues me another. I then attempt to email the company to have them cancel all my orders...website cannot be found. I call the number, disconnected. Now I am getting really worried. I call the bank to inform them of my previous expirience with my CC and warn them to be on the look out for charges like this on my other CC. This was two weeks ago. Fast forward to yesterday, when my bank calls me to ask about 6 different charges that are pending. I tell them when the last time I used the CC was, for the exact amount and to where I used it, and inform them that any other charges are not mine. I then tell them that I called them two weeks prior and warned them about a potential fraud issue. Woman says.."Oh yes, I see in our notes you did call.....we will cancel this card immediately, and anything charged to your card after the last purchase you can confirm, we will forward to our fraud department."

Now, Im not 100% certain that this is the company that used my CC information fraudulently...however, its coincidence that the one place I did use both my CC's at, had to both be cancelled due to fraudulent charges...you be the judge, as I already have formed my opinion.

I will have to give +1 rep each to my banks for catching this, and for being extremely cooperative in handleing it.