Thread: Watch your accounts, carefully...

Just wanted to warn you all, start watching your accounts very carefully.

I was just online on our bank account (to see how little we had before payday,LOL) and found a debit (without a pin number) done at a McDonalds for $2.00, in a suburb town, all the way across the metro area we NEVER go to. As well, we found out from that city, the address given on the bank tape, is not even in a business area, only residential.

Now maybe $2.00 would not be noticeable enough, but I have two kids with me, pretty much all the time, and we do not go that direction, as well...$2.00, I have a teen son and 11 year old daughter, it would have far exceeded $2.00. I contacted the bank and they said this is "account phishing" and they would have tried for more with my debit card number, but we canceled it and no more purchases can be made, or will pass through my account via that number.


Now here's the catch, had I NOT been keeping up with my account online frequently and caught this, we could have been in serious financial trouble.

So, I asked the bank about contacting my police department, and they said "no, it's really not necessary". Don't believe it, it is. This means my information is already floating around out there.

I went down to our local police department, and the desk officer of the day said they have seen a recent upswing of these happening. What is one of the ways it happens is when a store takes your card and has a credit only way to pay, and as an example, the clerk (who may have less than good intentions for being a clerk) says "oh, the card did not go through right, let me try that again..." it is a possibility that it DID go through fine, but he/she ran it through a hidden card reader, which collects the numbers. They can either try themselves, or sell off these numbers to criminals with the means to commit fraud on your account(s).

Police said I need to now call all three credit reporting agencies to report identity theft and put an alert on my reports.

Mind you, the bank said it was not necessary.....thanks Washington Mutual, you could have really screwed me big time, and I have very little to lose.

People, keep track of your accounts, cards and all else, as much as you can. Catch things early on, and save yourself from a horrible situation, I hope and pray I did.

Check your accounts daily if possible online.

vmonkey, yes, that is what possibly has spared me from more fraud. I'll get the $2.00 back, more than anything it irritates me, but had I not checked, it could have been disastrous and we could have had a huge amount come in against our account (and right now it would have drawn us negative, but as a "credit" would have been paid) and then we would have had to wait to get it all back, plus we have a rent check getting ready to go through (on payday tomorrow), that would have bounced and maybe even my husbands paycheck would have gotten eaten up.

I have not always checked into our account daily, but I am now. We simply cannot afford to lose one penny to fraud, we are not wealthy people, we live paycheck to paycheck, every saved penny counts, or hurts when it is lost.

But the thing is think of everyone in America who is not checking at all.

Just a few months ago I saw a news report of new computer software that can pick info out of the transmission to the satellite to approve. A guy sitting in a parking lot with a laptop can grab your credit/debit card info.
About six months ago Amex sent me an urgent e-mail asking if I had charged $866 to what seemed to be a phone sex line, because that was way out of my shopping patterns. I had a new card in two days. Now I check all my accounts daily.

When people do that they will make a samll purchase first most of the time to see if it will work. You were lucky you caught it.

Swatchick, I am now an advocate of everyone using online banking, DAILY. There seems to be a million and one ways for criminals to access this information, and all we can do, and the authorities to keep up is just not enough, but being a preemptive and preventative for further troubles is what will work.

I spent a long time talking to my mother (68 and very wise, however...) about protecting herself, she is alone and although she gets Social Security, she also works 3/4 time, and has money in the bank and good credit, with a few open accounts. At her age and situation she is at risk, especially with her good credit. So I suggested she go to her credit union and talk to them about which identity protections might be good for her, if they suggest that and how she can go about it.

I think no matter what we do, I do believe criminals will always find a way to attempt to get through it. The online banking daily, is a good preventative way to keep track of stuff and find out what is going on with your account.

Tomorrow, have to call all the credit reporting agencies and put alerts on my reports, and also think it might be good to ask about my husbands too.

2 bucks is 2 bucks. Get enough 2 bucks with a bunch of different accounts and you can get some money. 2 bucks can cost you hundreds if a check bounces......I have never used on-line banking.....guess I should get with it and check. I know I had a monthy fee stuck on my phone bill from something my husband did on the computer. Ms Fix-it had a coupon site where there was supposed to be some deals....he answered the questions and wa-la....I had fee's added and no clue this "fee" was part of the agenda. It's sickening we have to worry about this.......sometimes I wonder if the mattress isn't a safer place than a bank.

The bank probably doesn't want officials informed since there's probably some records kept and they don't want their name on the list.

Crazybird, I don't understand why this bank employee said that. The officer I spoke with rolled his eyes and shook his head back and forth, he said ALWAYS report it, even if it is $2.00. He said these people do this so much, and it has gotten so bad lately. There is a trail for them to follow if people report everything, and then they can piece together where these people are and how they are getting their information.

Like you said, enough $2.00 transactions, and they have a decent haul. That alone should be reason to catch these people and put them in jail. Pretty soon, those $2.00 transactions are not enough and they step it up. My husbands co-worker, upon learning of our situation, told him she had the same thing happen and two days later, they went to Bed Bath and Beyond and tried for almost $1,000.00 worth of merchandise, and fortunately, the clerk felt something was not right and went in the back office and called her bank, who called her and stopped the whole deal.

Sorry to hear about your dilemma AE. Unfortunately, it todays unsecured computer world there are plenty of ways for us to get scammed.

There is a large bookstore here called Books-a-Million. At the checkout counter I used my credit/debit MasterCard. The clerk asked me if I would like 6 free issues of Sports Illustrated, so naturally I said yes. A week later, I get a card in the mail telling me that I have a one year subscription to Sports Illustrated, and my credit card was charged $30 without my permission. I called the number on the card and let them have it. NOBODY has a right to store your credit card information. Once you use it, that should be it. Be careful on these scams guys.