yep, twice at the same station within a month. If the store smells like incense and body odor I go to the next station.
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Credit Card Scam
- Thread starter baxterday
- Start date
Brazil on "business" and a $7500 hotel bill, hmmm
Last fall, I was issued a new Mastercard through Kroger. Decided to meet some friends in Hilton Head. Stopped in SC, near Palmetto Dunes to get gas. Card "declined" WTF?, this is a new card. Before I could get to the store to see why, I got a call from Mastercard. I answered and they asked me a couple of questions and released the card. I am talking less than 1 minute and they were on the card.
Best one I had was on my Wells Fargo debit VISA. I almost never use it but I had to deposit cash so I swung by my local branch and used the ATM to deposit it there.
I did notice a weird sticker on the ATM, a gold crown with a ring around it, but I wrote that off as a band logo or something. Next morning I saw I had a text notifying me of a withdrawal over $500. Looked at my balance and it was zero. The history showed a few small transactions ($2-3 each), then one that exactly cleaned out my account.
I went by the branch and talked with the manager there. They looked at it and started the wheels on getting a new card and refunding the money (it was back by 10 AM). She asked where I had used the card and I told her that the only use in the last 2-3 weeks was at their ATM. I mentioned the sticker and when we walked out to check the ATM she took one look, walked back inside and called their security folks to shut it down, because someone has installed a skimmer plate on it.
It was pretty amazing... I've used that ATM for years now, and it looked just fine (except for the sticker), but within a day or so they had a whole new ATM installed. Because they had both my card and my PIN through the fake front, they were able to see what my balance was and empty the account right to the penny.
Gotta hand it to WF though, they got me going again right away, even before they knew it was their ATM that was the problem.
I did notice a weird sticker on the ATM, a gold crown with a ring around it, but I wrote that off as a band logo or something. Next morning I saw I had a text notifying me of a withdrawal over $500. Looked at my balance and it was zero. The history showed a few small transactions ($2-3 each), then one that exactly cleaned out my account.
I went by the branch and talked with the manager there. They looked at it and started the wheels on getting a new card and refunding the money (it was back by 10 AM). She asked where I had used the card and I told her that the only use in the last 2-3 weeks was at their ATM. I mentioned the sticker and when we walked out to check the ATM she took one look, walked back inside and called their security folks to shut it down, because someone has installed a skimmer plate on it.
It was pretty amazing... I've used that ATM for years now, and it looked just fine (except for the sticker), but within a day or so they had a whole new ATM installed. Because they had both my card and my PIN through the fake front, they were able to see what my balance was and empty the account right to the penny.
Gotta hand it to WF though, they got me going again right away, even before they knew it was their ATM that was the problem.
Local credit union, card got hacked likely from a local restaurant I ate at that week. Got a call from fraud department about an 890$ purchase to Aliexpress?! I said nope not me, they shut my card off and refunded the money the next day. Monday rolls around I get hit for the $890 again so i am back on the phone.... they still approved the purchase again after my card was flagged!
Best part of the story... get a new card all straight, i think its all done. Month later I get a letter in the mail from the bank with a form with some questions like "did i authorize this purchase", "did i give my card to someone", "did i benefit from this purchase"? Here is the kicker they bought 890$ worth of real women's hair from China and the company was arguing that it was a legit purchase that I made and sent the receipt with all of the fraudsters information. Her name, address, phone number, email, and text messages back and forth between the China company and her asking where her shipment was.
Crazy these people get away with it, I was able to find her on facebook in 2 minutes easy.
Best part of the story... get a new card all straight, i think its all done. Month later I get a letter in the mail from the bank with a form with some questions like "did i authorize this purchase", "did i give my card to someone", "did i benefit from this purchase"? Here is the kicker they bought 890$ worth of real women's hair from China and the company was arguing that it was a legit purchase that I made and sent the receipt with all of the fraudsters information. Her name, address, phone number, email, and text messages back and forth between the China company and her asking where her shipment was.
Crazy these people get away with it, I was able to find her on facebook in 2 minutes easy.
Ever since I started using privacy.com, the above scenario
baxterday
described completely disappeared for me. Privacy creates secure virtual card numbers and completes checkout forms for you, saving you time and money while hiding your real card details. You can create card numbers on the fly and assign them to a specific merchant -- so they can only be used with that business. Or you can create one-time use "burner" card numbers. It is an amazing service! No fee to use it either.
baxterday
described completely disappeared for me. Privacy creates secure virtual card numbers and completes checkout forms for you, saving you time and money while hiding your real card details. You can create card numbers on the fly and assign them to a specific merchant -- so they can only be used with that business. Or you can create one-time use "burner" card numbers. It is an amazing service! No fee to use it either.
Got hit again with our debit card. I used my card at a local gas station in Blue Ridge yesterday. I went inside to pay for some fuel and buy some cigarettes for the losers I was carting around. I thought it odd that they had the chip reading section of the machine covered and only the slide area available for use. Well, last night at 9:50 p.m. and then at 10:04 p.m. someone in Mcdonough started using my card at a Cheddars then at a Liberty truck stop. My bank stopped a third charge and froze the card. I got the call this morning. I hate scammers, and would love to catch these pos individuals. We are going to follow up on this as far as we can.
Credit Cards are safer than Debit cards. You have more fraud protection with a CC than a debit.
This. Absolutely, never ever use a Debit Card a the gas station.
I am responsible for credit card security (PCI-DSS compliance) at work. Gas stations are a number one place for CC skimmers. New generation skimmers are wireless and go INSIDE of the gas station CC swipers. I am used to pulling on the card swiper every time I buy gas, but new skimmer would not be detectable by doing it.
And paying in cash at the gas station is even safer than using cards.
