Debit Card Fraud....

Sandman_NC

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Just found out we had several transactions made on the debit card that we did not do. We found out by means of overdraft! I contacted the bank and filled out the form. Now we're just waiting until we hear about what will be done.

Has anyone else had an experience like this? I don't have a timeline on how long this will take and that makes it a little difficult. :(
 
You're just up the road from me. Do you think it was jacked at Arby's? Please tell me it wasn't jacked at Arby's.
 
I’ve had it happen once or twice. Had money back within two days IIRC. Credit Union, though.
 
Is there a chip on the card or just the mag stripe?
 
Happened to us recently. 500.00 charge. We got it back in 3 or 4 days counting a weekend. Call the police and file a report. We did. Found it it is a Romanian crime ring that hit ours based on the camera feed from the ATM. Still no arrest. Ours was 4 or 5 mos ago.
 
I have worked for a few Banks in my day. You will be covered and your liability should be zero. Most banks will refund any overdraft fees and restore your lost funds. The problem is the timeframe is not standardized. It will depend on your bank. Who do you bank with? Some are faster than others.

This is why I always recommend to my clients that you not use your debit card for daily purchases. I use my exclusively to get cash at an ATM. I recommend getting a credit card and using it the exact same way you are using your debt card and pay it off every month so there is no interest charges. Pick a no annual fee cash back card and it will literally pay you to use it. The best part is when there is fraud on a Credit Card you are not out any money. There is ZERO liability and they simply issue you a new card and move legitimate transactions to your new account. Your actually money is never in jeopardy. With a debit card as a primary source of payment your actual money is always vulnerable.
 
My debit card got hit a few weeks ago. It was for a $1 charge. I figure they were testing to see if the card worked before they hit it big. I got it stopped and got a replacement card on the way. Since I have only used my debit card at the bank's ATM for cash. I pay by credit card or cash now. If a credit card gets hit, it's someone else's money. If my debit card gets hit, it's my money.
 
They told me there were online purchases but happened in a different country.... Spain. Seems like someone took a picture front and back of my card.
 
Wifes had a chip. Didn't matter....

The chip does not matter because a lot of legacy machines and things like The Square still use the mag stripe. They info they need is still there. Plus anyone you hand your card to can skim it or simply take down the info they need and make online purchases with the card being present. The chip is a decent step in the right direction but it is not bulletproof.
 
My debit card got hit a few weeks ago. It was for a $1 charge. I figure they were testing to see if the card worked before they hit it big. I got it stopped and got a replacement card on the way. Since I have only used my debit card at the bank's ATM for cash. I pay by credit card or cash now. If a credit card gets hit, it's someone else's money. If my debit card gets hit, it's my money.


I also had a bunch of $5 charges for Craig's List.
 
My debit card got hit a few weeks ago. It was for a $1 charge. I figure they were testing to see if the card worked before they hit it big. I got it stopped and got a replacement card on the way. Since I have only used my debit card at the bank's ATM for cash. I pay by credit card or cash now. If a credit card gets hit, it's someone else's money. If my debit card gets hit, it's my money.

+100,000 I saw peoples finances get wrecked because of Debit card fraud. Late mortgage payments, car payments, credit card payments you name it because their actual money was lost. Protect yourself by using cash or credit cards.
 
This one is a Federal Credit Union on the west coast.

They should take care of you. Most of the time Credit Unions will make you whole but not always fast. Did they give you an expected timeframe. These days most of the time it is 3-5 business days.
 
A time frame was not discussed yet. They told me to keep a close watch on my account for the next 24-48 hours to make sure nothing else has posted. My card was de-activated at the time of the call.

I'm hoping it takes less than a week to get back to normal. :)
 
For those that use credit cards with cash advance features, consider putting a lower limit on cash advances, one of my cards had a $18,000
limit set as default, I had them lower it to $1,000. Most cards will let you setup alerts to your phone and emails for dollar limits on the purchases,
makes it a lot easier to catch these fraud charges. You may be able to have any international charges blocked by default and enabled when you travel.

I was getting text alerts for the Amex card my daughter carries, thought it was just junk, then I had emails as well, I did not call the number in the messages,
I called the number on back of my card. Turns out somebody in Spain and Argentina was trying to buy small items but could not answer the security
questions when Amex called the merchants. Plus she had no passport and was at college at UNC Charlotte. She did eat out the night before,
that is most likely where they skimmed her card.
 
I really don’t understand how the banking world convinced everyone to use debit cards, craziest damn thing I ever saw.

It’ll be fine, unless your mortgage and car payment are due in the next few days making you late on those. Won’t really matter if you have strong credit otherwise, but if you’re credit isn’t strong you could take a hit.
 
Was moving my son from NC to Oklahoma for Army officer school last September. On the way someone wiped out one of his accounts of $4000.00 in a less than a couple hours. Bought a bunch of lamps out of California. Most likely happened during a stop at a service station.

Took time but he got reimbursed by Wells Fargo.
 
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It happened to the wife and I. They used an app called Zell or something. They took us for $1000 in a series of four transactions. It took just over a month to get it cleared. The credit union put the money in the first week, we just let it sit there until it cleared.
 
It's been stated above. Use debit/ATM card for cash only. I haven't changed the PIN for my ATM cards since I started using them in the late 70's. Never hacked.

The CC on the other hand gets hacked somehow every few years.
 
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I may be mistaken but I saw where a business only has 24 hours to report a claim for fraud. Once was 48.
 
STOP using debit cards people! Trash them and use CC or cash.

I don’t use mine. I use CCs or cash only. They issued me a card as part of the account at SECU. The card was securely locked in my safe. They hackers randomly guessed the card numbers using a computer program according to the SECU and sheriff’s dept that I had to file a report with.
 
One tip is if you use an atm or a gas pump grasp the slot where you insert your card. Most skimmers are placed over the actual reader slot. Then look at the area near the pin pad and look for pin hole cameras on exposed areas. Most skimmer setups need both pieces of data to work.
 
My wife's debit card info has been stolen 3 times in the past 2 months. Good thing state employees is good at catching it and we look at our account often.
 
I really don’t understand how the banking world convinced everyone to use debit cards, craziest damn thing I ever saw.
It’ll be fine, unless your mortgage and car payment are due in the next few days making you late on those. Won’t really matter if you have strong credit otherwise, but if you’re credit isn’t strong you could take a hit.

It is all about the interchange aka the swipe fees, lower fees for debit swipes vs credit card swipes.
Debit cards are less costly to process transactions vs writing a paper check, even if it is scanned and converted to electronic transaction.
 
When I opened my current checking account a few years back they gave me a Visa debit card and I said no, I just want an ATM card. Period. They didn’t change the card but they did disable the debit payment capability.

I buy everything with 1.5-5% cash back no fee credit cards and they all autopay the full amount every month. I make between $500 and $1k each year on my credit cards.

I do end up having to replace a credit card once or twice a year due to fraud. Eventually I wised up and arranged to have a card I carry around, and a separate card that I use online for random stuff, and another for merchants I use a lot online and another for recurring bills like internet, cell phone, etc... Those last two never get fraud, just the one I carry (most of the fraud) and the random online one (occasionally). It just got too painful to change card info in a bunch of places whenever one got cancelled.


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I have a rewards card from American Express, I get $200 Home Depot gift cards each month. We use it for everything, the program has
good perks, 4x the points for groceries and dining out, 2x for gas. I used it to pay for my daughters tuition to rack up more points.
I get up to five cards for the yearly fee that is offset by the gift cards. My wife and my two daughters have cards linked to my account.
 
Who is your bank?
See if you can get his acct # and PIN while you're at it. :D

We were hit just last weekend...$800 at a Columbia, SC Wally World. Haven't been to Columbia in a year or more. Turned out it was my wife's card #. We thought for sure it would be mine. ;)
Not sure where the breach was yet.

Half the money was refunded the day we discovered it. I think the other half is or was pending Wally World administration due to it being a weekend.
Might already be done. Have to ask the wife.
 
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I had an experience like that back at the very beginning of January, posted about it here, actually.
Had someone spend 2700 and some change at a Verizon in Little Rock...at 11pm (mustve been online).
NC SECU called me on a Sunday morning to inquire.
They replaced my money, and I had to get a new card.

It sucks.
I just use a credit card now
 
One would think that since we have numerous threads like this every year, and the answers (replies) are always the same, from the same people that we would learn the lesson.... I guess not.....
 
+100,000 I saw peoples finances get wrecked because of Debit card fraud. Late mortgage payments, car payments, credit card payments you name it because their actual money was lost. Protect yourself by using cash or credit cards.
Never have used one in my life. I use a credit card to pay for almost Everything. Pay the bill when it comes and keep moving.
 
If you are good with money and able to fully pay off your CC bill each month there is absolutely zero reason to make mst of your purchases with that card. With the cash back or points you get on these cards you are throwing money away by not using them. My wife and I purchase about 85% of everything on our discover card and the cash back we get over the year is bigly! Now if you suck with money and will carry a balence each month do not do this!
 
Keep in mind that the the thief doesn’t NEED access to your card to steal from you. There are only 16 digits on the main number, many of which are dedicated to specific purposes, like 4 indicating it’s a visa and then others for the institution, parity check bits etc. Computer programs can generate possible card combinations and then its trivial to test them through an online processor. Boom, you just got hacked by a guy in Romania who didn’t even see your card.
 
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