WELL!..... it happened!

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I doubt they will be caught. In fact, they probably won't even expend much effort trying. Unless the fraud is in the 5 figure range it's not really worth it.


The one purchase involved in this was a restaurant in Orlando.
When I contacted them, the manager was very sympathetic, stating his own stolen information story to me.
He also said that since I gave him the approximate date(s) that this happened, along with the total bill amount, he could enter it into the restaurant's saved database, pull the receipt, which also gave the time of the transaction, table number where they fed their faces at, and even the security cameras of the register and table area.


With this information, it's certainly possible that the crook could be identified if they stopped at this eatery before/after.
Remember, cameras are everywhere these days.
 
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I actually no longer use my debit card anywhere except at bank ATM machines and then only very rarely.

I use credit cards exclusively and have been scammed twice driving through NJ where you are not allowed to pump your own gas. In both cases the attendants were responsible.

One time here in the Boston area, appears to have been at a restaurant we frequented regularly at the time, a very substantial amount of money, all in under 24 hours. One of the merchants was one I did business with and had me on file - it never occurred to them to call me to check why they were shipping a pile of electronics to Atlanta and Orlando, needless to say I no longer do business with them.

Most recently a few weeks ago, likely via an online vendor, no harm since they did not have all of the information required - a gas station in Dallas five $1 charge attempts at a gas pump, all denied.. Just inconvenient.

Equifax gave my personal information and that of 140 million other people in the U.S. and U.K. to hackers a few years ago. I haven't forgotten that.

The police are uninterested in investigating credit card or bank card fraud until the numbers are very large.

Note that the bank will claw back their money having made you whole again, leaving the merchant holding the bag - which in some cases may be deserved due to lax business practices. Restaurants are a harder case, I don't know of too many that will ask for a license for ID on a CC transaction at the end of a meal.
 
Equifax doesn’t have much credibility in US after a major (and avoidable) breach. My girl and I were both affected.

My only fraud experience was waking up to 100 $2.99 Xbox live gift cards on my visa late last year. Capital one had new card for me in a few days, refund was almost immediate. I’d never use a bank account card in the real world. Every account is set up for email notifications just in case.
 
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UPDATE:
The one store, was a Dollar General, the Corporate Office told me on the phone today that the charge to my account was made on Saturday Feb 8 at 4:17PM..... and was for an (untraceable) "vanilla" gift card, bought in conjunction with yet another stolen card.
And yes, they have cameras at that store that they'll be checking into.
 
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There is a huge business around cloning debit and credit cards, they cannot clone the chip, but the rest of the card can be cloned very easily.

My most recent one - the Dallas incident I referenced in my previous post was a cloned card. They actually presented the card to a gas pump card reader five times, they lacked my zip code to complete the transaction which is one reason why they did not go on a spree - the other being that the provider suspected I was here at home. (A good guess)
 
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If they didn’t have your physical card, how did they make purchases at a restaurant and DG? Unless they had someone on the inside it’s kindly hard, do these people actually make duplicate cards somehow?


It was told to me by DG Corporate that my debit card was likely cloned.
How? - When? - I do not know.


Being a regular at the local WAWA, I know they had a massive breach last year, and I've yet to contact them regarding this.
They offered some kind of service to affected customers, I suppose a credit rating thing, I forget.


One thing I'll likely do is change the way I purchase things, and add more security to my banking.
Good old cash from the ATM hasn't gone out of style yet.
 
I've had quite a few credit cards go down to fraud over the years, never had to pay anything out of pocket. However, I do my banking online and so have caught fraudulent transactions very soon, although nowadays the card companies are always quicker.

I hardly ever use my debit card in anything other than an ATM because the fraud terms are so weak.

I find cash is still best when dealing with foreign currency exchange. I remember I just got killed with poor exchange and fees on top of fees when I used plastic throughout a Vegas vacation once.
 
I just use a credit card, offers a lot or protection. Never use a debit card though, too risky....

This is the biggest advantage of a credit card. The debit card withdrawals from YOUR bank account when the transaction occurs. The credit card is on the lending institution. If it's thier funds covering the transaction, then they care more because you have a chance to dispute the charges before settling the debt. Once the money comes out of your account, they care much less. :rolleyes:

As for fuel purchases, at certain stations my credit card gives me $0.50 off per gallon as a perk to the card. Just filled up today for $1.66/gal:D :up:

It took awhile to convince my mother to stop using her debit card for transactions. "Ma!!, use your credit card for everything, then settle the debt after reviewing and verifying the statement."

Just don't spend more than you can cover each month.:cheeky:. :whazzat:
 
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