someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

The other day I got a call from WellsFargo Fraud division about some questionable purchases. Someone was buying stuff in the eastbay and sf with my debit card. Only I had my card in the wallet. Somehow they made a copy of my card. They ran up roughly 1600 in purchases at gas stations niketown, kfc, and shoe stores. Guess they bought their demon spawn some toys as well. Still working with the bank, but hoping to get all the money back. We werent watching our account because we had a fair amount of extra money this month.

My wife said this happened to a co worker after they ate at a restaurant and an employee swiped the card through a machine of some kind. They caught the guy. What pisses me off is how nobody checked id apparently on the purchases. This is my first time with something like this I am still learning how this could have occurred. What a nightmare. I wisu this was my cc and not debit card, makes life more difficult. Seems purchases are still trickling in.


Aaaaaaaaaargh focking *$&&$%&

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

:td

Sorry to hear it, Mike.

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

I had this happen this summer with a credit card. They made a copy of it. And the purchases were at shoe stores. I don't know what it is about thiefs and athletic gear, but they seem to love it. I was issued a new card and the charges were reversed, so no big deal for me. I hope you find as easy of a resolution on your end.

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

Good luck brother. Hope it all works out in your favor.

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

Sorry to hear this Mike. Hope everything works out with the bank.

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

A friend has loaned me his debit card and pin, on the back of the card it specifically say to ASK FOR ID!.

But with today's machines the teller doesn't even handle the card anymore or rarely.
It does suck as cards can now be copied digitally and stolen or sold to thieves.

However I have no credit cards anymore and my debit card is usually worthless as my wife is a full time student and the daughters are as well.

Obviously the best protection against being robbed is to be broke all the time!

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

This is happening more often recently, as I've seen numerous people on different sites become victims.

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

You would think with that many transactions, someone would have the thief on video... Sorry to hear man :(

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

sucks man...sorry to hear it. definitely a pita when it's your debit card.

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

Sorry to hear about that man. I am pretty sure if it is a credit purchase and the store did not verify the ID you will not have an issue. When this happened to me it was a quick process my back had it handled in about 4 days. I hate crooks.

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

Advice to all........subscribe to credit monitoring and lock your report.
As for credit cards, get email notifications of all charges and sleep in peace as you will not be responsible for fraud charges.
Stuff like this will always happen if you elect to have credit cards.

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

Hope it all works out go get the bastards.

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

Sorry to hear about this as well, and I hope the recovery is swift and somewhat painless...

Funny about the ID, None of my cards are signed. Maybe 70% of the times that the clerk actually looks at the back of the card, they just hand it back to me without asking for ID etc...Its as if it is just a reflex motion and they actually do not even process what they are looking at....

Also, I my wife used my card (she kept maiden name) one day and used it, back said "Check ID", they asked for ID, she gave them hers and they looked and just handed it back...

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

My wife and I use each other's ATM cards all the time for credit charges. We both have our photos on them. Never realized she and I can pass for one another.:r

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

Just saw a new charge come in. Was made before christmas, but just hit the account. Called Wells. They confirmed I will not be responsible for the charges and will be refunded. Hell even if I eat some little ones I won't care, but I damn sure don't want to pay 600 to niketown, and some other places like that. They finally called me after they tried to spend 600 @ roxy. Wife and I never spend more then 200 at a time, wish they would have caught it sooner. Like when they bought gas at chevron 3 times in one day. They are saying should be resolved in less then 10 days.

So irritated right now. Lesson learned will be changing how we do things. Apparently they did whats called skinning the card. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuccccccccccc&

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

You are not responsible for any of it. Just point out the ones you are disputing.
What is skinning?

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

sucks, sorry to hear

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

That sucks! Good luck!

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

I think it's call skimming. I had this happen when I swiped my Amex at a gas station once. They install a device over the merchants cc swipe machine. And it collects your info

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

Sorry to hear brotha. This is one of the reasons why I will never use my debit card at a restaurant or any place that the server physically takes the card. I also will not use my card for online transactions. My wife used to break my chops about it but after hearing more and more of these types of stories she began to understand the method to my madness. If they take the credit card info and go crazy I will fight the charges and not pay the on the fraudulent charges where as the debit card if they hit your account you are SOL on the missing funds until you can get the issues resolved. Here's to hoping you get a speedy response and your finances get back in order.

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

Exactly. Then the do what's called skinning. Where they program a card with your info and use it as a cc they didn't have the pin so all purchases were run as credit card. They signed for the purchase that's why they could do it as the card can have anyones name on it that the choose. Its like a fake skin. Skimming os where they get the info, then they make a skin of your card with a different name and use it like a cc

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

That sucks Mike, I've been there, it sucks and it's an annoyance, but in the end, you'll look back and realize it wasn't as "bad" as it might seem to you now.

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

I understand now

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

Best of luck! I know a bunch of people who had this happen at a now defunct Mexican restaurant in Cincinnati. Hope it all resolves for the best.

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

Happened to me once. They tried to buy a $4000 tv with my debit, bank called me immediately! They ask if I am buying a tv at best buy in Maryland, I said no I am on my couch in Florida. They asked if I had my card, I did. And then they went through all purchases with me. Bank handled it very well. Good-luck!

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

Glad it sounds like it will all work out, Mike. Had the same thing happen years back, got all the cash back but it was tied up for a couple weeks...tough on a blue collar guy.

I actually have "check photo ID" written on the signature strip on all my CCs and debit cards. I get asked for ID maybe one time out of 20....I always make sure to thank the cashiers/clerks/waitresses who ask.

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

Mike, this sucks, but I'm glad you're getting it worked out.

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

I have check ID on my cards as well, but unfortunately the thieves probably do not write that on the cards they make with your information. ;)

In fact, I wouldn't doubt if the cards they make have their name on them with your number and your info on the magnetic strip. If a cashier paid attention to the name on the receipt, they'd see it didn't match the name on the card, but fat chance any cashier checks that.

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

Sorry to hear this happened Mike. Something like this happened to me back when I first got a debit card. It was for 3-4 charges at different taco bells :r Luckily that was all and I caught it right away. It all sucks though.

See technically no place should accept your card without a signature on the back. A lot of people write "see id" or something similar on the back. With that on there according to the card agreeement, it should get your card rejected due to no signature on the card. Rarely do any places check id, and we all know this. If we could get everyone to check ID no matter what that would be great. However in this time and age everyone wants their stuff now with little wait time. With that, it is easier for security to be passed to the wind. Add in the confrontational scene that people will throw at a cashier when they realize that the info doesn't match and I think that is enough for people to not want to say anything :2

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

:r:r:r That quote was hilarious

Yeah Mikey, been there, no fun, hope it all gets sorted out for you.

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

Hey! Glad I saw this. This is happening to me right now! Well sort of.

Wrote a check and sent it in the mail, someone got a hold of the envelope. Opened it, and rewrote the check for 3k. The bank showed me the copy of the check and it looked legit. Bank is doing their investigation, but they said it could take up to 10 or more days. Just crossing my fingers, because I need to get some gas! JK

I was pretty pissed off at first, but I know everything will work out, so I can't stress over it too much.

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

Sorry to hear about this. Hope this guy spends his new year with Bubba in the slammer.

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

That sucks...glad that it seems to be working intself out.

+1 another vote for some time spent with Bubba

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

I have a Sams Club Discover and they're calling me all the time verifying stuff it seems and they've locked my card several times until they confirm purchases. They've also denied a number of purchases that I've had to call and get them to approve. It's a hassle at times, but probably worth not having to go through stuff like this.

I can say with the exception of the company doing the processing for an overseas vendor, I've never had any issues.

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

Understood, David, my point was about cashiers checking IDs in general on debit and credit purchases, not about counterfeit cards. ;)

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

Bank has issued what they call a provisional credit for the money while they conduct their investigation. Can't imagine they won't find in our favor as we didn't do it.

Hopefully they resolve this completely soon.

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

:wo

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

It goes beyond people doing it manually.

Clever thieves attach devices on pay at the pump systems, ATM's, pretty much anything that takes your debit or credit card.

The devices can look fairly innocuous.

Keep your eyes peeled, only use terminals you know well. Examine a terminal before use.

Re: someone had a great christmas at my expense
 

Thanks for the link BloodSpite. I always wondered what a skimmer looked like.