Debit Card Fraud Notice
 

I was just checking the balance in my checking accounts and saw a notice at the top of the online page. It was a immediate notice for those using credit/debit cards overseas. My bank gave a list of countries that because of fraud we could not use our credit/debit. There was a list of countries and two columns noted - you could either use the credit/debit with a signature or NOT and whether you could use your card with a pin #. The countries that stuck out to me were Spain and Romania as I know ppl on this board ask questions regarding those countries. Australia as well as Asian countries were also mentioned. Just thought I would give you all a heads up.

Maybe it would be helpful for us to know which bank you use.

Whenever I'm preparing for a trip out of the country, I call my credit card company & bank (debit card) to (1) let them know when & where I'll be traveling; and (2) to check if there's anything that I need to know regarding the usage in whatever country I'll be visiting.

Hi kadurk, I have two a/c's, one with a local bank and one with a stockbrokerage co. And of course an ATM card with each. I one day, some time ago, received a letter from my stockbrokerage co. informing me that their ATM/Debit cards could NOT be used in Italy until further notice due to a high rate of fraud in Italy. The letter was dated a couple of weeks before I received the letter in the mail. I certainly was glad I was not in Italy at the time. I did receive a replacement card around two weeks later.

I always call cc companies, financial institutions where I have ATM cards etc., when I leave on a trip but in that when I go to Italy it is for a good amount of time to this day it annoys me regarding the way I was advised.

Your thread is interesting. I wonder if your financial institution will be sending out letter also.

I don't think it was necessarily my bank which is located in New Jersey but the fact that I can use any bank worldwide that takes PLUS, NYCE, STAR.
Hopefully this is a help. It will at least alert those traveling to call their banks to see if there will be a problem. I at least always call my banks prior to traveling to let them know that I will be out of the country and using my cards overseas.

kadurk, my son just informed me about his bank account (we're in Belgium) having been stripped. His debit card apparently has been copied when getting cash from an ATM machine in Spain. They were travelling with a group of eight friends and he's not the only victim.
It seems easy to copy the magnetic strip of debit/credit cards (that holds the chip and the pin). It even has a name: ATM skimming.
Here's an article I found in English language: http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/atm...?prodtype=bank

Myriam, that is frightening and annoying. Didyour son notice anything peculiar about the machine when he used it?

From what I understand, the chip can't be copied but getting the information off the magnetic stripe is done by a scanner and then they set up a camera to read the pin numbers......one of the precautions is to cover up the keypad with one's hands when punching in the pin numbers...unfortunately it's not easy to prevent given the sick pieces of garbage who inhabit our planet.

The SF Chronical had an article about this very subject some months back to warn ATM customers. They showed photographs of rigged ATM's. Interesting article WillTravel. Obviously it is not just a problem in Europe.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardian_j...845384,00.html

It's amazing how simple some of the frauds are

WillTravel, no they didn't notice anything particular. They don't even know where their card has been copied. It was one of the friends who just today noticed the theft, and who informed the other guys to check out their bank accounts. Both my son's and the one friend's copied card were (mis)used in Paris last week while the boys were at work in Antwerp. We hope the insurance will cover this misuse.

Although it is a hassle to have money stolen from an account, the bank should replace the money within a day or two. Your son shouldn't be out any money. I've had a few run ins this this sort of fraud. The first time it happened was almost 10 years ago and at that time it was a real hassle to get cleared up. The banks are pretty well versed at dealing with it by now and the process is fairly streamlined.

I just opened up the mail I received yesterday. I have a letter from my bank advising me that my ATM card is being cancelled and I need to get a replacement. I called the 800# and my balance is correct so I can only assume there has been problems with some cutomers at the bank.

for an update just today on a serious ATM scam, and sugggestions for avoiding it, see
http://p104.ezboard.com/feuropetogof...picID=45.topic

I was issued with a new visa card in March. It was my first with a chip (Canada). In July I was issued with a replacement stating that the first run with chips was faulty.

Today I read that the new electronic (chip embeded) passports are easier to falsify than the older ones and that web based phone services are prone to number hijacking. The faster technology moves on, the faster the thieves get.

My oldest son lives in LA. A couple of weeks ago he called to say that someone got his debit card #. He found out when he went to get money from his acct. He fortunately only had about $300 in his account (he is a stuggling actor/writer). Well he called the bank immediately, Washington Mutual, and they told him that the card was used to by a Southwest Airlines ticket from San Francisco to LA. He was able to find out the person whose name the ticket was in and went into myspace.com and put the persons name in and this disc jockey from SF came up stating he was going to be in LA and when. Sure hope they caught the guy. AND my son has no idea how a guy from SF got his # except fraud at the bank said ppl get these #'s and sell them. They should be these kind of ppl in jail for life, those ppl and the computer hackers.