Calamari

Can't they locate the person who did attempt to rip you off? If there was a shipping address for merch., where was it?

Travelnut

If fraudulent charges were made, the bank will reimburse its customer and take whatever steps needed to recover its losses. Sometimes these transactions are not prosecuted but charged off instead (very expensive to investigate and prosecute).

elaine

the shipping address was within New York City, where I live myself.
I don't know if the vendor pursues a criminal investigation, probably not.

Yes, perhaps I wouldn't have been responsible for the charges, ultimately.
But in the meantime it would have come right out of my bank account, not just charged to a line of credit.

Underhill

Much the same thing happened to us several years ago. Again it was a computer, but this time the computer had been shipped to an address we knew nothing about. We had to submit a notarized statement saying that we knew nothing about the purchase, but our account was credited fairly quickly.

As far as I could tell, someone who hacked into the Bibliofind.com web site must have picked our number up there. But the card issuer wasn't very interested about the fraud aspect, which still seems odd.

elle

You will probably have to contact each of the three major credit bureaus yourself.

When you do, you may want to have them set up a temporary "Hawk Alert" on your account. This will flag any incoming requests for new credit in your name. They will automatically be denied. If you have a legitimate need for credit during this time period, you just call the bureaus and advise them of this and there will be no problem granting you credit for that specific purpose. It's a pain to do, but better safe than sorry. . .

flygirl

this makes me uncomfortable too, I don't like credit cards and prefer to pay for things straight up, but I am paranoid that some waiter will copy down my numbers and use them at will. So I have a credit card with a small limit and I use that for restaurants & hotels. store purchases and the like I am less worried about although I suppose the risk is there as well.

I did notice in Switzerland (maybe France too) they print out your entire card number as well as expiration date right on the receipt! so be careful about throwing your receipts out. they stopped doing that in the US some time ago.

Budman

I had the VISA portion of my VISA check card disabled when I went to Ireland just for this reason -- someone could steal the number and charge up my VISA portion and wipe out my checking account. You could probably get the money back, but what a hassle.

It worked, and the card cannot be used without the PIN. When I returned to the States, I forgot to enable the VISA, and when I tried to use it, the purchase was rejected.

I understand their are scams now that when you use your credit card, people with camera cell phones take a picture of your credit card numbers.

It takes a thief.

ira

>How do I notify credit reporting companies?<

To report fraud call

Equifax 1.(800) 525-6285
Experian 1 (888).397-3742
TransUnion 1 (800) 680-7289

Barbara

My B of A/ Visa ATM card has a limit for both withdrawals and spending each day. I don't see how your account could be cleaned out before either you or the bank became suspicious. Nor do I understand how someone could spend thousands of dollars with an ATM card if there are limits.

I would never use this card online or by fax,even though my bank guarantees that money taken fraudulently from my account will be replaced by the next business day.

scottvan

Underhill -- don't believe your bank. "Europe" is a big place, and our ATM-only card didn't work in Belgium a few years ago. I only found out why a few weeks ago by reading this forum. My bank is still clueless, it seems. But such cards won't work anywhere I could find in Belgium, and now apparently many Italian banks are following suit.

Happy travels!

elaine

thanks ira for the info on the credit agencies

elle

ira, you are so helpful.

One more thing I learned from experience. Your local police will probably not do anything regarding credit card fraud. Believe it or not, you need to report it to your local branch of the Secret Service. They are the agency charged with investigating credit card fraud, which surprised me, but the agents I dealt with were very nice and very reassuring.

skatterfly

I have been watching these posts lately about credit card fraud, identity theft, etc. They are very helpful and I'm almost ready to change my debit card to an ATM only card for our upcoming trip.

A few years ago we were the victims of identify theft... someone at a cell phone company most likely sold our personal information to a thief... this is usually how the big rackets work... they get some overworked, burned out clerk at a large company, doctors office, whatever to sell a big batch of names. Anyway, he ended up ordering thousands of dollars of merchandise online, opening a dozen cell phones and racking up thousands of dollars of charges... even opened up a "Zales" (low end jewelry/diamond store) with a $12000 limit. All this was in just a few short days. Luckily we weren't responsible for any of it, but it took a lot of time and effort to clear them all off our credit report and clean the matter up. My experiences with this have turned us into total privacy freaks, but also very cautious with our credit information. Even when stores ask for your personal information for a purchase or a return, I just decline. I figure there's no legit reason to add my name to another database somewhere that can get hacked or copied for foul play.

With our theft, we even had an address where the merchandise was shipped to, and both our and their local police wouldn't take action since it wasn't a big crime. Drugs and guns, they'll go after. ID theft is nothing. The irony is they ultimately caught and booked the guy on related gun charges and found our name among the many victims in his "office." What gets worse is when he was released from jail 6 months later all his files, even though they were used in a crime, went back to him and he started up again... a SECOND time! Luckily by then we had added fraud alerts to all 3 of the credit bureaus, and have since added secondary passwords to all of our banking accounts. It is simply much too easy for people to guess at or buy your personal information these days.

~kat

Sally

ttt

elaine

just fyi
I called equifax's toll free number, it was an automated system that claims to notify the other two credit reporting agencies as well, free of charge.
I added a credit alert to my data suupposedly, and got a confirmation number.

Cobos

Just to give some input how my Norwegian cards work. I've got a debit/check card with a VISA logo and and a VISA cc number on it. So this means I can use the card on the net with just the credit card number and expiry date, or I can use it locally in Norway. Locally I use the "BankAxept" logo which is a national bank cooperation system which means I can use it in all ATM's and all shops that take cards, then with a pin number as security. I swipe the card and enter my 4 digit pin code. But even though this card has a VISA logo i can NOT charge more than what is in the account, but I can withdraw that money through VISA's network.
The security system I use to secure my money is simply that my bank (which is a n internet only bank) allows me upto 10 accounts free of charge and I use one acocunt for spending money. My paycheck goes into one account without card access, my savings are in another account without card access. And I simply transfer the money instantenously between the accounts myself through the internet interface (or through a phone interface if I want), and that way if someone gets any of my cards they can steal around $100-$300 depending on how much is in my account at the moment, which is a hassle but nothing more. That way I get the freedom of easy card use and the security that theifs can't access any large amounts of money. I do have to make sure I transfer moeny from my incomning paycheck account to my spending account but I think that is also a good way to be able to control my spendings

Sindre

Kay2

I also have refused to accept a debit/ATM card for my Bank of America checking account for these reasons. I asked before my recent trip to Italy if my ATM card would work in the machines there, the teller said yes, but then telephoned my home 5 minutes later to tell me she was wrong, it had to have the Visa logo to work (my husband took the call so I don't know if this is just Italy, Europe, outside the BoA network, or what just yet).

What I do when I know I am going out of the country for a trip, I send in extra money in advance to my preferred credit card account (great customer service and good exchange rate, no conversion fee) to have a credit balance, then use my Mastercard as an ATM card. It is technically a cash advance when I use the card in a machine, but because I have a credit balance in my account, no cash advance fees are charged. I could also send enough so I can use the card for purchases as well. Or, I could use my second credit card for credit card purchases so I pay it at the end of the month as usual.

The only glitch I ran into this time is I could not pay extra online, but had to mail in a physical check in advance of my trip to Italy.

elaine

Kay2
now that sounds like a plan! No need for a separate account, no need for any additional cards, and you are withdrawing cash with no interest, and making purchases, all with the same card. The only thing I might think about is having a backup card or plan should that one card be lost--maybe I'll go back to a couple of hundred euro in trav. checks

anyone have comments on Kay2's sugggestions?

clevelandbrown

Elaine:

I set up a checking account for my ATM card, and only keep a small amount in that account. My bank allows on-line transfers between accounts, so I can replenish the checking account at any time. Transfers between accounts in my bank are immediate; transfers to accounts at other banks are said to take a couple of days, although I have noticed that some do post almost immediately.

kismetchimera

Kay2,

When you come back from your trip can you please tell us if you have encounter any problems retrieving cash with your credit card?
I am going back next year, I have regular credit cards and also an ATM card from a bank that I use solely for my travel needs.
Thanks..