Credit Card Theft: Addendum

[nockergeek]

Just got off the phone with our bank's security division.

The Bad News:
- The first three fraudulent transactions to hit our account ($318, $97, and $45, roughly) did get approved before the account was disabled/watched, so those will hit our checking account.

The Good News:
- An investigator is being assigned to our account tomorrow.
- Those transactions will be fully refunded, along with any resulting fees (including overdrafts, if those take place). Just have to sign an affidavit and send it back in.
- Our debit/ATM functionality is still in place, and not compromised. It won't be shut off until the new card(s) are activated and take its place.
- Our checking account is uncompromised, so I can write checks in safety.

The bank suggested that the magnetic stripe information off of our card might have been captured. I'm wondering if it happened locally, or if it happened on one of our recent trips...

Comments

[the-z.livejournal.com]

Suppose we should travel with more cash on us?

[nockergeek.livejournal.com]

Probably not a bad idea. We've become a bit more dependant on the debit card than we likely should be. Normally, on the smaller trips, we run off of cash, but larger ones tend to be card-based.

As far as for local usage, not sure what to do, or if we keep doing the same thing as always.

[katzchen.livejournal.com]

Honestly, cash might not be a bad idea, or even traveller's checks. I've been considering that for myself if I ever have enough money to travel again.

Magnetic stripe data capture?

[(Anonymous)]

Hey, son--did the bank offer an idea how the stripe info could have been captured? There are only two ways that sort of thing could have happened that I can think of. One is that someone was sniffing the datastream from a card reader in a store and storing it on their PC. Or--have you used the card recently on an ATM? There are accounts of ATMs being compromised with a fake card reader device that overlays the actual mechanism, thus giving the thieves the info even as you use the ATM. Some of the more astute thieves even have webcams set up to capture your PIN info as well.

I'm looking forward to the newer class of credit/debit cards, those that don't have the magnetic stripe but instead have RFID chips, where you'll just wave the card in the air near the transceiver to activate your purchase. Someone will be out in the parking lot with a Yagi directional antenna getting all the good intel....