There is a pretty good reason that I log onto my bank/insurance/investment accounts at USAA.com everyday. And yesterday this reason came to light. Some asshole actually stole and used my credit card number. When I saw the pending purchases that I know I didn’t make, I immediately knew that I became a victim of credit card fraud.
How Did I Know?
I went online at USAA.com to pay my credit card monthly transactions. When I clicked on the account, I noticed two unknown transactions that were made on the previous day. The first transaction was made at Frosty Freeze, and the other was made at Romanos Macaroni Grill. I never been to either one of those places before, and don’t even know what Frosty Freeze is. So after a quick determination that my credit card had been hacked, I checked my wallet to make sure that my credit card was still there. It was. Somehow, I concluded that someone remotely hacked my credit card.
Screen Capture from USAA
How Did It Happen?
The only transaction that I made on the 14th of March was over the phone to The College of Financial Planning in Denver, CO. I gave my credit card information to the University to pay my upcoming semester’s tuition. So, I’m guessing that someone hacked into their registrar’s telephone line to obtain my and other people’s credit card information.
What Did I Do?
It’s a good thing that USAA makes occurrences like this easy to handle. I simply clicked the link to the right of my account register that said, “Report card lost/stolen/damaged.” It took me no more than 3 screens and 3 minutes to have my credit card blocked and canceled, with a new one set to be mailed off to me.
As far as the pending charges of $43.23, I called USAA’s fraud protection and was immediately connected to a customer care representative, even at 8 p.m., when every other bank is usually closed. I was quickly told that one of my transactions was made in Texas and the another was made in California. Of course, they recognized that I was in North Carolina. Therefore, I was told that my case would be investigated and my account should be credited with the $43.23 returned in 2-3 days.
How Would You Protect Yourself?
Last year, I wrote, “Protect Yourself from Credit Card Swipers.” One of the most important take aways was, “check your accounts regularly“. Some may call my daily log-ons excessive or border line paranorma, but I like to call it convenience, and a deterrent from exacerbating situations like this. Besides, it’s now routine for me to check my accounts every time I get on the Internet. If I can check my email or Facebook everyday, why can’t I just spend a few more minutes to make sure my online accounts are in order, especially since USAA pulls in all of my account information from multiple sources such as my investment institution and other banks–USAA makes it pretty damn easy?
I also said in last year’s post to ensure that you use a credit card for questionable transactions. This is one of the main reasons why a credit card, as opposed to a debit card, should be used for over the phone transactions. If I only had $43 to my name, and that money was in my checking account, I would literally be broke until this investigation was resolved. However, with a credit card, I don’t really lose out on any money and I certain won’t have to pay any interest on the fraudulent transactions. This was the first time that my credit card was hacked, but about two years ago it happend to a friend. Her debit card was hacked and she had over $800 stolen at a time when she needed the money badly. She had to wait seven days for her money to be returned.
If You Are a Victim of Credit Card Fraud or Identity Theft
Make sure you check out all of the information provided by the Federal Trade Commision’s Identity Theft Website. We can’t entirely stop ourselves from being victims, but there are steps that we can take to minimize an occurrence. We should at a minimum, at quickly to resolve the incidents. Credit card thefts usually make a few small purchases, like the ones above, to ensure that the hacked credit card number works. After a few successful attempts, they’ll hit the card with a big purchase. Will you be prepared to lose or fight with a bank when a thousand dollars is at stake?
Have you ever been a victim of credit card theft? What was your experience at your bank?
6 Responses to Someone Stole my Credit Card Number!
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We follow your protocol, too-checking our card accounts daily (also our online banking accounts). We have arranged with our card issuers to notify us by email every time a transaction occurs so we can mentally verify its validity. Makes it hard to surprise your wife! But we have caught a few fraudulent transactions over the years and know this is essential financial management.
Wow, an email every time a transaction occurs? And you said that I was extreme with my headlight replacement. haha
No, just kidding. That’s pretty good. I think USAA gives me the ability to do the same with both emails and text messages. Perhaps I should implement this system to my own personal accounts–at least the text messages. I would have caught the transactions earlier than when I did had I used your system. Thanks, again, Peter!
I check my credit card and online banking account daily. I’ve never been a victim of credit card theft. I had the card company call me because of an unusual purchase. I had made the online purchase and I appreciated the security call to verify the purchase was made my me.
Stay vigilant, Sandra. That’s good that you haven’t become a victim. I hope that it never happens.
I have a debit card and an American Express prepaid card because I am unemployed. I cannot qualify for a credit card anyways. I do not have several thousand dollars in my account because I have no real income. I use my debit and prepaid cards online and in stores. Visa has Zero Liability identity theft protection policy with debit cards. See: http://usa.visa.com/personal/security/visa_security_program/zero_liability.html
If something happens to one card, I can use the other card. Just saying. Bye
I left the US three weeks ago on business. I flew from Florida to DFW, to Heathrow, Kuwait and then Iraq. Since I arrived in Kuwait, I have remained with US State Department and US Military control. Between my departure and today, I have had two credit cards and one checking account debt card compromised. I was immediately alerted by my regular bank and by Capital One, (the first credit card to take a hit). HSBC, although they were given notice that I was traveling abroad over specific dates, they failed to email me a fraud alert. I attempted to log into my account online to see what my upcoming payment was and I was locked out of my own account. I have very limited means of contacting the outside world from my austere and hostile environment, but no one will deal with these situations by email. I spent all of my pre-paid cellular minutes on an international call to the US, (only to speak with a very heavily accented individual) to find out that my account had been hacked in Arizona. Now I am left here with only $50 cash, one remaining credit card and one debt card and no idea at all if those numbers were compromised as well.
Capital One let me access my account online while the fraudulent charges were investigated. I was able to use information from the charges to contact the local authorities and now I have an actual surveillance photo of the person who used my card number at Wal-Mart in Woodstock, GA, to purchase $190 worth of prepaid Visa cards. I am still locked out of my HSBC account, and while I know the towns that the card was used, I am not able to extrapolate any useful information that I could pass along to authorities there.