Card fraud...
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Whenever I am about to pay online, I always check if the transaction goes through a secure server (https instead of a simple http). I do not know what happened to you but this is also important. I would scan my computer for any possible malware (like keyloggers), too.
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Paypal is brilliant, I got a Paypal debit card works everywhere, stores, supermarket, gas stations, online, where ever you need it.
If they notice anything strange they will even call you to confirm the transaction, like when I flew to New York and made a $200 purchase in Manhattan,they called my cell to confirm it was me using it.
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It has happened to me and several others in my region. The pattern is always small infrequent charges against a large pool of victims, which suggests that some retail outlet- either regional or national, or the sponsor bank, or the card issuer has been compromised. The charges were logged in places 1000 miles from where I live. The matter was resolved without charges to me, and once the bank was alerted, a new card was issued. However, there was the inconvenience that the card was refused, which was what brought it to our attention, since the statement had not arrived. It appears that cards with debit features are more vulnerable.
They must be thinking if they don't keep this on the "down low" there will be mass hysteria. -
@solo said:
Paypal is brilliant, I got a Paypal debit card works everywhere, stores, supermarket, gas stations, online, where ever you need it.
Apparently Paypal cards are availabe only in the US.
@mitcorb Yeah I can imagine that it would cause hyesteria and their image would be ruined, but that is very narrow minded. That scenario is better than complete ruin when people find out that they knew what happened and didn't do anything and let them get robbed.
@gaieus said:
Whenever I am about to pay online, I always check if the transaction goes through a secure server (https instead of a simple http). I do not know what happened to you but this is also important. I would scan my computer for any possible malware (like keyloggers), too.
I check that too, https also turns green the left part of the link so it's easily noticed, but I can't remeber if there was such a thing when I did that amazon transaction. I did scan my pc here and it's free of viruses and spyware but I used the computer at my parents' house to make that transaction so...I'll do a scan when I get back there. They don't make payments online so I won't worry them for nothing.
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This happened to my folks just recently as well. They traveled to the San Francisco area, ate out and stayed at accommodations in the area for a couple of days. After they got home and within a week they had several hundred dollars charged at a gas station and two stores in an area they had never visited.
Someone at a restaurant had skimmed the card when they paid for their meal.
Luckily they were able to get the money back. But they found this out themselves, the bank hadn't called them. Had they not noticed, the charges could have continued into the thousands.
I think it's much easier to have card information stolen here in the US, the use of cards is much more prevalent than overseas. Plus, in the US it is common to have the wait staff take your card from you and it is out of sight where who knows what could happen, rather than many places I have been in Canada and Europe that bring the card reader to your table.
Glad to hear it all worked out and you were able to put a stop to the damages quickly!
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I found out on my own too, but ammounts taken each time were small and even if I had activated the setting to have sms messages sent to my phone for certain transactions I probably would have kept the default setting of approximately 45 euros so I still wouldn't have noticed.
Like you said, here they don't take your card out of sight, but there are plenty of other methods to swipe your card's info. I saw one on TV some time ago that with a modified mobile phone and some stuff attached to it you could scan a card by just keeping it near someones wallet pocket. It would be very hard to notice something like that.
@escapeartist said:
Glad to hear it all worked out and you were able to put a stop to the damages quickly!
Yeah, me too....I would be in a real pickle if I had lost most of the money.
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Good link. It appears you can't trust anything with your card anymore.
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Atm & gas station skimming seems pretty popular. Those skimmers are hard to spot and some may be installed inside the device (in case of gas pumps). Here are some examples of used skimmers that been installed outside atm http://krebsonsecurity.com/all-about-skimmers/ and one inside the gas pump http://krebsonsecurity.com/2010/07/skimmers-siphoning-card-data-at-the-pump/
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It's also a good idea to find out how your bank handles these cases. I've had this happen a few times, and the bank credited me the charges as soon as I reported them.
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They told me that they will first verify if the tranzactions were done with the security chip and with the PIN number, which they couldn't have been...unless I make dubious tranzaction in my sleep. If that was comfirmed they will try and recouperate the money. So...so far the remaining illegal tranzactions are blocked but still pending and no money has been returned to me.
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@notareal said:
Atm & gas station skimming seems pretty popular. Those skimmers are hard to spot and some may be installed inside the device (in case of gas pumps). Here are some examples of used skimmers that been installed outside atm http://krebsonsecurity.com/all-about-skimmers/ and one inside the gas pump http://krebsonsecurity.com/2010/07/skimmers-siphoning-card-data-at-the-pump/
+1 for krebsonsecurity, excellent and timely site.
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