how is this even possible?

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This morning I got a text msg from my bank asking if I had spent $33 at a fast food place on July 9th..i replied “NO” to the text and they called me immediately. I spoke to the representative in the fraud department and she said someone in France tried to use my card. Now this debit card is linked to the joint account that my husband and I have access to, but I’m pretty sure he didn’t fly down to france to eat mcdonalds last night.
The card has never been lost, and it’s always with me, and I’ve never used ti to buy anything online. so…how did this happen??? and waht do I do to prevent it from happening again?!

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Re: how is this even possible?

OH wow! Have you used it at some desi convenience store/gas station?

THis happened with TLK's card once. We had charges for $700-$800 from someone going on a shopping spree in Texas! This was a while ago and we hadn't used this card online either. Retracing our steps, we figured that the only strange place we used the card at was at a gas station. The desi dude there must've done something!

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Re: how is this even possible?

online theft may be....did u use your card on some site??

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Re: how is this even possible?

Can happen.You do not have to misplace it or use it online.You might have used it a gas station or a convenience store etc and that might have been the reason.
A few years ago I got a call from the fraud dept that there had been charges on my card in Honolulu..!I have never been there,not even in my dreams.
Then last year I tried using my credit card and it just wont go through.Next morning I got a call that they had blocked my card due to suspicious activity.There was a charge of about $1500 on it,at an Apple store in NJ.(I though maybe my husband is buying me a gift,but he wasn't...:(...!!).
Both times the cards were canceled.Also both times I had them in my wallet,had not done any online shopping...but was never able to rule out how that happened.

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Re: how is this even possible?

Hopefully it is only a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Glad that the bank caught this and no harm was done.

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Re: how is this even possible?

cards can be scanned while they are still in your wallet......no need to even take it out.

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Re: how is this even possible?

Wow. I shop online with credit cards all the time. :(

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Re: how is this even possible?

How ? Usually the wallets are bulging with thousand of cards and other items.

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Re: how is this even possible?

And so does the rest of the world. :)

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Re: how is this even possible?

Scammers are installing mini scanners at ATM card slots that reads your info when you insert the card, and a mini camera that records your PIN while you are punching the numbers. That kind of scam is pretty common.

Also, please keep your home computer clean of malwares and make sure your wifi has a security lock, especially if you shop online or pay bills online using your atm card

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Re: how is this even possible?

Really :open_mouth:

I thought ATM machines have security cameras and this can be detected during the time when such scanners are installed. You are scaring me now :-o

On a lighter note, it looks like a perfect plot of an Imran Series novel. “ATM ka aghwa” which could be a name of a novel :halo:

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Re: how is this even possible?

Its very common and called skimming.

here is info at FBI site
FBI — ATM Skimming

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Re: how is this even possible?

Goodness me :(

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Re: how is this even possible?

Only if your card is RFID enabled and there are millions of such cards in circulation, otherwise normal credit cards are not proximity cards and can not be read from distance

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Re: how is this even possible?

This happens with my CC about once a year. :smack:

As mentioned already, they don’t actually need your card. They steal the numbers and make new cards. I used to work as a cocktail waitress and dealt with this often (I imagine the same thing is happening when my card is being used by others too). When they make the new cards, often they’re made as Visa/Amx/Mastercard GIFT CARDS. So the newly made gift cards will have all the details of the account BUT no name on it. And with no-name “Gift cards”, merchants do not(can not) check ID’s. I know the place I worked at, this problem became so bad that we finally had a policy not to accept ANY cards (ie. those “gift cards”) without a name.

Thankfully Chase is VERY good about catching these fradulant charges. Whether they contact me with a suspicious charge or I contact them…I’ve ALWAYS had these charges taken off my statements. There’s no fool proof way to prevent this. Just be vigilent about checking your statements montly and report anything that’s not charged by you.

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Re: how is this even possible?

Using a credit card is haram. Haram, haram, haram!!! Urm, isn't it?

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Re: how is this even possible?

Also wanted to add, this is the main reason I do not use DEBIT cards....ever. I know people who experienced this with debit cards and it took them a while before the moeny was credited back into their account. I get paranoid about my checking account being cleaned out.

I stick to CREDIT cards....and pay it off monthly. It usually takes a short phone call and I never see the charge in my statement. I'm scared that with debit cards, it'll be more hassle and I may need to wait days/weeks to see the money back into my account.

I'm curious about this....was the $ actually taken out of your account? If so then has it been credited back already?

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Re: how is this even possible?

Never happened to us ...Knock wood!
You should be careful how you dispose of you junk mail. CC offers, statements etc are gold to identity thives..

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Re: how is this even possible?


Only if you are paying interest on its money. However, your post is irrelevant to the OP's question. She was talking about debit card.

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Re: how is this even possible?

Bank ATMs are mostly safe. I however would never use my debit card on a random ATM machine in a convenience store or something.