So, I'm the victim of debit card fraud

Everything else
1

I try to be really careful with my debit card. Other than Amazon and a cell phone company that gives me a nice discount for autopay I never tell any site to save my info. Lately I’ve tried to use Paypal where I can rather than give a site my debit card info.

Still, Saturday I got a fraud alert from Shazamm, who do that type of thing for the Visa debit card I use, asking if I’d put $500 on it at a casino in Atlantic City. My phone was on silent do I didn’t see the alert for about 10 minutes but of course I typed NO.

I then called the number and discovered someone had charged $500 and $100 at this casino on my debit card. Also about $1 at Amazon prime, I assume as a test charge. My guess is they bought chips which they could then easily convert to cash. I got in touch with my bank this morning and they said since it’s a debit card they can’t simply reverse it and put the $600 back in my account, they have to wait for it to post, then dispute the charges, etc. Arghhhh.

Now I’m in full paranoid mode. Wondering who else has what information. Of course, the card is cancelled. Oh - we are in the process of moving from that bank anyway to a new one in our new part of the country we now live in, and yesterday we placed an order to do curbside pickup from a restaurant for lunch with the debit card from our new bank, and on checkout it said not enough funds, try a different payment method. Since we had 4 figures in that checking account I kinda freaked out. Called the fraud number, they said they showed my checking account was what it should be, no unusual activity, then looked and said they didn’t see any declines (per the decline from the restaurant) and thus the restaurant’s terminal might be messed up. Tried it again with a Discover card, same error. Called it in and it went through no problem. Whew.

Now I’m in emotive paranoia mode and thinking about a theft identity protection company. Even though I doubt they would have done anything different with the casino fraudulent charges. Other than the insurance.

Arghhhh.

2

I would never, ever use a debit card at a restaurant (we never use one anyways). We were being compromised, credit card wise, every 6 months or so and since then just stopped patronizing places that don’t have a chip reader or apple pay. If we really want to eat at a place that has none of that then we use a virtual card. Haven’t had an issue since.

There are other vectors like chip readers and so on, but pretty sure restaurants were our vector for problems.

3

That is scary. I do everything through credit card. Between the points and the protections, I just don’t trust the use of my debit card, except for taking money out of an ATM.

I guess Gas and Electric are paid directly from our bank account though. I will keep an eye on it all.

4

Unless you have bad self discipline destroy your debit card and ask your bank for a pure ATM card. Use a credit card as if it was a debit card (i.e. never carry a balance). You are much better protected, you get paid to do so (usually 1-2% cash back). A debit card isn’t worth the risk your money will be put on hold, even if you do eventually get it back.

5

That’s always my nightmare. Glad you caught it when you did.

6

Most likely they got your card with a skimmer when you went to take money out at an ATM.

7

I’m periodically bemused that so much of the personal finance advice people told me about never using credit cards was ruined by cheap, criminal electronics. Thank goodness for Apple Pay and gas station apps.

8

Yeah, even though I thought I was being extra careful (I even pull on the scanners at ATMs and gas pumps to check for skimmers) I’m rethinking things. We have a couple of regular bills that won’t take a credit card for payment - for example, our mortgage requires a bank account # - but I am thinking of doing what some friends do and use a well chosen rewards card for everything and just taking the extra step to pay them immediately after using it to pay bills, Amazon, etc. Need to figure out the best rewards card.

9

I have, on two separate occasions, had my debit card info “hacked”. In both instances, though, it was through no fault or action on my own. Credit Card/Debit Card numbers follow a specific, known, sequence, and using a credit card/debit card number generator, it is fairly easy for “bad actors” to produce a valid card #. The trick is then getting the proper expiration date and, now a days, the security code.

However, when these people can literally generate millions of combinations on a daily basis, they are bound to hit on a few correct ones from time to time, and this is what happened to me, both times (At least this is what my bank told me on both occasions).

The first time I knew something was up when I received a package that I had not ordered. I called the bank, and sure enough, several fraudulent charges on my account. The second time, my card was denied for NSF when I knew I had enough money. Called the bank, and, again, bingo–fraudulent charges.

However, unlike Jeff above, in both instances the bank immediately reversed the charges and I got all my money back. I don’t recall if it was the same bank. My initial bank from when I moved to my current city was bought out by another bank, and I don’t recall if either event took place with the initial or the buy-out bank—since moved on to a different bank).

The process, for me, was relatively painless, other than the inconvenience of having to get a new card (well, minus the issue of the card being declined the 2nd time).

Tony

10

Happened to me twice. Skimmers and when it happened the last time (must have been a decade ago or more) I went to the bank and got my card replaced, and the rep there showed me her recycling bin, it was full of cut up cards. It was a 24/7 retailer, Rabba, kind of like a 7-eleven but with more groceries and with a skimmer they caught a lot of people. I got reimbursed each time, just made me a little more cautious but first time, I do remember feeling victimized. Now its more like ‘eh’, I am more cautious but its more inconvenient then costly.

11

I think we’re going to try to find the best rewards credit card for flight miles (our three adult kids all live 13 hours away) and use it for everything we can, paying the card charge immediately after purchasing or paying bills with it. No using a debit card for anything but getting cash out of an ATM (after pulling and checking for a skimmer - and we don’t get cash out very often.)

12

Chase sapphire reserve. 3 points back on travel and dining, and you can spend those points on their travel site (and during the pandemic, as direct redemption!) with a 50% bonus for an effective 4.5% back on all travel/dining purchases. Points can also be transferred to many airline miles for effective 8% or more back. Also tons of other bonuses like a $300 yearly direct travel credit. It does cost $550/yr, but you make that back really fast. Has a 60k point signup bonus, which is worth $900.