My credit card info was

Originally Posted by KittenKiya

If there is any consolation here, because you are disputing the charges and they can see that you did not charge them, you will NOT be liable for the amounts of money. Of course, they never reimburse you for the embarassment or the work YOU have to do to straighten it out.

Mad at thieves headbuts and don't pick on my TCS friends licks from KittenKiya's Clan

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Thank you!!!
I am hoping that I won't have to pay the charges.
DH wasn't as upset about it as I thought he would be.
He said "Hon, it's not your fault--don't worry about it".
Natalie, I am looking at the sites that you provided and WILL be using them.Thanks soooooooooooooooooooo much.

That sucks. I would have been embarrassed too. I purchase things online all the time and have never had my info stolen. Mose sites have safe guards against that sort of thing. Are you sure the info was stollen online? There are many other ways it can be done.

Yes, I am!!! I called 2 of the companys and 1 is through Classmates.com.They said that I authorized some $10.00 charges on an ISP that I haven't had in over 3 months.
The other one is Yahoo and she said that someone got my ISP/credit info and made a few authorizations on my behalf.
BOTH companys said they sent an e-mail to a e-mail addy that I do NOT have and haven't had for over 3 months now.

Originally Posted by crittermom

Yes, I am!!! I called 2 of the companys and 1 is through Classmates.com.They said that I authorized some $10.00 charges on an ISP that I haven't had in over 3 months.
The other one is Yahoo and she said that someone got my ISP/credit info and made a few authorizations on my behalf.
BOTH companys said they sent an e-mail to a e-mail addy that I do NOT have and haven't had for over 3 months now.

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Are you sure your account at the previous ISP was correctly canceled? Were you using the credit card number that was stolen to pay your monthly charges to that ISP? Is it possible that an employee at the ISP stole your information and just waited a while after you canceled your account to use it? If you were told that the companies sent email to the old address and it wasn't returned to them the address may still be active. You may want to call the old ISP and make sure your account is really canceled. I'm just trying to think of possibilities. Good luck.

If they also had your email, it does sound like it would be an employee of a company you used or a virus/hack/spyware problem

Do you have a visa card? Their verified by Visa programme has helped us catch someone using a stolen card at work - the owner of the card hadn't realised it was stolen as he was away and not using it or checking his bills - and the 'friend' they had watch the house 'borrowed' the card and authorised us putting $1700 on it!

Originally Posted by Jean44

Are you sure your account at the previous ISP was correctly canceled? Were you using the credit card number that was stolen to pay your monthly charges to that ISP? Is it possible that an employee at the ISP stole your information and just waited a while after you canceled your account to use it? If you were told that the companies sent email to the old address and it wasn't returned to them the address may still be active. You may want to call the old ISP and make sure your account is really canceled. I'm just trying to think of possibilities. Good luck.

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Cause contrary to popular belief, your credit card is still safer online then in the physical world.

I.e.: My professor told us a story of when he was on the train to Chicago. This woman behind him decided to call a limo service about an hour before they arrived at the train station. The woman reserved the limo using a credit card. She had to give 1)The credit card number 2)Expiration 3) the CID number (that 3 digit #).
My professor wrote all of it down and was going to approach the lady concerning the lack of safety she took to protect her credit card. But then I guess she got obnoxiuos and he decided she deserved what she got.

Second way of losing your credit card is internal theft from a company. Have you ever worked in a store and looked at the gigantic roll on the register? The one you accumulate all day? I could have a field day with that!! One look at that and you suddenly have the list of all credit numbers from sales that day (at least this was 4 years ago).

Or how much do you trust your mail carrier? We had an incident last Christmas where a couple of postal workers were arrested for opening up envelopes and taking gift certificates out. Imagine those that see bills going through for credit card or even bank information. If gift cards were easily obtainable, then why not credit cards.

To sum up, the only way someone can steal your identity from the internet is if you order from a site without SSL technology (look for the https:// in the address when you're inputting CC information. If its there, no one can crack it (at least not until the 22 century).

Or how much do you trust your server at a restaraunt when you give them your credit card? I've read so many incidents about CC theft from restaraunts that I try to pay with cash now.

Trojans would be the only other ones I would be concerned with, but not worried about. Viruses and Spyware do not steal credit card information. They're not programmed to. Spyware is programmed to create Adware (the pop-up windows). Viruses are just there to take out a program or OS.
Trojans do key log, BUT the keylog created from what you type on the keyboard is based on your typing styling, so if you randomly pause like me:

hello myn amei slunasm o m

So since its broken its hard to go through and figure out what the person really was typing.

Oh and as for your theft, the other lady was right, you won't be held responsible...especially since you caught it right away. If its VISA or Mastercard, you're covered. AMEX and Discover have their own safety preventions too.

As for the thief, unless he knew your address, if he ordered anything that is being shipping , well just plain stupid of him. If you file a police report, they can look into the theft a little more.

That really sucks. It makes me so mad at the people who steal from others. Your bank sounds like it is doing everything it can to help you get things starightened out. I would rather be embarrassed than in debt due to someone else steal my bank info.

I had a message on my answering machine beginning of Sept from my CC company. I called and they asked if I had made a large purchase today-I said no and called DH just to check (also a no). Turns out that someone in NTC had our CC# and attempted to buy a large electronic item at a large electronics store. This call to me was 40 minutes after the purchase attempt. They cancelled the card and gave us a new one. This after the same CC was cancelled May 2005 as it was one of the stolen CC#'s when DSW's database was hacked. Our CC company acts pretty fast!!
I don't think you should be responsible for those items either.

My old ISP is through my phone company.There haven't been any interent charges,so yes it's been closed.
It's a Visa card that the info was stolen on.

Are you sure your account at the previous ISP was correctly canceled? Were you using the credit card number that was stolen to pay your monthly charges to that ISP? Is it possible that an employee at the ISP stole your information and just waited a while after you canceled your account to use it? If you were told that the companies sent email to the old address and it wasn't returned to them the address may still be active. You may want to call the old ISP and make sure your account is really canceled. I'm just trying to think of possibilities. Good luck.

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Yes, I was paying for that ISP with the stolen credit card!!! OMG!!!
Yes, the rewards company said that they had sent an e-mail to my old addy and that it WAS authorized.I did NOT authorize it and neither did DH. I do know for a fact that it was still open for a few days I closed my account with them as I could still access my e-mail and was still getting e-mails at that addy.
So, I guess I will call my phone company tomm. and double make sure it is cancelled now.


The stupidest thing about ALL of this is, it was for a charge of $1 here and a $1 there and then a couple $10.00 charges that got it red flagged.It wasn't for the $1000.00 charge that I made.But, they did put a hold on that payment until they talked to me to verfiy that I DID authorize that one.

I am just so leary of buying anything VIA internet now though.
THANK you all for your helpful info!!

Originally Posted by crittermom

The stupidest thing about ALL of this is, it was for a charge of $1 here and a $1 there and then a couple $10.00 charges that got it red flagged.It wasn't for the $1000.00 charge that I made.But, they did put a hold on that payment until they talked to me to verfiy that I DID authorize that one.

I am just so leary of buying anything VIA internet now though.
THANK you all for your helpful info!!

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The reason that these small charges raise the red flag is because that is how crooks determine the card is still good.

Most of the big identity thefts have happened outside of internet sites. So educate yourself on how to evaluate a site. Be careful of giving your card information out in public over a cell phone (amazing how many people are totally oblivious that others can hear every word).

Yeah, I have learned a BIG lesson!!!
The woman at the bank said the same thing you did.They charge a $1 here and a $1 there and realize it's a good card and will run off as many charges as they can.
I can honestly say, I did NOT know about the http: thing.

After the dust settles down, make sure that on your statement, that you are not being charged. Sometimes banks and others will tell you thing and do another.

A lesson I learned from a wireless service that will remain nameless for the time being. Had a two year contract. 1 and 1/2 years into the contract I noticed that my payment had not been credited as it should have been. Called the service. They said "Oh, you have been using the wrong account number and for the past year and half, we have had to manually pull you account to credit it." I apologized profusely, asked the account number and immediately went to my bill pay at my bank online and changed the information.

The service told me that they did NOT have the check. I know they did. But, to play the game, I called the bank, they put a stop payment on the first check, issued another check which the service got within 1 day. I know because I called and asked.

Then I get a notice that I have a late fee. What the hell is this? I called the service back and they had the nerve to tell me that MY check bounced. See, they told me they didn't have the first check and then tried to cash it and the second check too.

I told the company to go pound sand and fortunately that is the last I have heard from them. This took two weeks, five phone calls from me and one 90 minute conference call with the bank, the service and myself. I have never seen anything like this.

Please check your statements and your balances as well as your pending authoriztions. If you can do this online, that is good. Most of their sites are SSL encrypted. On those sites, you are secure.

I'm so sorry, Tammy.

I'm sorry you're having a hard time with the company!!!!
I will be keeping a close eye on my statements and if I am charged,I will call whoever I need to and get it taken care of.
This just stinks because Christmas is right around the corner and I did alot of my shopping with that card.Now, I have to wait for a new one and God only knows how long that will take.

Originally Posted by Miagi's_Mommy

I'm so sorry, Tammy.

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Thank you!!!!

I just read this and feel terrible for you. It is a horrible feelign and you just feel so violated.

I went through a lot of the same stuff when my wallet was stolen at school. Ugh. Not fun.

If it makes you feel any better, when a card is denied, we (cashiers) do not have anything that tells us why. Sometimes it just says Not Valid, or Denied, but most do not give it a second thought and just ask to try one more time, and then ask if they want to try with a different payment, or combined types of tender. We (at the store I've worked at for a few years) were taught to practice disrection, and to be nice, because you never know what could possible be going on. A lot of people even have had some sort of problem with paying with cards (debit, credit, whatever) because of bank errors, suspicious activity, or downtime/problems, say, in our automatic card readers (sometimes you have to ask the cashier to swipe the card themselves on the actual register).

Also, we do not keep numbers of credit cards, everything ends with the last four numbers, and not one person in the store has access to it. It goes automatically via computer to the bank, and we have a little slip that just proves the card was used (with date, time, store number, stuff like that pertaining to the store) that is taken to the bank (but no information is on there that could be used to steal card numbers or info). Hope that eases your mind a little bit. I know I was petrified to buy anything when I got my new accounts (my SSN and checking account had been used) and cards, and still have a hard time trusting people.

I hope everything get taken care of, and you can enjoy thanksgiving stress-free

Originally Posted by Marishka

I just read this and feel terrible for you. It is a horrible feelign and you just feel so violated.

I went through a lot of the same stuff when my wallet was stolen at school. Ugh. Not fun.

If it makes you feel any better, when a card is denied, we (cashiers) do not have anything that tells us why. Sometimes it just says Not Valid, or Denied, but most do not give it a second thought and just ask to try one more time, and then ask if they want to try with a different payment, or combined types of tender. We (at the store I've worked at for a few years) were taught to practice disrection, and to be nice, because you never know what could possible be going on. A lot of people even have had some sort of problem with paying with cards (debit, credit, whatever) because of bank errors, suspicious activity, or downtime/problems, say, in our automatic card readers (sometimes you have to ask the cashier to swipe the card themselves on the actual register).

Also, we do not keep numbers of credit cards, everything ends with the last four numbers, and not one person in the store has access to it. It goes automatically via computer to the bank, and we have a little slip that just proves the card was used (with date, time, store number, stuff like that pertaining to the store) that is taken to the bank (but no information is on there that could be used to steal card numbers or info). Hope that eases your mind a little bit. I know I was petrified to buy anything when I got my new accounts (my SSN and checking account had been used) and cards, and still have a hard time trusting people.

I hope everything get taken care of, and you can enjoy thanksgiving stress-free

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Thank you!

Thanks EVERYONE for the vibes, and info.

yep i have a card that is only used for the net, has a very low limit(2,000)
so even if that card numbers get stolen they really cant run it up.

This is a Visa bank card.So, if I don't have the money in my checking account,then they can't buy something and it be cleared.It would be denied for lack of funds.
I am going to be soooooooooooooo careful now!!!

Kinda happened to me before. My card kept getting denied so I went to an ATM and the machine ate my card! My bank said someone had stolen a lot of info. somehow and my card was on that list so they had to issue me a new one. Didn't get my info stolen directly I guess but kinda.