Your credit card

[villarep]

My wife had a problem with a comprised credit card recently and I wonder if the e mail below is sufficient or can be improved.
:'(


A letter of suggestion

Our group of retirees returning to Florida
from a cruse, enjoyed dinner at your San Diego Sheraton Marina restaurant around 6:00 PM March 28, 2008.

Sunday April 13th we were informed my wife’s Master Charge account had been compromised at 6:00 PM by an attempted $ 485 purchase at a Virgin Atlantic store.

Our bank asked if her credit card had been out of her care and control recently which had been the case during our meal at your Marina Sheraton for some time that evening. Our group had been large and obviously out of town.

The bank said that was the probable point the card was compromised. We live in a retirement community and her card has never been out of sight the time we have had it.

Every situation should be accompanied by a suggestion.

Each credit purchase should become a small ceremony. The charge machine should be brought to the table and the transaction completed there with the card maintained in the face up position to protect the verification number on the back of the card.

Knowledgeable customers will recognize and appreciate Sheraton’s effort to protect customer’s property and the protection of the wait staff, a valuable sales tool.

Should this suggestion ever be piloted at the San Diego Sheraton, please tell the two waiters “HI”.

Sincerely,

Henry Cole

[SteveFromNY]

As a New Yorker, I'd say you were being way too nice. ;D

Seriously, what's the point? There have probably been multiple thefts from the same point of origin, and they will be hearing about it from the many credit card companies involved. Your suggestion will fall on deaf ears. The bad guys have either been fired or are laying low until they can start up again. And the machine that you want them to bring to the table is no longer in use - they swipe it into the cash register these days.

As long as you learned how you can be more careful, as long as they didn't stick you with the charge, and as long as you got the card replaced, I'd suggest just moving on.

We recently had our card compromised (not sure where, but we did use it in Sweet Bay around New Years), and I didn't even notice the first few small purchases on our statement. Finally saw a pattern, got the card replaced and the bank is returning the money. I personally wouldn't bother crafting a polite letter to the merchant.

[villages07]

Henry,

Did you use that card at Sweetbay between December and early March? If so, that could well have been your point of vulnerability. Numbers were being sold/used long after they were stolen from sweetbay.

If not Sweetbay, then yes, perhaps the hotel was the vulnerability. Very hard to prove and the credit card companies just eat the loss. Doesn't hurt to point out to the suspected vendor that this compromise occurred. I doubt they or any vendor will change their practices. Most of the CC machines are electronic and not that portable.

[Sidney Lanier]

Now that we're back up north (NYS), just today we reopened a bank account at a small, local savings bank with about seven branches all within a few miles of where we live, as the bank had to shut the account a few weeks ago when two fraudulent checks totaling about $1,000 hit the account, written out of a national bank in Des Moines, Iowa. I noticed it only because another of our accounts provided automatic overdraft protection.

We marvel at this; how on earth would anyone figure out not just our small bank's routing number (which is easy, I guess...) AND our checking account number? We can't be more vigilant!

One of our sons is a programmer working for one of the major brokerage houses in the U.S. (the world?). His sole job is to stay one step ahead of the hackers! What a world we live in....

[billethkid]

The most likely event when a card is compromised is when the card is taken to be processed when you pay your bill at a restaurant or something similar. They merely run a copy of the card.
Usually done to travelers on cruises/foreign trips where the card holder normally would not have access to the status of the charges, etc....allowing the number to be used well before discovery.
First hand experience while visiting Greece last year.

One cannot be too careful regarding prudent measures to protect your credit cards while traveling.

BTK

[Midge538]

Did you use the card at Sweetbay this fall or winter?

[bestmickey]

I wouldn't be too sure the problem was at the restaurant. Your card was possibly compromised on your cruise ship, if you used it there. As SteveFromNY said, there really isn't a need for you to even write a letter. The credit card companies/banks will investigate and correct the problem where it originates.

[jadebox]

Got a call from our cc company yesterday. They said we had three charges of $1.00 and had we made them. No way had we so they canceled that card and will send us another.

[njgranny]

I check my credit card on line every day while we're at home. When we're on vacation, I do it every chance I get.

When we went to Florida this winter for two months, I forgot to notify the credit card company. When we went to buy a computer, we were challenged (which is good). We had to call the company and tell them it was a legitimate purchase.

What a crazy world we live in.

[sandybill2]

We shopped Sweetbay numerous times during the "compromised" period. Recently traveled back to Virginia--tried to used Discover in "pay at the pump." We were denied so I called Discover and they had put a security check on our credit card. We verified our last few purchases and then no problem with them. They "reactivated" it . Feel this was probably done because of Sweetbay problem. Got a new Discover Card in mail yesterday--new number --said it was being sent because they had changed their security measures. Guess Credit cards companies are trying to keep things secure--really appreciated their checking--even if it was inconvenient while traveling.

[travelstiles]

A few links with more info on dealing with fraud and id theft:

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/
https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01
http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/idtheft.htm
http://www.usps.com/postalinspectors/idthft_ncpw.htm
http://www.idtheft.gov/
http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=136324,00.html