[Advogado]

Just got a call from VISA that our card had been cloned, used in places as diverse as Minnesota and Milan, Italy, and had, therefore, been canceled.

The usual scam is that a waiter in a restaurant, which is about the only place where you don't keep control of your card, runs it through a small device that records the data on the magnetic strip. We haven't used that credit card recently in any restaurants outside The Villages area.

Just curious as to whether anybody else has had a similar problem.

[LittleDog]

The less I use my card the better. In restaurants I pay in cash.

John

[jackz]

Originally Posted by Advogado

Just got a call from VISA that our card had been cloned, used in places as diverse as Minnesota and Milan, Italy, and had, therefore, been canceled.

The usual scam is that a waiter in a restaurant, which is about the only place where you don't keep control of your card, runs it through a small device that records the data on the magnetic strip. We haven't used that credit card recently in any restaurants outside The Villages area.

Just curious as to whether anybody else has had a similar problem.

Unfortunately this is a pretty common occurence when traveling overseas. I have had this occur in Rome, Vienna and Bangkok over the years.

Best advice when traveling is to only use one card and to go online daily to monitor that all charges are legitimate. Once you see unauthorized charges start to show up you can call and have the card cancelled. You will not be responsible for those charges and can then begin to use a different card while you await replacement of the compromised card.

[natickdan]

It happened to me and I was surprised to learn that my credit card was completely cloned, to include an exact duplicate of my name, account number and security code with magnetic strip.

My son is an IT security professional and he told me this is a much bigger problem than most people realize. There are black market web sites where our credit card information can be purchased for very little money. Once the thieves have this information, they can create a counterfeit credit card that is identical to the one in your pocket. Fortunately, for me, after several fraudulent charges, Visa flagged the charges as suspicious because they occurred in Detroit where I had never been.

In many cases these charges are authorized, so the lesson here is to make certain you monitor your credit card statements.

[VillagesFlorida]

Originally Posted by jrheydt

The less I use my card the better. In restaurants I pay in cash.

John

We do the same. Until the day when we can see the credit card transaction done at our table we will continue to pay with cash. Still, we are not safe. There are so many ways that thieves can get our information. All we can do is limit the exposure and monitor our statements

[jblum315]

Heard from AARP that the latest scam isn't restaurants but gas pumps, where thieves install a device that copies your card.

[jackz]

Originally Posted by jblum315

Heard from AARP that the latest scam isn't restaurants but gas pumps, where thieves install a device that copies your card.

The device you refer to can also be installed at ATM machines. To protect yourself from this it is best to try and utilize an ATM machine that is located inside of a bank or store and not in a remote area or an ATM not associated with a bank such as ones found in bars, nightclubs etc; Again, with the age of instant access to our accounts online, it pays to monitor your atm and credit cards frequently.

[logdog]

My card was used to buy gas in Chicago a couple of months ago. Our credit card company called us here in TV to verify the purchase. When we told them that we've never been to Chicago, they cancelled our card and issued a new one. Bit of a hassle since we use our card a lot for automatic payments.

[buckscounty]

Yes, I know it was taken at Havana CC, 2 cards were actually taken out of my pocketbook...

[Carol K]

Originally Posted by Advogado

Just got a call from VISA that our card had been cloned, used in places as diverse as Minnesota and Milan, Italy, and had, therefore, been canceled.

The usual scam is that a waiter in a restaurant, which is about the only place where you don't keep control of your card, runs it through a small device that records the data on the magnetic strip. We haven't used that credit card recently in any restaurants outside The Villages area.

Just curious as to whether anybody else has had a similar problem.

We had it happen twice, but both times the credit card company caught it because the charges were not our usual pattern. Both times they were phone purchases which we never make. We were also told it is an ongoing problem. I must say we do use our charge card often because it is convenient.

[Bill-n-Brillo]

The credit card companies have entire pieces of their businesses devoted to credit card fraud - tracking, preventing, and resolving. As good a job as they do, it never seems like it's enough, though!

We've got 2 credit cards, with Citi. Each and every time we go out of town on a trip, we call their 800 number to notify them that we'll be traveling. They want to know the start and end dates as well as the states where we'll be using the card. If we don't call them in advance regarding our plans, they will (and HAVE) unceremoniously shut our card off when they start seeing out of state purchases for things like gasoline, etc. which indicates local use of the card there. Arguable downside of notifying them of our trip is the potential that some unscrupulous person on the other end of the phone could use the info to their advantage - and we could come home to find the place pilfered. (But good luck getting past the security system! ) It's a risk we're willing to take, though. Helps us feel good that Citi's paying a good amount of attention to preventing fraud.

Closing point: If you do have a number of auto payments go through your credit card account, consider getting a different card/account that you use for most of your other purchases. That way if your frequently used card gets compromised, your auto payments and the other card aren't affected. Just a thought.

Bill

[jackz]

This is an excellent article on this subject.


http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-bud...a-michaels-wsj

[ladylake1]

B and B - what a great idea to use cc's for automatic payments and another for other purchases. Makes a lot of sense. Wish I'd have thunk of that!!

[Bill-n-Brillo]

Originally Posted by ladylake1

B and B - what a great idea to use cc's for automatic payments and another for other purchases. Makes a lot of sense. Wish I'd have thunk of that!!

Thanks - I think that's part of why Sandy still keeps me around..............

Bill