What happened to my money?

[hey_moe]

Yesterday morning I looked into our on line account and noticed we only had 22.35 in it. What da hell. Before viewing our account I transferred three grand from our savings to cover anything that we had going out. I noticed our account was used at a military BX in Texas. I asked Linda did she buy anything on line or order anything she said no. It seems her debit card got hacked somewhere. When she went in yesterday she had the bank open an investigation to see what happened which takes a couple of weeks. In the mean time the bank credited out account for the missing money. It seems that both Linda and I both use our debit card for just about everything, which also can be used a a credit card too. The banks fraud dept was saying this is bad to use a debit card because you have to use your pin number and at gas stations,banks..ect..ect, any ATM machines they have found scanners that can track your account and get your account and pin number. I hope the person or persons that hacked into our account at that BX get caught which should be a pretty good chance because Linda found out that at that BX they have video cameras inside and outside the business. The pisser about the whole thing wasn't the money as much as having to get a new account and new debit cards. I have auto payment for just about everything and now have to go in and change all the accounts including PP,ect..ect. The bank fraud dept. also suggested we change all of our password for all of our accounts..ect..ect. They also suggested we should have already been in the habit changing our passwords once a month to prevent things like this. We also have Lifelock which also suggested this too.The banks fraud dept said they should be able to track where her card was hacked but take a few weeks. How it ended up in Texas is beyond me.:isadizzy:

[TuFun]

Talking to a friend yesterday and his bank account was hacked over the weekend. My friend checks his account daily too. Took $400 and someone bought stuff in Canada and California.

[Crusader]

Sorry to here about your perdicament Moe . Susie(Mrs Crusader)and I about three years or so ago got rid of all of out credit cards with the exception of Sears , Lowes , Home depot and our bank debit card , which by the way we both use quite freguently . On Line purchases , and all of our utilities with the exception of the water bill which our little town doesn't have such a service .
Needless to say we were a little reluctant to purchase a yearly security service but decided to go with LifeLock which was actually mentioned here at SOH . I'm sure there are many other similar services just as good or better but we have been very satisfied with their services . I think they got into a little trouble a few years ago over adversing or something . It is currently $198/year but we think it's a good investment . Just as an example , I applied for a new(first time) Home Depot card and I got a call from Lifelock because they flagged it and I had to answer a series of security questions then all was okay .

Hope everything turns out ok ! I'm sure others here will jump in and offer some suggestions .

Rich

[modelr]

I have had my debit card hacked twice. My bank only takes hours to follow up on it, (a local bank, not a national one.) I had to get new debit cards each time, but all was covered. I also notified the companies the hacker spent used my card at, and they immediately canceled all purchases. Those that had been shipped already came to me!!! The hacker couldn't change the shipping address! So, I was told to send back two items, and was told I could keep two! Free! I now do business with one of them. All money was returned. I also check mine daily, now.

[aeromed202]

Fake card skimmers are on the rise as well as other handy technology. ATM in a secure foyer? No problem, the fake skimmer is attached over the real one at the door so it gets your info as you walk in. Then a pinhole camera set by the key pad to get your pin cause you wouldn't shield the pad there right? These guys are more efficient than the bank. We use auto pay too but it's probably just a matter of time until that option gets hosed as well. At least our credit union has been very easy to deal with over the years, much more helpful that the Bank(s) we finally left. Interesting about the pin/debit card thing. I guess a pin is only some insurance against physical theft of the card. Some local gas pumps now want a zip code which I thought was a reasonable barrier to theft, but not anymore. Where's my money sock?

Some general tips here...
http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/more-on-spotting-a-t-m-skimmers/

A blog highlighting what is available to buy as fake...
http://krebsonsecurity.com/2010/06/atm-skimmers-separating-cruft-from-craft/

And one last one...
http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/july/atm_071411

[brad kaste]

Moe,
I'm very old school when it comes to purchasing items. I use cash almost all the time. When needed,...I go to my bank's ATM withdrawal room and take out a set amount which will last me a few weeks. Cash always works,...even though less and less people pay that way today. When it comes to paying bills though,...I go through my bank's electronic transfer of funds system. (Amounts can be taken out of either your checking or savings account. I have it taken from checking account) Works great. Quick,...easy,... and saves on a stamp. Probably one of the reasons why the US Postal Service is hurting today.

[pfflyers]

A while back a couple buddies of mine had their debit cards hacked, made me a little paranoid so I opened a special checking account just for my debit card. I keep just enough in it to cover expected expenses. So even if I do get hacked I would only lose a couple hundred bucks, which I'd surely miss right away so I could alert the bank to the fraud.

[Tako_Kichi]

There is another scam out there now that involves the new cards that have radio antennas built into them (RFID technology).

Read the article below and then watch the video.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2010/05/31/f-rfid-credit-cards-security-concerns.html#

<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rf7dnDS2R9o?rel=0" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>

Be careful with your cards, the bastages are everywhere!

[Lionheart]

This is scary news. :S

Glad they recovered your funds, Mike. Very nice of them. I hope they find the thief and shut them down.


Bill

[aircav1970]

We have had a rash of card skimmers working the gas pumps at places like Circle K and that type of gas station for the past 6 months locally here in Mesa.I pay cash now anytime I run into an outdoor pay station just to try and keep this threat to a minimum but even that won't stop the thieves from getting a shot at your money all the time.

[Kevin Derby]

Moe....If you have not allready done so, I urge you to go to you local Police and make a Crime Report of Idenity theft. Also contact the three major credit agencys to put alerts on your files. I went thru this in 2001 in the earler days ID theft.:salute:

[glh]

Moe,
I'm very old school when it comes to purchasing items. I use cash almost all the time. When needed,...I go to my bank's ATM withdrawal room and take out a set amount which will last me a few weeks. Cash always works,...even though less and less people pay that way today. When it comes to paying bills though,...I go through my bank's electronic transfer of funds system. (Amounts can be taken out of either your checking or savings account. I have it taken from checking account) Works great. Quick,...easy,... and saves on a stamp. Probably one of the reasons why the US Postal Service is hurting today.


I do exactly the same thing as Brad. The ONLY use I have for my debit card is to withdraw cash from an ATM. And I look for add-on scanners and cameras. If I charge anything, it is on a credit card that has insurance against this sort of activity. With a debit card, the hassle to get illegla activity straightened out is a major hassle that I want to avoid.

[SSI01]

The wife markets LegalShield which among other services provides ID theft protection through Kroll Services. We've used it for several years with excellent results. We've opened a few cards since getting the service and they've called us to confirm it really was us opening the card, just as described for Lifelock. Once or twice we've been on trips with the cards and used them in areas we normally don't; within an hour or so of the use of the card, we got a call on the cell phone from Kroll asking about whether that really was us using the card "out of area." Re: the safeguarding of your data - if you use the debit card for just about everything, you're making yourself more vulnerable but in many cases it's "what's the difference," no matter what system you're using you can be hacked. Using a metal wallet helps protect those RFID cards, I use one & it works. If you use the card as a credit card, always ask for the copies of the receipts back from the business. They'll keep one for their records, which they have to do, but if you ask for any other copies back it's serving notice on whoever's using the scanning device you'll be watching so they are less likely to use your info. Not many folks do this, so it generates interest on the part of the person who's waiting on you, believe me. Another thing I do is always sign my card(s), but leave space to write in next to my name "ask for ID." Most clerks again don't look at the back of the card, which they should do, but about 10% of them do and I get comments about this all the time from them.

[Rami]

Hey_Moe,

Get on top of this fast...I had my checking account hacked when I was transferring money via Western Union. It can happen to anyone at any time. The best of luck catching the son of a bastich.

[n4gix]

I have my accounts at Chase. Most of my money is kept in savings, with a limit of $1,000 for the checking/debit account. Anytime the checking account goes over the limit, the excess is transferred to savings automatically.

I also have an alert set up that will send a text message for any amount over $100. I must reply to the text message within one hour with an "Okay" otherwise my account will be locked for further debit card access automatically.

[Gdavis101]

Some years back I had a business, kept two different accounts. One was for payroll and the other was just for general use, on one find day I went and I deposited some money and transferred 4000 to my payroll account to cover the weekly payroll and shortly after issuing the checks to my employees I had an employee come back and tell me the bank said my account was overdrawn. Immediately, I called the bank and got attitude and was told that if I did not have proof that I made the deposit and transferred the cash I was SOL. I told him I have the receipt their teller gave me and a copy of the deposit slip I had made out prior to going to the bank, the bank managers attitude immediately changed. I faxed him over the copies and got a call back, telling me that they would cover any and all checks going through the account until they could find the problem. The problem turned out to be the teller, she had apparently cashed out my deposit and my account.. Never saw her there again!

There are crooks everywhere!

[hey_moe]

What really bothered me today at the bank after signing all this legal BS I asked the person in charge of their fraud dept how this amount of money could have been taking out of our account in another state without the bank alerting us. It wouldn't bother me if it was a couple hundred bucks. Total debit on Sunday was 5 hits at the tune of 3093.11. All charges went through with no questions asked. When Linda and I travel out of state when we charge a hundred bucks a couple of times the banks credit card company locks down our account until we let them know it is us and we are on vacation out of state. That part is normal practice for any bank when they see out of state charges.Lifelock works fine on ID theft, but what happened to Linda wasn't ID theft but debit card theft.

[Kevin Derby]

Did the person who used the card use your social security number? or any other numbers or passwords that are assigned to function the transaction?.....my Social security number was used to change personal info on my bank accounts (street addresses) , the bought airplane tickets, a computer and shipped it to the altered address and what got it all stopped was when they tryed to use my debit card number to buy camera equipment over the phone from an Oregon store. The debit card issuer called me to see if I was doing the transaction.....that was August 2001. Using the social security number made it a Federal crime. In September 2001 I was going to report it to the FBI. I never got it done. I figured we all had a bigger problem than my little ID theft.....:salute:

[dmaloof]

Yep, was hit last year while unemployed. Looking for work and the job was fake and ended up reporting to the FBI as I was being used to move money around. My bank summoned me and told I was a victim of scam or fraud. had to open new accounts and debit cards. Luckily, the bank worked with me as a longtime customer. beware! they prey on unemployed folk too.

[hey_moe]

The only thing we know so far was the money was charged to our account. Only time will tell.
Did the person who used the card use your social security number? or any other numbers or passwords that are assigned to function the transaction?.....my Social security number was used to change personal info on my bank accounts (street addresses) , the bought airplane tickets, a computer and shipped it to the altered address and what got it all stopped was when they tryed to use my debit card number to buy camera equipment over the phone from an Oregon store. The debit card issuer called me to see if I was doing the transaction.....that was August 2001. Using the social security number made it a Federal crime. In September 2001 I was going to report it to the FBI. I never got it done. I figured we all had a bigger problem than my little ID theft.....:salute: