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Is anyone familiar with how the heck people steal cards numbers these days? My DH's card was used earlier today for a shopping spree of more than $500 at a grocery store about 30 -45 min from where we live. Both of us have our debit cards in our wallets, so the actual card was not stolen.
The grocery store is a chain where we live. Thankfully the bank alerted me and we cancelled the card on time before their 2nd purchase (oh, yeah, the person tried to charge more stuff again!). Now I have to wait for the charge to be credited back! It's the end of the month, the account is almost dry.
If anyone can share any knowledge on this I will appreciate it. I would like to prevent, if at all possible, from this to happen again. We are like many who rarely carries cash and charges everything to the debit or credit card for convenience.
Turned out that me just swiping my card and putting my pin number in at walmart got my card duplicated and they were taking out money through ATMs in New York....my bank said the key to it was me putting my pin number in. They urged me to start trying to have vendors run my card as credit if at all possible
Oh, wow. Thanks for your reply. A friend had told me about this, but didn't quite understood until seeing this video you posted. I guess I will track steps and see when DH used the card last to try identify potential place where it may have been skimmed. Also, good thing I had the bank alerts in place and was able to at least stop.
If only these people would use their savvy in a constructive way...but that's just crazy talk, eh!?
This is just speculation, but last Friday we went to two restaurants that we've never been to before, once for lunch and once for dinner. Both time it was a matter of card swipe as credit (no pin number entered). It may have been where we had dinner b/c it was when the waiter took our card. The lunch place was pay at the register kind of setup.
We were traveling in Naples FL and I am prone to checking our accounts quite often. Luckily I checked our credit card online and found $1800 worth of charges not made by us. I immediately called and had card cancelled. The three purchases were all made by manual entry, which means they were probably called in. Thankfully we weren't responsible for the charges. Now I personally take the card to the cashier at a restaurant rather than have the waiter/waitress do it. I have become paranoid because of this.
This is just speculation, but last Friday we went to two restaurants that we've never been to before, once for lunch and once for dinner. Both time it was a matter of card swipe as credit (no pin number entered). It may have been where we had dinner b/c it was when the waiter took our card. The lunch place was pay at the register kind of setup.
I've heard more and more about this, stopped using the Debit card at restaurants - use a regular credit card.
in my instance as well - i do not use my debit card very often so it was pretty easy to pinpoint the source -- but there was over a month turn around between me swiping the card and then money being taken from my account
I don't think anyone can do a really big purchase without pin #. Most stores have set up a max and usually that's $20 or so.
But there is an easy way to steal CC# AND the three number code from the back, when you leave the card at a gas station as deposit, or when you give someone the card to "walk away" with it - like waitstaff at the restaurant.
Credit card skimming at restaurants and other retail establishments is a major contributor to credit card fraud and identity theft.
I really cannot understand why restaurants don't use pay-at-the-table portable credit cards readers for wait staff, so they can finish the transaction at the table. In many other countries you never leave your card to anyone and always keep it in sight. This is going on for years already.
I heard that "ON THE SPOT" is now in use at nearly 50 restaurants nationwide, and is expected to see expansion in the coming years.
It should be introduced to the retail years ago...
I have yet to figure out why anyone would use a debit card. If there a problem your money is gone and you have to get it back from the bank. If you use a credit card, its the bank's money thats gone. You need to report the issue to the bank, but your cash is not missing... the banks is.
I've heard more and more about this, stopped using the Debit card at restaurants - use a regular credit card.
If card has Visa on face you can use card as credit been doing it this way for many years.I do not let waiter have it.
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restaurants nationwide, and is expected to see expansion in the coming years. 
