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Thieves don't need your pin number. They can use your card as a credit card just the way you do. And, if you use the card to pay at a restaurant, or purchase online, or by internet, your 3-digit security code on the back of your card will be used by the thieves. This happened to me this past week.
My card is still in my possession, albeit useless now. Never, never use your debit card to purchase something online or over the phone.
The problem is, once the thieves have gained a preauthorization for a fraudulent purchase, the bank will place a hold on those funds, and you cannot get your money. The hold is usually 3 days. There were two big charges on my account, on hold, nearly emptying the account. It was a holiday weekend. Wouldn't have mattered if it was Monday morning, because my bank told me they will NOT stop the preauthorized charge from processing -- said MasterCard and Visa prohibit them from doing this. They have to let the charge go through, and THEN they will investigate, blah blah.
So, the 3-day hold expired, and neither purchase had been paid. I went to the bank and took out the money, once the holds were released. Then, one of the charges, for tires in South Africa, came in, and the bank paid it even though I did not have the funds to do so. So right now my balance is nearly $300 in the red.
I believe the debit card is becoming useless. And checks are pretty much useless, too. If you hand the cashier at WalMart a check, they immediately process it as an EFT, and hand you the check back. They basically just used your check as a paper debit card.
My debit card number, along with around 1,000 people, were stolen two years ago in a small town here. A gang from Europe used a skimmer at a local market and gas station. Thankfully my bank caught my card number being used in England and called me. Card was cancelled immediately. I've been told by federal investigators, EVERYONE'S credit and debit card numbers have been compromised. EVERYONE. It's just a matter of time until they use yours.
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.
Some people can't get a credit card...or can't get a credit card worth having.
my debit card got stolen i live in australia and i have no idea how and it wasn't stolen from atm it was like used to buy from stores i informed the bank and there now investigating but they still havn't replied (been almost 2 months) and now were gonna go investigate does anyone here actually now how the banks investigate? (im just scared that the bank will say that they wont give back the money :/ )
My solution? Never leave home carrying a debit card! All of my purchases go on a credit card, which, in turn, is paid in full at the end of every month. Designate one credit card and pretend it is a debit card, then pay it off every month. That way, your bank account balance is mot at risk!
My debit card # has been stolen, twice now! The 2nd time I was very careful about keeping the card in my possession so can someone tell me how the hell someone could've found my card # again???
It could've been those card readers that "swipe" the card from your wallet. Last Oct our credit card was compromised...someone took the number and swiped the card (not stolen from our wallets) a few states away. I purchased RFID envelopes for my cards. You can also find RFID wallets (Travelon is one company that makes them).
Often time, debit card compromises don't occur from a physical transaction ( ATM skimmer, a cashier/server copying a number, etc) but by a method of random testing by hackers until they come across valid cards. Recently a large number of business debit cards were compromised by hackers using an online website hosting service to "ping" random debit card numbers until they found valid numbers, then were able to create counterfeit cards with those numbers. The vast majority of debit card fraud occurs from breaches like that or retail breaches, rather than an individual copying a card number. The banks work as fast as they can to keep up with breaches and fraud patterns, but it's just impossible to always pinpoint what cards are going to be affected.
The important thing to remember is that as long as your debit card has a Visa or Mastercard logo, you will not be liable for fraudulent charges on that card. As long as you turn in the requested paperwork, the bank will provide provisional credit to your account pending the outcome of the investigation. The investigation itself can take anywhere from 90 days to 120 days, in some cases, so patience is key. The banks must follow not only federal regulations (Reg. E) but the Visa/MC rules as well, which involve required time frames for various aspects of the investigation (chargebacks, representments/second presentments, etc). But again, as long as you have provided the bank with the requested paperwork, you will have provisional credit during this time.
Hopefully that helps shed a little light on the topic!
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Don't use Debit Card
