Credit Card Fraud on the Rise (Phoenix: 2015, crime, to buy)

[jamiedan]

Just today someone tried to purchase $500 of LA Lakers tickets on Ticketmaster using my credit card. Luckily Ticketmaster picked up on something and called me - on my cell - the number which was provided by the lowlife!

What's weird is as well as my cell number, the lowlife also booked the tickets in my wife's name, and her name is not on my card! So definitely two pieces of information not physically on the card.

Anyway, all is fine, card cancelled etc. But it leaves me wondering how such a crime is occurring, and I come to two possible conclusions:

1 - Card skimmer at a Gas Station or similar (know these have been in the news recently with a big increase in AZ) and someone has done some research to find the other info, including probably address?

2 - An online purchase I've made on behalf of my wife?

Ticketmaster couldn't legally give me the e-mail address used but evidently the lowlife intended to have the tickets sent electronically.

This is the second time I've had to cancel the same card in the last few months.

Anyone else noticing an increase in recent times?

[jdahunt]

One of our cards is compromised about every 3 months.

The last one lasted one day...I activated it....bought gas locally...card never left my hand....the next day it was being in Europe to buy train passes.

[stevek64]

In the Phoenix metro alone, skimmers at gas pumps seem to exist in more than a few places.

MAP: 59 credit card skimmers found at Arizona gas pumps - ABC15 Arizona

[cactusland]

I don't see enough pumps using the anti-skimmer tape seals either. I think I might switch to cash at the pumps.

[Pink Jazz]

This is a perfect reason why we need more retailers (gas stations included) to accept EMV (chip) cards.

[jimj]

Yep, my wife's card(s) have been compromised about every 3-4 months. My guess is gas stations. I try to use only Costco or Sams club as I doubt they've ever had a skimming problem.
If you're worried about a gas station just pay inside at the register, hard to skim those as they are under constant video surveillance nowadays.

As for the EMV cards (chip and pin) being safer, according to the report below (from the U.K. where EMV started) until we get rid of backwards compatibility with the magnetic stripe the skimming/theft will not stop.
In other words, until the U.S. completely stops relying on the mag stripe as a means of use we'll be open to theft. Places like Costco refuse to use EMV and only rely on mag stripes, they say due to the time it takes for the transaction slows their lines, other stores don't want to pay for the equipment/software upgrade. Sadly, these stores are just fine saving money at OUR expense.
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/Papers/unattack.pdf

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by jimj

Yep, my wife's card(s) have been compromised about every 3-4 months. My guess is gas stations. I try to use only Costco or Sams club as I doubt they've ever had a skimming problem.
If you're worried about a gas station just pay inside at the register, hard to skim those as they are under constant video surveillance nowadays.

As for the EMV cards (chip and pin) being safer, according to the report below (from the U.K. where EMV started) until we get rid of backwards compatibility with the magnetic stripe the skimming/theft will not stop.
In other words, until the U.S. completely stops relying on the mag stripe as a means of use we'll be open to theft. Places like Costco refuse to use EMV and only rely on mag stripes, they say due to the time it takes for the transaction slows their lines, other stores don't want to pay for the equipment/software upgrade. Sadly, these stores are just fine saving money at OUR expense.
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/Papers/unattack.pdf

Actually, the retailer who takes the bad card gets stuck with the $$'s. In this case, the gas station who is careless doesn't get stung but rather the retailer what takes it when they make a new one. I too have had problems with credit cards being stolen. The biggest hassle is getting a new card and re-setting up autopays.

It's also why I never ever use a debit card is because of this Fraud Worries: Debit vs. Credit Cards - Total Return - WSJ . In fact, I won't use ATM machines either See Theft of Debit-Card Data From ATMs Soars - WSJ .

Stevek64. Great find on that PHX gas skimmer link. I cannot rep you yet.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by jamiedan

What's weird is as well as my cell number, the lowlife also booked the tickets in my wife's name, and her name is not on my card! So definitely two pieces of information not physically on the card.

What happens if you google your name. Can you piece together your wife's name? How about your cell? If not, I agree that is a rlly odd.

Here is another great article. https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/cred...-card-numbers/

WHat scares me 1000x more than with a credit card is banking info. For instance, if you wrote me out a check, I would have your bank # and routing #. With that info, I can electronically pull a lot of your $$'s and put it into my account with ease. Of course you could take me to court. And maybe your bank will reimburse you.

With that in mind, I wanted to put in place a stop gap on all my checking accounts. Meaning I demanded that they set-up a maximum $$ amount per day. Nope! I went to managers and climbed the ladder. NOPE! I then asked if I can mandate that zero funds ever get pulled out of my checking electronically via an international account. Nope! P-ssed, I asked every single solitary big bank if they could do this for me. Chase, 1st Bank, Wells, etc etc etc. No, no, no, no and no! Guys, this is basic code. Banks could use this for marketing advantage.

My only solution is to have multiple accounts and dividing amongst a couple of banks. The reality is if a Paypal account gets hacked, they have your banking #. I have $20K in that account alone for business. Call me paranoid, but I no longer write out checks out of my checking account (I issue them).

As I said, I can absolutely pull $$'s out of your checking account today if I have your bank info and routing #. So now you know why I closed all of my legacy accounts that have been open for 20 years and re-opened new ones using a more paranoid approach. A 15 year old check can haunt you now that new technology is out there. Even though we are in 2016, the banking industry will privately admit they are positively archaic. For thieves, it's a field day.

[jdahunt]

We literally have 5 separate accounts in order to protect our money.....on top of that my wife works at the bank where we do most of our transactions and nothing goes through without her approving it.

The downside is that if I use my bank card to buy pizza she will call me before i'm done and let me know that I shouldn't be eating there...lol

I was just in Chicago for business and tried to buy gas, my business card with a different bank was denied, denied and denied.....I call the bank and worked with them for 30 minutes and they couldn't fix it.

About 30 minutes later when trying to buy dinner it was denied again....called the bank and was told that it was due to me being in a high risk area "chicago" as to why they denied it....and suggested that in order to stop that I would need to call them every time I go out of town.

[JGMotorsport64]

Just use credit. It will insulate your actual money and you can dispute the fraudulent payments.