# My stomach is in a big knot!



## Yvonne G (Apr 19, 2009)

I received a call Friday evening from the Security department of my bank. Seems there were a couple of large charges using my debit card and they wanted to verify if I had made them. They were both at Parrot Cellular and one was over $500 and the other was over $200. Needless to say, I didn't make the purchases. They canceled my debit card and removed the charges from my checking account. So this a.m. I went online and took a look at my checking account. Lo and behold, there's a new charge on there late Friday night in the amount of $241.61 at Parrot Cellular. I immediately called the bank and she advised me to go into the bank on Monday and fill out a claim.

This just has me tied up in a big knot. I am on a fixed income. I get paid once a month. 

What I want to know is: how does someone get my debit card number to do this? I've looked at my past bank statements and my debit receipts and nowhere is the number that's imprinted on the card shown on the paperwork. 

This has me so scared that I'm considering not having a debit card. I'll just go back to writing checks. I already pay my bills electronically. I will just take out the amount of $$ that I think will last me the month and use cash or write a check.

I've got to go outside and get busy doing something so maybe I can get rid of this big knot in my stomach.

Yvonne


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## richalisoviejo (Apr 19, 2009)

emysemys said:


> I received a call Friday evening from the Security department of my bank. Seems there were a couple of large charges using my debit card and they wanted to verify if I had made them. They were both at Parrot Cellular and one was over $500 and the other was over $200. Needless to say, I didn't make the purchases. They canceled my debit card and removed the charges from my checking account. So this a.m. I went online and took a look at my checking account. Lo and behold, there's a new charge on there late Friday night in the amount of $241.61 at Parrot Cellular. I immediately called the bank and she advised me to go into the bank on Monday and fill out a claim.
> 
> This just has me tied up in a big knot. I am on a fixed income. I get paid once a month.
> 
> ...



You know where most people get your credit card number? Restaurants. Happened to me about 4 years ago, the waiter wrote down my name, card number and the code from the back of the card. He then purchased a new computer with all the software, over the internet, $2,500.00.

Now most crooks are stupid, he ordered the computer online and had it shipped to his address lol. 

The bank will have no choice but to refund your monies. Your card was charged for a purchased and you didnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t take possession of the product? Automatically they have to refund your money.


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## BigBiscuit (Apr 19, 2009)

I am really sorry this happened to you. For a minute, I thought we had another James Mapes fiasco on our hands.

I once worked for a greedy boss at an Industrial Supplier in Utah. An order came over the phone for $3,000 of tape to be shipped to Ghana, Africa. My coworkers and I expressed to my boss that we thought this was bogus, and that the credit card was stolen, but my boss said to ship the stuff out. With shipping included, the price of the order was over $6,000. 

Needless to say, the police got involved, and because of my boss' actions, the company had to eat the loss, and pay for the shipping and lost product.


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## Yvonne G (Apr 19, 2009)

That's exactly why I posted this thread. I was hoping for some insight from others who had similar experiences.

I only use my debit card for shopping. I don't go to restaurants. And the majority of the places I use the card has a little gizmo where you swipe the card and enter your pin number. However, there is one place where I buy supplies, the feed store, where I can't swipe the card and I have to hand it to the clerk. The clerk then keys in the number on the card. This is the ONLY place in the past week where I have handed over my card. i hate to think this is where the number was taken. I like these folks and shop there every week.

So, once they have your number, how do they use it? Is there someplace where they can give the number and have a counterfeit card made up?

Yvonne


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## Itort (Apr 19, 2009)

You did report it to police, correct. Last spring I had a substantial amount stolen from my house account and bank needed to have police report to proceed. The thief is now making institutional furniture for the state.


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## Yvonne G (Apr 19, 2009)

No, I didn't. I am planning to visit the bank tomorrow and I'll find out from them if a police report is necessary.

Thanks,

Yvonne


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## Candy (Apr 19, 2009)

richalisoviejo said:


> emysemys said:
> 
> 
> > I received a call Friday evening from the Security department of my bank. Seems there were a couple of large charges using my debit card and they wanted to verify if I had made them. They were both at Parrot Cellular and one was over $500 and the other was over $200. Needless to say, I didn't make the purchases. They canceled my debit card and removed the charges from my checking account. So this a.m. I went online and took a look at my checking account. Lo and behold, there's a new charge on there late Friday night in the amount of $241.61 at Parrot Cellular. I immediately called the bank and she advised me to go into the bank on Monday and fill out a claim.
> ...






BigBiscuit said:


> I am really sorry this happened to you. For a minute, I thought we had another James Mapes fiasco on our hands.
> 
> I once worked for a greedy boss at an Industrial Supplier in Utah. An order came over the phone for $3,000 of tape to be shipped to Ghana, Africa. My coworkers and I expressed to my boss that we thought this was bogus, and that the credit card was stolen, but my boss said to ship the stuff out. With shipping included, the price of the order was over $6,000.
> 
> Needless to say, the police got involved, and because of my boss' actions, the company had to eat the loss, and pay for the shipping and lost product.


Unfortunately bosses don't always listen to the people under them that's too bad in this case. He probably shouldn't be the boss.

I should think Yvonne if they used it at Parrot Cellular that they will be able to track it back to a person. I don't know about anyone else, but I have the Suze Orman protection on all my accounts. I actually bought it through QVC. Anytime someone would try to use an account of mine I am called first to make sure it's me or my husband. Got to admit though that it worked so well when I first recieved it I couldn't even use my own card lol. Plus I'm like a hawk when it comes to my banking I check everything frequently.  Candy


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## Yvonne G (Apr 19, 2009)

Candy said:


> I should think Yvonne if they used it at Parrot Cellular that they will be able to track it back to a person. Plus I'm like a hawk when it comes to my banking I check everything frequently.  Candy



There are 6 or 7 Parrot Cellular stores here in the Fresno/Clovis area. I had thought about visiting the store and asking how someone can use my debit account numbers without having the card in their hand (because my card is still in my purse), but there are too many stores. 

Also, the Sheriff says to talk to the bank first. I guess they'd rather be busy catching murderers and drug dealers than debit card theft. Seems to me that it would be fairly easy if you have the information about which store it was and the exact amount of money, for the clerk to check back and give you some info about the sale. But that kind of thing only happens on tv.

Yvonne


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## galvinkaos (Apr 19, 2009)

emysemys said:


> Also, the Sheriff says to talk to the bank first. I guess they'd rather be busy catching murderers and drug dealers than debit card theft. Seems to me that it would be fairly easy if you have the information about which store it was and the exact amount of money, for the clerk to check back and give you some info about the sale. But that kind of thing only happens on tv.
> 
> Yvonne



My husband had his wallet stolen a couple of years ago out of his truck on a Sunday am. We found out about 1200 noon. We called the police and all of the credit cards, etc. While we were on the phone with Discover they said that there had been 6 charges that morning, the first at a gas station next door to the sheriff station. 2 grocery stores 2 auto parts stores and another gas station. She then said that a transaction was currently being processed at another grocery store. She denied it and we called the police and advised them that the thief was currently using the card and where. We were told there were no officers available to respond. I went to one of the grocery stores and got a copy of the charge slip and told the store it was on a stolen card. They had the nerve to tell me they always ask for ID. The theif had my husbands ID but it sure wouldn't have looked like them. I called the Sheriff's and said I had the charge slip and the store had surveillance cameras and their response was if the credit card co made us pay any part of the loss they would investigate it further otherwise it was up to the CC co to file a further report. Crazy huh?

Yvonne, good luck getting it squared away. It might take a few days but you should come out ok. 

Dawna


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## Yvonne G (Apr 19, 2009)

I've just closed the barn door, now that the horse has escaped. I signed up for Life Lock. Its only $10 a month. I think I can afford that. I looked for the Suze Orman protection thingey, but they don't sell it anymore.

Yvonne


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## tortoisenerd (Apr 19, 2009)

I use my credit card for everything possible because in case something did happen, my money couldn't ever get tied up. Debit cards still scare me even with all the protections.

Yvonne: It likely wasn't even used locally. Big chance it was online, or I have heard of thiefs making a duplicate card resembling yours once they know the number (pretty sophisticated with the magnetic strip). I'm sorry this had to happen to you. Three of my coworkers got this in the last week. It's becoming a bigger problem, which hopefully means more protections will be put into place in the coming years.

I'm personally against paying any membership-based service to protect me. That's money you could put into an emergency fund to cover you if this was ever to happen again. Even $10/month is $120/year, which is a lot to me even not on a fixed income. I take whatever precautions I can take and leave it at that. It's very rare you will ever actually be out the money, it's more of an inconvenience, violation of privacy, and may tie up your money if it's a debit card.


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## Isa (Apr 19, 2009)

Yvonne
I am sorry to hear about your bank card. The same thing happened to me with my credit card. I think it happened in a restaurant, the bank called me to tell me they had cancelled it and sent me a new one. When I was going to university, I was working part time in a bank as a student and I saw so many bank cards being cloned, that is why I do not use mine (only at the atm) and I use my credit card.


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## Yvonne G (Apr 19, 2009)

Isa said:


> When I was going to university, I was working part time in a bank as a student and I saw so many bank cards being cloned, that is why I do not use mine (only at the atm) and I use my credit card.



Hi Isa: Can you explain that card cloning thing you mention?

Yvonne


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## Stazz (Apr 19, 2009)

I bank with HSBC here in Dubai and they don't have Debit cards,you have an ATM card but it's not visa/mastercard,so cannot be swiped anywhere....I have to do internet transfers or draw cash from ATM to make any purchase, which I think is pretty great  The dumba$$ thing though is that the account number i sthe number on the front of the card????!!!! They said it's "impossible" for someone to get into my account, me thinks NOT so impossible lol


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## Isa (Apr 20, 2009)

emysemys said:


> Isa said:
> 
> 
> > When I was going to university, I was working part time in a bank as a student and I saw so many bank cards being cloned, that is why I do not use mine (only at the atm) and I use my credit card.
> ...



Hello Maggie
when you go to the guichet, to the store, the restaurant... and you use your bank card, people who works there or friends of them or customers put a kind of chip or wathever in the little machine where you swipe your card. When you are gone, they will make another card with it, because the little chip or wathever will be able to recreate a clone of your card. To use it, they will have to know your PIN, sometimes, sometimes, it is a ''fake'' customers in the back or the cshier or wathever. Where I live, We should never use our guichet card at a ATM machine or at gaz stations because those are the worst place to get a card cloned. I know I said earlier that I go to ATM machine but I only go to one in the building where I work because I know this one is safe. In ATM Machine, what they do is, put the little chip plus a little tape that will make impossible for you to insert your card completely, and they will be able to recreate (clone) your card because you inserted your card and the little chip read it, I dont know how they get your pin though. The thief are never the ATM machine employes, but people who works in the place the ATM machine or friends of them. 
Let us know what if the banks give you more infos.
Good luck


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## egyptiandan (Apr 20, 2009)

It's very easy to get the pin number Isa  as you have to enter it to get money. The bogus machines usually come back with some excuse why they couldn't give you your money.
The machines you don't want to use are the stand alone machines at malls and convience stores. They are the ones most likely to be bogus and steal your numbers.
Hopefully this will be resovled very soon for you Yvonne.

Danny


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## Isa (Apr 20, 2009)

egyptiandan said:


> It's very easy to get the pin number Isa  as you have to enter it to get money. The bogus machines usually come back with some excuse why they couldn't give you your money.
> The machines you don't want to use are the stand alone machines at malls and convience stores. They are the ones most likely to be bogus and steal your numbers.
> Hopefully this will be resovled very soon for you Yvonne.
> 
> Danny



Thank you for the explaination Danny , so that is how they get your pin number, scary... It is easier than I thought.


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## Crazy1 (Apr 20, 2009)

Yvonne I also am sorry to hear this has happened to you. I know they have said this is being done more and more at Gas Stations. But as Rich said it may take a little time but the bank I am sure will straighten it out for you.


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## ZippyButter (Apr 20, 2009)

Hope that this will resolve quickly, and smoothly for you. Also I just want to share with eveyone, about couple weeks ago, I received a phone call through my cell from the unlisted number, as usual I answered it , and the person said that she just wanted to verify my insurance policy, and said that she from University of Massachusettes Hospital. I don't even live there???? Then she went on to ask if I am such person ( she read my correct name, and the last 4digits of my SS#). With my quick reaction, I told her I could not answer her question, and I am not this person( in calmly manner). This is very scary, I'm extremely carefull about protecting my and my family's privacy. How do these crooks, scammers got into your personal files so easily now a day? And with the new direction of modernizing the healthcare system by going to put all of patients' records through computerizing (which most of the hospitals today are outsourcing to other countries to do the job). The only bad thing happened to me when I was doing my master in the mid 80', someone used my name and info to open his electric account with edision, I didn't know this until I paid my last bill to move out of the area, I reported that to the local police and the edision, and they took care of the problem. Good luck and let us know.


Minh


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## Yvonne G (Apr 20, 2009)

Hi Minh: My first impression upon reading your story was that someone had signed into the hospital for treatment and was using your identity and insurance to pay for it. Is that not the case?

I went to the bank today and filed a claim for the amount that still shows up in my checking account. It may take a few days to be resolved. The bank person said that if the merchandise was ordered over the telephone then they just read off the numbers. If that's the case, I should have gotten the address of the Parrot Cell store and asked if I could have the address of where the merchandise was to be mailed, huh?

Its going to be an inconvenience, but from now on, I don't think I'll be using a debit card for purchases anymore. This has been a pretty scary wake-up call. I've got too many hard-shelled mouths to feed to have my $$ disappear from my account!

Yvonne


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## ZippyButter (Apr 20, 2009)

emysemys said:


> Hi Minh: My first impression upon reading your story was that someone had signed into the hospital for treatment and was using your identity and insurance to pay for it. Is that not the case?
> 
> Yvonne



No Yvonne, if that was the case, I would have received a statement from my insurance by now. I think this was just another scam, this person pretended to be a hospital worker and asked me to verify some of the information....How did she get my personal infos? I don't know. Even my cell phone numbers, and the rest. I guess she just wanted to hear me saying "yes" to all of her questions so she would have my identity, and who know what she will use them for. I check my credit report monthly, since I have this service for free through my mortgage banking, so far I havem't seen any suspicious activity. The thing that scares me is how did they get a hold of my personal infos? With so many outsourcing now a day in many industries, we would never know who will have a look at our personal infos. 

Minh


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