We got hit with identity theft
 

Wife was out shopping Saturday morning on the mall, and her debit card was declined. She called me, and I instantly knew we had a problem because we have more than enough money in the bank. Call the bank, and they tell us her debit card was reported by the FBI as being "compromised", and when the bank saw transactions in both Sacramento and San Diego at the same time they pulled the plug on both cards.

How fucked up is that?

wow that sucks.

I hope you get it resolved as soon as possible.

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

Sorry to hear that, identity theft is a huge problem.

I never would use a debit card. It's to easy for a bad guy to clone your card.

That sucks! Things like that prevents people from buying online using their cc.

shit man, that sucks. Glad the bank stopped it before the crooks could empty out your bank account.

i try to pay cash. they can scan your shit in your purse or wallet. i keep mine in a protective case.

You're still protected by the bank? pain in the ass I know

I'd wager that the card was "cloned" during an offline transaction. Someplace where the card was taken out of sight to complete the purchase, such as a restaurant.

Bought a membership to a MR site?

Operation Occupy Rochards debit card has begun !!! :winkwink:

In all seriousness, you need to take some steps to find out just how bad the damage is. Do they have just enough needed for your card, or do they actually have your identity (SS#, etc.). Time to start looking closely and daily at your credit reports from all 3 agencies, bank statements, credit card transactions, etc.

Your money was in motion. That sucks.

If you haven't already contact the three credit reporting agencies and put fraud protection on your credit. They will ask you for phone number so you can give them a cell phone or whatever is the best phone to contact you on. This way if anyone tries to open an account with your SSN the credit agency tells the store/company that they must call you to get your approval.

"Credit freeze" no new lines of credit without approval:thumbsup

FBI? Wow! You must be impotent! :1orglaugh

Seriously tho', how'd the FBI get involved?

Sam thing happened to me. Seems they make 'dummy' cards and use them im seperate places at the same time. It was after giving my credit card over the phone to a restaurant. I confonted the restaurant but of.course they denied it but atleast now they know they have been caught

The Bay Area has been hit by a rash of incidents where people are tampering with the self checkout stand credit/debit card readers in order to steal information from shoppers: :disgust

ADG

Kinda more scary than that; how in the hell would they get your pin. Without direct access shoulder surfing, skim readers on bank machines or corrupt merchants.

The next question is why the FBI cares it's normaly a million dollars in losses to even open a FBI file; sure they open them but they never land on a desk of anyone unless it's been a million.

Big scam your wrapped up in; maybe even one that involved the leaking of pin codes and cardnumbers..

Sorry to hear it, that really does suck. Happened to me last year and was a bit of a pain getting another account, new card etc.
Luckily my bank was on it and emailed me immediately saying they blocked the card because of a suspicious transaction.

.

It's essentially wire fraud. Every case might get reported to the FBI, not sure.

What happened to the cash spent? You just got fucked?

canceld my debit card 2 days ago for fraud :(

Ummm I don't think having your debit/credit card stolen isn't really considered "identity theft". Am I confused on that? I've always heard it applied to having your actual identity compromised, not just a copy of one of your cards made.

Correct. Nothing about what Rochard said indicates identity theft.

Either way, it sucks.

there is a big difference between skimming and identity theft.

with skimming they managed to get a copy of your card and pin and are just spending your money without even knowing who you are. You report it to the bank, they cancel your card, refund the transactions and get you a new card. Quite easy and painless.

With identity theft people actually get a hold of your personal details (through collecting your garbage / data theft on the internet or whatever) and start using those details to get identity papers (which can be sold to criminals), apply for loans, open businesses and all sorts of nasty shit. Compared to skimming this is really fucked up because it can haunt you for a long time, especially when they fucked up your credit scores and performed other criminal activities under your name.

Her card might have been posted on a FBI run/monitored forum.

My sister got popped when she went to a gas station... It didn't work at the pump... So she went in to pay... Turns out the pump was replaced with a theft device so the next thing she knows her card is being used all over Socal..

I never even saw the charges. The bank was smart enough to know exactly what they were, and removed them this morning.

LOL>

Yeah, I'm working on that. Our bank accounts seem fine. We have three accounts at two different banks, and six cards - two for each account. Nothing seems out of the norm.

They bank wouldn't tell us much more other than the FBI and San Diego. I'm guessing more than one card was cloned.

Not sure how it happened. The only thing my wife did this week out of the normal was purchased a t-shirt online. They seem legit.

Makes me wonder....

Yeah, at this point it seems to be less of identity theft and more of a cloned card. Still gonna watch everything like a hawk.

Man, I've been through this TWICE! Still trying to clean up my credit from the 2nd time. First time around is easy, second time around is a pain the ass.

Good luck. I hope they didn't do too much damage.

It sucks big time...

The fucked up part is that the bank pulled the plug on the card and didn't even bother calling you.

Several petrol stations locally to me have had staff caught skimming cards :(

they dont accept debit/credit cards here... only exception is the airport and ikea.

Been down that road once, hope you get it fixed.

On another note, we never use a debit card for anything, unless it's an emergency when the bank is closed, other wise, we always pay cash ;)

had it happen once, my bank locked everything down until they investigated and then unlocked my account after their investigation which blows, just signed up for another bank which states they don't lock your funds down while they investigate if something were to happen which is nice

Happened to my fiancee a few years ago. She was out shopping with her friends, bought some stuff, then stopped for lunch and a few drinks, then went to buy more stuff and her card was declined. She knew she had money in there so she called her bank to ask why her card was blocked and they said someone was using her card in Hong Kong. They didn't take her for much, around about $300 I think. They sorted it all out but she had to wait for a new card to come so that was the end of her shopping day with the girls lol

Not ID theft, just card cloning.

Chip and Pin card probably, happened to me 2 times. Both times an offline transaction caused the problem.

It can even happen at your banks ATMs. Most of the time it will be a portable card reader or the type of ATM you find at the corner shop that aren't bank owned ATMs.