Credit Card Hacked -- how?

[prudent]

The ATM/debit card for my "main" account is deactivated and sits locked up.

What is a deactivated card?

[interplanetjanet]

The ATM/debit card for my "main" account is deactivated and sits locked up.

What is a deactivated card?

There is no valid PIN (for PIN debit or ATM transactions) and credit (Mastercard) charges against it will be denied. The account is with USAA.

-janet

[Imbros]

Thank you and welcome to the forum.

It is also a good idea to let your CC know before making an abnormal big purchase, no?

LynnC

Yes, absolutely.

And yes, you can have your institution deactivate (or as we say placing it in warm status) your card anytime and have them reactivate it later on. Banks just don't want people to know about this since it has a potential to create headaches for them.

[roymeo]

http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2012/02/credit-card-security

[littlebird]

I had a card hacked that I had never used. It was still in the envelope it came in, in my desk drawer. It too, was used for airline tickets - to New Guinea! The cc company called me right away (was that me going to New Guinea?) and told me the attempted user didn't know my name or where I lived and that they may have used a computer which generates likely cc #'s and gave it a try.

[Marmot]

I had a card hacked last week. Logged on to check something and saw it. It was for a rental car across country. I also had my Itunes hacked the day before...the CC is not tied to Itunes, we use cash cards for Itunes. Itunes was great also (BTW), waiting for my new card in the next day or so. I agree with the card scammers noted above. People can read your card by just getting next to you. There was a great program by CNBC (I think) in the last year outlining the problems with CC's and solutions. The metal case noted above is a serious solution.

[Steelersfan]

http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2012/02/credit-card-security

Excellent article, both on the most common ways credit cards are hacked and a solution to reduce fraud.

[aja8888]

Well, this is timely. My card was compromised while on business in South Texas last week. I believe the Holiday Inn desk attendant copied my 4 digit code off the card as I handed her my card to scan. Then all she needed was the info in her desk computer.

Within hours, two charges appeared in my AMEX online account; One for $390 at Mac World in California and one for $422 at Babies R Us in Pennsylvania. I gave AMEX the story and went from there using my backup card all week. This sucks.

[roymeo]

I've had 2 cards from the same company stolen and used within hours of each other--neither was used regularly and never at the same place. I think the "oh, it's the waiter" thing is overplayed by the cc companies.

[socca]

I seem to get about one phishing e-mail per day, and I'm still waiting for the first phish trying to get my "Verified by Visa" account name and password.

The wait is over. How did the phishers know that I can read French?

From: Verified by VISA <service@verifiedbyvisa.com>
Subject: Avis de suspension de carte bancaire
Date: March 1, 2012 8:10:32 PM EST
To: <omitted>

Bonjour Chèr(e) Client(e) de Visa-Mastercard ,

Votre Carte Bancaire est suspendue , Car Nous avons remarquer un problème sur votre Carte.

Nous avons determiner que quelqu'un a peut - être utiliser Votre Carte de crédit; sans votre autorisation. Pour votre protection, nous avons suspendue votre Carte de credit. Pour lever cette suspention, Cliquez ici et suivez la procedure indiquer pour Mettre a jour de votre Carte de crédit.

Note: Si ce n'est pas achever le 05 mars 2012, nous serons contraints de suspendre votre carte indéfiniment, car il peut être utiliser pour des fins frauduleuses

Nous vous remercions de votre cooperation dans le cadre de ce dossier.

Merci,
Support Service Clientel .

Copyright 1999-2012 Verified by VISA . Tous droits reserves.

[Patchy Groundfog]

Last week I discovered on my Chase Visa a charge to a company in China, along with a foreign transaction fee, that had been made the day before. This card was also compromised a couple of years ago, but that time Chase picked it up and called within hours.

I only use this card for one online retailer (Land's End) and automatic payments to Netflix, Habitat and two periodical subscriptions, so it's hard to understand how the number got out there in the fraudosphere, and why Chase didn't flag this very unusual transaction immediately.

[tdogz]

Last week I discovered on my Chase Visa a charge to a company in China, along with a foreign transaction fee, that had been made the day before. This card was also compromised a couple of years ago, but that time Chase picked it up and called within hours.

I only use this card for one online retailer (Land's End) and automatic payments to Netflix, Habitat and two periodical subscriptions, so it's hard to understand how the number got out there in the fraudosphere, and why Chase didn't flag this very unusual transaction immediately.

First, the criminal doesn't necessarily even need to know who a card belongs too. They can use math equations to determine what card numbers would have a valid structure, then try them until one works. That's usually how these frauds (especially the ones with overseas transactions) work.

Here are the details about how account numbers are structured, for anyone who is interested: http://www.merriampark.com/anatomycc.htm

Second, banks usually rely on a 'risk score' to identify potentially fraudulent activity. These scores can be even more complex to calculate than your credit score because they take into account not only your account history, but the transaction patterns of your peers as well to determine what might be fraud. The systems evolve & what gets flagged changes almost daily based on the scores that these formulas produce. From my experience, 95% of what they flag as potential fraud are usually legitimate purchases... and about 60-80% of actual fraudulent charges are reported by customers, not flagged by the fraud department.

The bottom line is that even if you have your card locked up in a safe deposit box & it has never been used, as long as the card is active, you could still have a fraudulent charge come through and hit your account.

[Mudpuppy]

The bottom line is that even if you have your card locked up in a safe deposit box & it has never been used, as long as the card is active, you could still have a fraudulent charge come through and hit your account.

And the less you use it legitimately, the less likely the computer is to flag the fraud because it has no clue what your normal spending history is on the card (since in this hypothetical, there is no spending history).