A thief charged over $1,600 to my credit card at Bed Bath & Beyond. Here’s how I responded:
- I Caught The Fraud Early: I dive into my accounts regularly, like Scrooge McDuck without the gold. I caught the charges the day after they cleared and quickly ended the theif’s joyride. Once someone gets ahold of your card, they charge as much as they can before the credit line snaps.
- I Called My Bank: I immediately called my bank and reported the fraudulent activity. I asked them to cancel the card, issue a new one, and make sure no shady happenings were affecting my other accounts.
- I Filed A Fraud Alert: Just to be safe, I put a fraud alert in my credit file to make it difficult for anyone—myself included—to open new lines of credit. I filed the request online with Equifax, which then notified the other two credit bureaus. Filing a fraud alert also entitled me to a free copy of my credit report, which I requested.
- I Asked For Help: Sure, I’m a consumer advocate and I know how to handle these situation, but I’m also a forgetful yutz who can’t remember what happened yesterday. To be sure I didn’t leave anything out, I touched base with Ben, Meghann, and Chris. It turns out I did everything right, but there is never any shame in asking for help.
- I Was Grateful: This happened last Saturday, the Ides of March. Things could have been worse.
I chose not to file a police report. I still have the credit card so there isn’t a physical theft to report, and my bank already agreed to remove the charges. If I had lost the card or thought my identity was stolen, I wouldn’t have hesitated to call the police.
All in all, this isn’t a biggie. I spent 45 minutes on the phone and relied on my backup card for a few days. I don’t have debt collectors clamoring for buckets of cash and my credit isn’t ruined. If this was bona fide identity theft, I would have used this post as a guide back to sanity.
Perversely, it was almost fun to use the tools I spend so much time writing about. It’s something I hope none of you ever experience, but if you do, staying calm and knowing how to respond can make all the difference.
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My wife and I have a Discover Card, and one morning, Discover’s Fraud Dept. called her to verify a purchase at Home Depot. Since she thought the call may be a phishing scheme, she called the number on her card and transfered to the Fraud dept. Lo and behold, someone was trying to buy $1400 of stuff at Home Depot with an actual credit card with our number on it!
The charge was denied, but the thief left Home Depot before the police could be caught. We think the number was stolen from her at a Thai restaurant she and her coworkers frequent, because coincidentally, the same type of transaction recently happened to a coworker.
Last year my wife had her purse stolen in an ice cream shop, about 45 minutes later the card showed up in the worst neighborhood in Boston. The thief purchased $1500 of gold bling and a $3000 bedroom set before we could get in the fraud notice. We filed a police report but it was pretty clear that nothing would come of it. We pleaded our case to Citibank, at first they seemed helpful but a couple of weeks later they sent out a letter saying they were refusing the remove the charges. Citi claimed it was my wife’s signature on the receipts and in a round about way said “nice try scammers” to us. We had to spend several evenings on the phone with them before we could talk some sense into them. They finally gave up but not without a lot of fighting. It seemed to me that this was a pattern of theirs, they probably figure a decent amount of people will just give up and pay to make it go away.
It still blows my mind that you can walk into a jewelery store and spend thousands without being asked for ID. Want a beer or a pack of Camels? Show me some ID. Want a bedroom set? Swipe your card please.
My dad had $3500 spent at the Brick from his card that was surprisingly in his wallet. The bank reversed everything and asked a few questions (about purchases, trying to see if he’d deny them or not, like $300 on groceries etc)
I believe he got caught in one of those gas station scams where they take your credit card number after you’ve used the machine. That was terrible.
I’m not sure where to turn for advice on this but I need some help. I was in a Bar that I did do business with and they abused the credit card I gave them and secondly I believe they or someone in the BAR stole my other credit card. Within 1 hour there were over $12,000 in charges on my credit cards. To me this is obviously fraud but I am concerned how the investigation will go since I was in the BAR and admittedly intoxicated.
Any thoughts?
A person I know had their credit card stolen and a few hundred dollars of fraudulent charges made on it. The credit card company was immediately notified, but after “investigating” declared the charges as having been approved, refused to do anything about the fraud and demanded immediate payment.