A credit card account of mine has been hacked. Over $17,000!

[DemoTex]

It is a CitiBank MasterCard that was issued in May in lieu of my old CitiBank Visa (new number). It is the card that sits in the top desk drawer and is used only for on-line stuff. Mainly recurring bills like cable, Sirius Radio, and my monthly DU donation.
The fraud was perpetrated in Italy with charges for railroad tickets. Citibank wiped that slate clean today. Thank goodness! We are in the process of buying a house.

[Greeby]

1. Holy Jeebus!

:wow:

[DemoTex]

My initial reaction exactly!

Holy Jeebus!

[xray s]

2. and that is why I don't use credit cards online

don't trust the system

[DemoTex]

8. Quoth the Raven ..

Nevermore.

[mcscajun]

12. Just as much risk offline as online

It's the card processing systems that get hacked, not your use of your own card.

Aside from hacking risks that apply to both offline and online transactions, an offline purchase could result in a thief 'borrowing' your number -- the results would be the same.

Keeping One Card for online use Only is the answer...and watching that balance and the associated transactions very carefully.

[DemoTex]

21. I agree 100%!

This was a hacking of a vendor with my card number. I have never used this card for an on-line purchase.

[stepnw1f]

3. Thank Goodness Man (nt)

[tk2kewl]

4. that was you?!

sorry 'bout that. :evilgrin:















just kidding

[napi21]

5. Any way for you to know if this was due to those "accidental"

data losses the cr card processors had a few weeks ago?

I suppose if it was, Citi wouldn't tell you anyway!

[DemoTex]

20. It had to be. Absolutely.

They were so accommodating, that it was obvious they were at fault. Scary!

[aquart]

23. I dunno about that.

My card was cloned around Christmas. I only use the one. Since it was still in my purse, I had no idea anything had happened, until the card company called saying I'd made some unusual purchases and wanting to confirm if they were mine. Loehman's, yes. Prada, no.

The card company spotted the unusual activity, moved quickly to confirm it, wiped the sales I identified as not mine and shut down the card, issuing a new one. For two weeks I was without any credit card at all. But the company was right on the ball, giving me no trouble at all.

[DemoTex]

24. Loehman's! Dr "T's" favorite!

But no, this card has never been in my wallet. It lives in my desk drawer. It is a three or four trick pony, one of which is my monthly donation to DU. To that end, I alerted Skinner. DU is my last concern for this compromise. But we shall see.

Mac

[RevolutionStartsNow]

6. Damn,

those are some expensive railroad tickets!

Glad that Citibank took care of you, that credit stuff can be a nightmare when you are buying a house. Congrats on the house, by the way!

[wli]

7. there was a major theft of credit card info a few months ago

Millions of credit card numbers and matching information were stolen.

[mcscajun]

9. And that's why having just one card for online use only is SO

important.

It isolates the damage.

[SW FL Dem]

15. Absolutely, I have once card with a $500 limit

They keep offering to raise my limit but I refuse. I use that card for all online and gasoline purchases ( the last time my card was duped was at a gas station)

[eleny]

10. Yipes!

I'm so glad that it worked out. But I bet the top of your head was on fire. Btw, good luck with your new home!

[SW FL Dem]

11. We got hit with a fraud of over 10K in the 80s.

It's scary. Luckily MBNA waived the charges after we filed a fraud report.

[im10ashus]

18. That's so frightening.

How do you protect yourself now? I use my debit card for online bill payments and that sort of stuff.

[SW FL Dem]

27. Actually Debit cards have fewer protections than credit cards

I have a credit card with a very low limit, it think it is now $800. I refuse all credit increases on it. I use that card for all online purchases.

[PA Democrat]

13. That's scary.

Do they know if it had anything to do with the payment processing company who had their computers hacked? The hackers got information on something like 40 million accounts.

Link here:
http://money.cnn.com/2005/06/28/pf/security_hackers/

Glad you got it worked out!

[MissWaverly]

14. had nothing to do with on-line

I think they hack into a financial database or the credit card company,
one of the docs I worked with had 17000 stolen from her account also and she never goes on-line to charge anything, these databases are always being hacked, she said that the bank thought it was teenagers.

[sandnsea]

16. It happened to my mom too, but

She never even owned a computer. Card theft happens, online or off.

[arwalden]

17. I've Been Pleased With The Service I've Received From CitiBank...

... although nothing like that has ever happened to me.

Did you discover this yourself? Or did Citi call you? -- Do you have one of those credit monitoring services? I do... I get regular copies of my credit report mailed to me, and summaries of any inquiries that have been made (folks looking at my info) during the previous period.

I'm glad this one turned out well for you!

[DemoTex]

25. I got an automated call from CitiBank.

It sounded OK, but I did not respond. I called them right back and they were wonderful. They canceled the $17,000+ immediately! Great news, now that I'm buying another house. I was afraid the deal was queered.

[ovidsen]

19. That's a LOT of train tickets.

I'm glad CitiBank covered your ass.

On a sinister note, I've read and heard that a lot of credit card issuers are routinely voiding fraudulent purchases and cash advances charged to accounts that are hit like yours was. I find this disturbing, because ultimately the people paying for those train tickets, diamonds, computers, whatever are.... us! Interest rates on credit cards are already obscene. This can only make them worse.

[Selatius]

22. Were you the victim of phishing scams?

Often times, you get these official-looking emails from your bank or whatever stating that there is a problem and that you should log onto the website at the link they provided. It's a fake website designed to look legitimate, and when you give them your password and account number, you've been sold down the river.

If it's not that, then chances are your bank was compromised and numbers were stolen from the database.

[Ian David]

26. Why oh why do they send credit-card data through fedex un-encrypted?

It's pure negligence.