Debit card compromised. Just found out.

[The_Jeff]

Glad you're getting this squared away. I use a pure credit card for anything remotely fishy (and all online stuff)... if there's ever a breach, I'm not paying until it gets fixed. Beats fighting an indifferent bank to recredit your account.

If you go to a bar/restaurant and get carded for alcohol, they have your zip code... and they swipe your cc out of your sight and can copy the info...

 

[Saturn_Fan]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Glad you're getting this squared away. I use a pure credit card for anything remotely fishy (and all online stuff)... if there's ever a breach, I'm not paying until it gets fixed. Beats fighting an indifferent bank to recredit your account.

If you go to a bar/restaurant and get carded for alcohol, they have your zip code... and they swipe your cc out of your sight and can copy the info...


I will never use my debit card for online transactions ever again after this fiasco.

I guess I am lucky because all i have to do per the bank lady is to watch my account for activity in the next couple days and if one went through, fill out an affidavit saying I didn't do it and Visa takes it over from there.

Per Visa's corporate site, they have a 0% liability policy for debit card holders. Whew!

 

[ZZman]

It really doesn't matter where you use your card. Anyone along the chain from the person who swipes the card to the people that process the transactions and maintain the databases could steal or sell the info if they wanted to.

Store/Internet...really no difference as long as you stay with trusted retailers of course.

 

[Saturn_Fan]

Originally Posted By: ZZman
It really doesn't matter where you use your card. Anyone along the chain from the person who swipes the card to the people that process the transactions and maintain the databases could steal or sell the info if they wanted to.

Store/Internet...really no difference as long as you stay with trusted retailers of course.


Good point. I wonder where the system is broken with regard to the rash of these thefts. Is the sentencing not harsh enough? Is the security of databases just not up to snuff?

It seems like every other month there is a huge breech of credit card numbers coming from a database somewhere.

I can't believe the CC companies and consumers will just live with these losses as the cost of doing business.

This really [censored] me off.

 

[javacontour]

I was called by Discover back in June, someone was in GA using "my card" in a Wal*Mart and they were trying to run the same transaction through again.

Since I use two Discover cards and only use each two weeks each month, it was easy to detect the transactions that were not mine.

The unauthorized charges came off and I had a replacement card the next business day.

 

[The_Jeff]

A supermarket chain lost my card # and another couple million.

I was immediately locked out of my online access... so I was of no help to them in watching my account. Citi had a "chicken little" response.

Paypal, cable company, and scads of my other recurring payments had to be reset when I got my new card with new number. Nobody said "sorry".

 

[RWEST]

Scary, indeed, but pretty much an unfortunate fact of life anymore, it seems.

Any time the card is out of your sight, anything can happen - remember the guy at the pizza shop who was using his cellphone camera to photograph debit/credit cards, at least until the one customer caught him and about took his head off?

Plus, it's almost like the CC companies are inviting fraud - I don't know how many times I've gotten envelopes with NOTICE: IMPORTANT ACCOUNT INFORMATION ENCLOSED all over the outside. Yep - no chance of a crook noticing anything worth taking in there!!!

 

[Saturn_Fan]

Great posts guys, and this has been a great thread.

It seems like the weak link here is that all is needed in a lot of these fraud cases is a series of numbers.

How about this: Biometrics.

In order to use your card online, you must have a USB biometric device that scans your thumb print or index finger in addition to your standard CC number and expiration date.

Moreover, when you are paying in person at a merchant, in addition to them swiping your card, you must place your thumb or index finger into a biometric device to make sure it matches up to who is using the card.

Or how about a pass phrase that changes every single transaction. Every 30 days you are mailed the new pass phrase.

I don't know, these ideas might work, but maybe not.

 

[Oilpants]

Next thing your prints will be discovered allover a Crime sceen Saturn!!!

Originally Posted By: Saturn_Fan
Great posts guys, and this has been a great thread.

It seems like the weak link here is that all is needed in a lot of these fraud cases is a series of numbers.

How about this: Biometrics.

In order to use your card online, you must have a USB biometric device that scans your thumb print or index finger in addition to your standard CC number and expiration date.

Moreover, when you are paying in person at a merchant, in addition to them swiping your card, you must place your thumb or index finger into a biometric device to make sure it matches up to who is using the card.

Or how about a pass phrase that changes every single transaction. Every 30 days you are mailed the new pass phrase.

I don't know, these ideas might work, but maybe not.