Credit card theft...never thought it would happen to us

[shelly3girls]

I went shopping on BF at several different stores. By late afternoon I was exhausted and just wanted to get home. I left Justice after the cashier handed me my receipt along with some discount cards for future use. She wrapped the receipt around the cards as they always do so I tucked them in my wallet (again, as I always do) thinking that my credit card was in the pile. I did not go out the rest of the day. Yesterday I was checking my balance online and saw a HUGE balance with many unauthorized charges. All the charges were from stores within 1-2 miles of Justice. Although I cannot be sure exactly who took it I know that I never received it back so it somehow disappeared from the register area.

Chase put a hold on the account after the total charges for the day were over $3k (including mine) but never contacted me. Apparently they tried to charge even more but Chase had frozen the account. I am not liable for any of it but I take this as a lesson learned to be much more careful. I just thought this would be a good reminder to everyone to never let your guard down.

 

[luvtogo12]

Sorry to hear that. That is one of my biggest fears. I just don't ever want to be in that position. Hopefully, it will be all cleared up for you soon.

 

[Julieh22]

I know how heartbreaking that is. My wallet was stolen at the hospital that I work at by a co-worker while I way paying for a food delivery... In less then 1 hour she racked up around 500 worth of stuff. I was not held liable, but it really left me feeling like a victim and extremely angry! Good luck...

 

[irishbosoxfan]

The person who took it is the cashier at the last store you went to.

And since you have the receipt you have her cashier number--All you have to do is go to the store,speak to upper management and tell them what happened and they can see what the cashiers name and address is and assist in getting a police report filed.

 

[imsayin]

Same thing happened to a friend of mine. The cashier just kept the card and went shopping with it. I can easily see myself falling victim to this. I try to confirm that I have my card with me when I leave, but you never know....

 

[daisy_77]

OMG, I am so sorry that this happened to you! Thank you for the heads up!

 

[eliza61]

So sorry to hear that. Coincidentally, yesterday I recieved an email from paypal saying that "my' purchase for a "big screen flat panel tv" was being processed and expected to ship within 24 hrs, also at the bottom of the page was a line saying that if this was not my order please click on the link to cancel. The email looked exactly like the paypal site. I became suspious when I clicked on the link because it started to ask for personal info, like my ss#, birth date, etc, etc. I immediately called paypal told them what I recieved, followed their instructions on what to do and forwarded the bogus email to their investigation dept. Paypal confirmed that they never send out links asking for personal info. Luckily, I did not give out any information but I shudder to think of what could have happen if I had.
Please be very careful out there folks, holiday time is also the busy time of year for thieves.

 

[shelly3girls]

The person who took it is the cashier at the last store you went to.

And since you have the receipt you have her cashier number--All you have to do is go to the store,speak to upper management and tell them what happened and they can see what the cashiers name and address is and assist in getting a police report filed.

I did contact the store manager to explain the situation. She is reporting it to their loss prevention department. Chase told me that they closed the account, contacted the credit reporting agencies of the fraud, and will proceed with a criminal investigation. They told me not to attempt a criminal investigation through the police that they take care of it on their end. I told them I was pretty sure it was the cashier and the agent said he made a record of it on the file.

Edited to add...when I contacted the manager she was able to pull up the exact transaction including the cashier identification.

 

[debster812]

The person who took it is the cashier at the last store you went to.

Likely, but not 100% for sure. It could have been left on the register while waiting for the charge to go through, and never given back, and someone else grabbed it.

It could have dropped on the floor, because as the OP stated, there was a stack of cards with the receipt around them.

It's entirely possible that it was stolen by an associate of the store. It's also entirely possible that it wasn't.

--Sorry, I work retail, and while I know there are some real jerks out there in the retail world, not all of us are--

 

[czycropper]

Which Justice store in New Jersey did you go???

 

[shelly3girls]

Which Justice store in New Jersey did you go???

The store in Deptford.

I also wanted to add that I spoke to a close friend who was just at the store last week. A cashier (who sounds like it may be the same one) "forgot" to give her cc back. She realized it before leaving the store and went back to get it. She said that at the time she thought that the girl b/c too engaged in coversation so she was distracted. She wonders now if she tried to take it. It may be a total coincidence b/c it does happen quite often but somehow I doubt it.

 

[BethR]

I am so sorry to read this. I hope that everything gets straightened out for you.

I am surprised that fraud department Chase did not contact you before you realized what happened. Chase shut down our account three times while DH was shopping on Black Friday. It was ridiculous! Each time I had to call and tell them that yes, it really was us making all of those purchases.

 

[imsayin]

Chase shut down our account three times while DH was shopping on Black Friday. It was ridiculous! Each time I had to call and tell them that yes, it really was us making all of those purchases

Discover has done this to me twice recently. While I love their vigilance, it is a bit embarassing to have your card rejected at the store. They told me to just call them from the store if it happens again (which I did the second time).

 

[BethR]

it is a bit embarassing to have your card rejected at the store. They told me to just call them from the store if it happens again (which I did the second time).

Chase told me the same thing. But I told THEM that DH had tried that and they refused to talk to him since the account was not in his name. I told them this on the second and third time that I called, and they told me that the SHOULD have talked to DH. Well, maybe they SHOULD HAVE, but they did not. So I had to call them and DH used another card for the transactions.

 

[NotUrsula]

No matter how many people are behind me or how much of a hurry I'm in, I always make it a point to take the time to put my CC back into its slot in my wallet before I leave the checkout counter. I made this rule for myself after I forgot my CC at a dept. store counter once. Luckily the clerk was honest; she gave the card to the store manager, who checked my customer info and mailed the card to my home. I hadn't noticed it missing. Nasty experience and a lesson learned.

Someone got hold of my AMEX account number a couple of months ago and used it to take a nice vacation at a resort in Guatemala. Having the card itself taken is pretty rare; it is much more common for them to steal an acct. number and then mfr. a fake card. Meth addicts are paid in drugs to go dumpster diving and into mailboxes for CC numbers. The suppliers then sell the numbers overseas to make more money. Sometimes they manage to hack into a bank computer to take several thousand numbers at once. The only thing you can really do to protect yourself is to be religious about checking your account transactions.

BTW, for accounts being shut down on shopping trips, the best defense is to let the issuer know BEFORE you start shopping. Call them from your phone number of record and let them know when you are planning to be spending serious money, and better yet, at what stores. If you are calling from your home phone, they can verify that it is you.

 

[imsayin]

Chase told me the same thing. But I told THEM that DH had tried that and they refused to talk to him since the account was not in his name

Oh yeah, I totally hate this new privacy act when it comes to our accounts. Some things in DHs name, some in mine, etc. I guess the thing would be to have everything in both names, but it didn't used to be a problem.

 

[czycropper]

The reason I asked which store in Jersey is because the Prosecutor in our County is doing an investigation on some similar practices at a shopping mall here.

I know this because I'm the Exec. Direc. of the Local Bar and his office called me to alert me that it's happening in case I get calls for the Lawyers Referral line regarding this issue. I live in Somerset County.

Also, Chase is really good about security - a couple of years ago my DH was in DC on business (charge hotel/food), came home on Friday, Friday night we went out to dinner in Ironbound, then Saturday we were at Woodbridge buying at Fortunoff's - that afternoon we got a call from Chase asking to verify the charges since they were substantial in a two-day period. I really like that about them

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

BTW, for accounts being shut down on shopping trips, the best defense is to let the issuer know BEFORE you start shopping. Call them from your phone number of record and let them know when you are planning to be spending serious money, and better yet, at what stores.

The same advice holds true for traveling outside the country. I have never had a problem with American Express, but my Mastercard company needs to be notified when I will be charging in a foreign country or they will deny the charges.

 

[Nicolepa]

Oh yeah, I totally hate this new privacy act when it comes to our accounts. Some things in DHs name, some in mine, etc. I guess the thing would be to have everything in both names, but it didn't used to be a problem.

Unfortunatly that won't necessarily fix the problem. They usually talk to the person who is the primary acct holder. I got an application for and Amex and dh filled it out for us. We are both on the account but because I am the primary they will only talk to me. When we had cell phones thru Verizion it was the same problem. For some reason I was the primary and they would only talk to me. For both of these accounts I have asked multiple times to allow dh to make decisions, and it never makes it into the database.

 

[BethR]

One of the three times that I spoke with Chase on Friday, I asked about calling in advance. They told me that it MIGHT work, and then again it might not. They said that when you make a lot of purchases in a short amount of time it alerts the Security Department and they might shut you down anyway. Especially if you are making numerous purchases at Electronic stores...