Bank account breech/fraudulent activity?

[bcla]

Not a fan of checks for this reason. Someone can snap a picture of you writing a check in a store and have everything they need to drain your accounts.

It's harder and harder to cash a check though. It either has to go into an account that can be traced, or it would need to be cashed someplace requiring ID up the wazoo as well as having cameras everywhere.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

I've never had a fraud issue with a bank account--knock on wood--but my credit card has been fraudulently used twice. The first time was years ago and I can't remember anything about it except that the credit card took care of it for me. The more recent time was this past Christmas, I noticed the charges, mostly ubers, lyfts, and Pizza Hut.com. But it was about $800 of these stupid charges over the course of like 3 days and they completely shut down my credit card and I panicked because I had a payment due for our Disney trip and no way to pay for it. Ended up opening another credit card at my bank and it worked out ok because they gave me 18 months with no interest. It was handled by my bank's fraud department but it was still a pain in the butt.

I agree with whoever said this is probably someone you know and trust. It's just too weird.

 

[MillauFr]

It's harder and harder to cash a check though. It either has to go into an account that can be traced, or it would need to be cashed someplace requiring ID up the wazoo as well as having cameras everywhere.

I guess I fail to see how asking for ID would help prevent the fraud? Wouldn't the crooks just use the stolen routing and account numbers? They could just print fake checks using this info and put any name that matched some fake IDs that they had. When the store asked for ID it would match the name listed on the fake checks. How would the store have access to the correct names that should be linked to the routing and account ID numbers?

 

[MillauFr]

Financial fraud is most often internal either through a security breach or employee theft.

There is very little you can do to protect yourself.

??? You can protect yourself by not using checks or your ATM card for transactions. Using a credit card is far more secure and easier to dispute fraudulent transactions.

 

[kdonnel]

??? You can protect yourself by not using checks or your ATM card for transactions. Using a credit card is far more secure and easier to dispute fraudulent transactions.

I used to try to push people away from debit cards but I realized that for many using a credit card added a financial responsibility to not spend the money twice that was too hard to overcome. Any debit card that displays a Visa or MasterCard logo provides the same zero liability protection as a credit card displaying the same logo. The difference is one has temporarily taken real money while the other has temporarily taken limit.

But having your credit or debit card number compromised is a very minor blip and extremely easy to deal with.

Your real worry should be identity theft. An internal breach that exposes your name, social security number, and addresses, everything needed for someone to become you.

Your first idea that there is a problem is when you get calls from bill collectors for debts you did not incur.

EVERYONE should freeze their credit. That is the only way to provide any protection.

 

[DisneyHardin]

I used to try to push people away from debit cards but I realized that for many using a credit card added a financial responsibility to not spend the money twice that was too hard to overcome. Any debit card that displays a Visa or MasterCard logo provides the same zero liability protection as a credit card displaying the same logo. The difference is one has temporarily taken real money while the other has temporarily taken limit.

But having your credit or debit card number compromised is a very minor blip and extremely easy to deal with.

Totally agree. I've had my debit card compromised twice and both times Fifth/Third took care of it no problems. It only took a day or so for the money to be back into our account. Both times, they even caught the problems before I realized anything had happened.

The Customer Service person I worked with at Fifth/Third told me not to beat myself up trying to figure out where it was compromised. She said most likely it wasn't compromised anywhere, but that crooks just run numbers through a computer program until they find ones that work and then clone cards with those numbers.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I guess I fail to see how asking for ID would help prevent the fraud? Wouldn't the crooks just use the stolen routing and account numbers? They could just print fake checks using this info and put any name that matched some fake IDs that they had. When the store asked for ID it would match the name listed on the fake checks. How would the store have access to the correct names that should be linked to the routing and account ID numbers?

Many crooks are not that savvy.

 

[bcla]

I guess I fail to see how asking for ID would help prevent the fraud? Wouldn't the crooks just use the stolen routing and account numbers? They could just print fake checks using this info and put any name that matched some fake IDs that they had. When the store asked for ID it would match the name listed on the fake checks. How would the store have access to the correct names that should be linked to the routing and account ID numbers?

Who is going to cash a check these days? I remember back when I was doing some tutoring in college I'd get paid with a check from a Bank of America account. I could cash it immediately at BofA with an ID as long as it was under a certain amount and they could verify sufficient funds in the account. I got a personal check more recently, and they no longer allow anyone to cash a check without an account.

Certainly with stores there's a risk because the quality of surveillance video is much better and acceptable ID is much harder to counterfeit these days. I remember back when my driver license was a composite photo of my info, my headshot, and the DMV logo - all printed on normal photo paper. But these days there's so much that goes into an ID.

Everything can be traced these days. I've never used a check cashing service since I have a bank account, but the ones I've heard of insist on a posed photo and/or fingerprints. But with credit card theft there are automated point of sale terminals and some anonymity even though there might be security cameras. And the thieves know that the victims probably won't need to pay for it.

 

[lynxstch]

Above post was reported as SCAM--not the one by BCLA..there was a brand new poster today who was posting links telling people how to make blank atm cards and steal money!-- I forgot the rule and didn't quote the post, sorry!