Credit card was jeopardized... now what?

[UnderTheMistletoe]

Hi All,

It's been one of those kinds of weeks

I found out yesterday that my credit card was jeopardized. I knew what my available credit was and went to make a purchase well under that amount. Swiped the card twice and it was declined twice. I called the card issuer and they confirmed what my balance was. I asked, "So why did a charge for xyz not go through? I just tried to swipe the card twice and it was declined twice." When he looked into the account, he found that there was a temporary hold on the account for suspicious activity and forwarded my call to the fraud people.

We went through the charges and confirmed that the last time I used my card was 1/5/2011 to fill up with gas. There were attempted online charges last weekend- impossible since I was in the Florida Keys with spotty cell phone service and no internet connection. They could see that I took an ATM withdrawal and there was no further debit or credit activity.

There are two charges for Sunday, 1/16. One charge for 65 cents and a second charge for $6.59. Both of them are online charges. Then there is an attempted charge for $931. The bank was suspicious because I don't make a lot of online charges... and certainly not for that amount! The crd has been cancelled.

I know that whoever this is got the information from the Virginia DMV. Virginia made me jump through hoops to get a Florida license. I was asked to FAX all sorts of information to them in order for them to clear the National Driver's Database. Well, they lost the information. I knew I was a sitting duck. The concern is now how do we monitor ALL credit accounts in our name quickly and easily. We don't have much, but I am afraid that they have enough personal information to set up bogus accounts in my name and with my credit... so taking it that one step further to identity theft. Who do we go to? What do we do?

Thanks in advance.

 

[bicker]

I'm a little confused, because the breach you describe sounds similar to what recently happened to me, but my situation was tracked back to someone simply using my credit card number. Online, there is no need for them to even have your card; they just need your card number and expiration date, both of which are available on charge receipts that many of us regularly throw in the trash after recording the transaction. (Some retailers also want the security code, but others don't.)

While surely we should all be continually vigilant, in this regard, if it were me, I wouldn't necessarily panic about more than just my credit card account number and expiration date, unless I saw evidence that they had more than one credit card, or if they established new accounts.

We do have an alert service from Experian (which we received for free as part of a breach of information from some other account, a couple of years ago), that alerts us to when new accounts, of any sort, surface on our credit report.

 

[wtpntigger2]

You need to contact all the credit bureaus and have them put on your account for you to be contacted before any new credit can be issued. It's a pain for when you apply for new credit, but it's your best defense against any credit being opened up without your knowledge.

Sorry this happened to you, but it sounds as though it was caught quickly before any major damage could be done. Good luck!

 

[prncess674]

First of all calm down you are freaking out for no reason. The fraud was caught appropriately by the credit card company. I wouldn't go running in circles like a chicken with its head cut off. Frankly there is no way to track it back to the Virginia DMV so drop the accusations. Your card could have been compromised by any number of sources. It may have been something as simple as a card skimmer attached on top of the ATM where you removed cash. Notify the credit bureaus, monitor your accounts online and just go about your life.

 

[holycow]

I don't blame you for freaking out.

Yes your 1 credit card was cancelled but if you are concerned that you may have credit being opened up in your name then you need to get a watch dog credit agency to keep and eye on thing for a while till you feel more comfortable.

My DH has his through Credit report.com I believe it is 14.95 per month.

I'm sure there are other companies out there.

I hope this is the end of your story here! and that you won't have any more problems.

 

[mhsjax]

OUr credit card and debit card was compromised by a ring in Miami, well according to the news this is probably what happened. They had little cameras in the ATM's that were able to snap and retrieve all the info on your card when it was inserted into the ATM. And they were actually able to use both and did to the tune of about $5000.00. Funny thing is, we got our money back in our acct from the debit card use quicker than we got our CC issues resolved.

Anyway, OP. the point is, that info could have been gotten anywhere you use your card. If you feel that uncomfortable you can get a new card issued, or just have the cc company put a security code on there so any establishment will be declined until they call in and speak with you personally.

 

[dfchelbay]

Our credit card number was stolen three different times. We couldn't figure out why it kept happening. Finally, after the third time, the police figured out it was the place DH was getting gas. Even though you swipe and pay at the pump, the gas station still gets all your credit card information. It turns out, the gas station had a thief in their employ. He was taking the names and credit card numbers of lots of people and selling them. One of these people was stupid enough to set up service with a satellite dish company and use our card to pay for it. How long did they think they would get away with that. Police had their name and address from the satellite dish company at that point...so stupid!

 

[dfchelbay]

First of all calm down you are freaking out for no reason. The fraud was caught appropriately by the credit card company. I wouldn't go running in circles like a chicken with its head cut off. Frankly there is no way to track it back to the Virginia DMV so drop the accusations. Your card could have been compromised by any number of sources. It may have been something as simple as a card skimmer attached on top of the ATM where you removed cash. Notify the credit bureaus, monitor your accounts online and just go about your life.

OP's freaking out because of all the personal information that had to be fax to the DMV that they claim to have lost. I'd be freaking out too if personal information to that extent were just lost out there somewhere. Then, in addition to that my credit card numbers are stolen. I'd be highly concerned and vigilant against any kind of identity theft. OP, I would also contact all your creditors and have them put a password on your accounts as well. We have passwords on all our accounts for verbal conversations with creditors. Doing this was a necessity in our case, but could be a preventative measure for you.

 

[UnderTheMistletoe]

First of all calm down you are freaking out for no reason. The fraud was caught appropriately by the credit card company. I wouldn't go running in circles like a chicken with its head cut off. Frankly there is no way to track it back to the Virginia DMV so drop the accusations. Your card could have been compromised by any number of sources. It may have been something as simple as a card skimmer attached on top of the ATM where you removed cash. Notify the credit bureaus, monitor your accounts online and just go about your life.

Wow. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.

I would hardly say that I am freaking out... upset and trying to mitigate damage before it can worsen. Chicken with my head cut off? Hardly. I haven't done anything but call to find out what was going on yesterday morning and allowed them to cancel the card at their request.

The only information that I was looking for (without the self-righteous attitude) was the "Notify the credit bureas, monitor your accounts online."

Good grief.

 

[UnderTheMistletoe]

Yes your 1 credit card was cancelled but if you are concerned that you may have credit being opened up in your name then you need to get a watch dog credit agency to keep and eye on thing for a while till you feel more comfortable.

Do you know the names of any such agencies? That's the kind of information we're trying to gather.

We're concerned because the DMV asked for everything to be FAXed (Name, address, DOB, copy of Social Security card, copy of birth certificate, copy of marriage certificate, etc.) There really isn't anything that they needed that wasn't included.

 

[CarolAnnB]

The same thing happened to me with 2 small online charges under and then a big one. They (Chase Disney Visa fraud dept) told me many times thieves try random cc numbers online for small amounts to find a number that works, then hit up a big charge once they found one. While I understand your concern about the DMV, I would be too, it could be unrelated.

ID Alert is a monitoring service Capital One offered.

 

[prncess674]

Wow. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.

I would hardly say that I am freaking out... upset and trying to mitigate damage before it can worsen. Chicken with my head cut off? Hardly. I haven't done anything but call to find out what was going on yesterday morning and allowed them to cancel the card at their request.

The only information that I was looking for (without the self-righteous attitude) was the "Notify the credit bureas, monitor your accounts online."

Good grief.

Umm, you are out with the lynch mob ready to hang the DMV employee. As others have stated it is more than likely the gas station or ATM that is the source of the compromise. Calm the heck down, notify the credit bureaus and monitor your credit. Put the noose away and quit making unfounded accusations.

 

[bicker]

Do you know the names of any such agencies? That's the kind of information we're trying to gather.

I mentioned the one we use, earlier in the thread. Here's a link to their service offering:

http://www.protectmyid.com/

 

[Dax]

First of all calm down you are freaking out for no reason. The fraud was caught appropriately by the credit card company. I wouldn't go running in circles like a chicken with its head cut off. Frankly there is no way to track it back to the Virginia DMV so drop the accusations. Your card could have been compromised by any number of sources. It may have been something as simple as a card skimmer attached on top of the ATM where you removed cash. Notify the credit bureaus, monitor your accounts online and just go about your life.

Umm, you are out with the lynch mob ready to hang the DMV employee. As others have stated it is more than likely the gas station or ATM that is the source of the compromise. Calm the heck down, notify the credit bureaus and monitor your credit. Put the noose away and quit making unfounded accusations.

Someone must work for the DMV....

 

[Tweevil]

Wow. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.

I would hardly say that I am freaking out... upset and trying to mitigate damage before it can worsen. Chicken with my head cut off? Hardly. I haven't done anything but call to find out what was going on yesterday morning and allowed them to cancel the card at their request.

The only information that I was looking for (without the self-righteous attitude) was the "Notify the credit bureas, monitor your accounts online."

Good grief.

I feel for you. I had this happen right before Christmas and it took until after Christmas to sort things out. I handle the CC/DC transaction set up where I work and there are literally hoops you have to jump through when handling a credit holders data. For YEARS there has been a law that says anything that is printed with the Cardholders data has to ONLY show the last 4 digits of the holders card number. All receipts cannot have the full number. If they do the store is in violation. That is why thieves are going the electronic data route - pictures, video, electronic data mining, etc. Look back at your receipts for a couple of years and you will see the ****1234 where the number should be. Also, the FTC has Red Flag Rules that merchants and issuers have to follow. Here is a link with probably TMI but it is helpful when you are trying to figure out why your issuer is doing what they are doing.
http://business.ftc.gov/documents/a...utions-and-creditors-will-help-fight-identity

If a hold is put on an account most issuers will notify the cardholder to it and why immediately. I can't figure out why your financial institution didn't though... It's nuts that you had to figure it out yourself through a transaction. That puts you in a bad situation.

I would ask your FC why they didn't contact you ASAP and what do they offer as far as monitoring services. If they do not there are a lot of products out there that help. Identityguard or lifelock are a couple of them.

Hugs to you because I know this is the pits! It makes you feel vunerable.

My favorite was the UK pornsite that was incurred using my card. They do a <$1 hit a couple of times and then charge you $4.99 a zillion times. Or the trip through the connected Gap/Old Navy/PiperLime/Banana Republic sites... whomever had my card was a shopping perv I guess. LOL

Good luck to you and I hope it all sorts out quickly!

 

[Tina]

Unless you also faxed your credit card number to the DMV, it is very unlikely the source of the problem. I would suspect the places where you recently used the card. I've had this happen to me twice in the past five years. I could not determine the place of theft in the first case. In the 2nd, it was clearly my local Olive Garden restaurant. I used a card there that I don't use very often at all. It was my only charge in a 6 month period. Suddenly, someone was trying to make large purchases online via Xbox360. Chase noted it as suspicious and called me. They reversed all charges from my card and cancelled the card.

 

[Tweevil]

Someone must work for the DMV....

I hope they are doing full disclosure of data being lost. I know where I work we have to send out notifications to our clients if something is compromised or client documents are lost. That includes paperwork hardcopy or electronic. We have to inventory everything and anything that holds this data or the not so happy letter has to be generated. *knock on wood* no letters have been sent.


But I did get one from a large health insurance company notifying us that they lost a PC and info *may* have been compromised.

 

[Tarheel girl 1975]

The three major credit reporting companies are Experion, Equifax, and Transunion. I don't know their numbers, but itf you go to this link it should help you:
https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/helpfaq#fraudalert

 

[JB2K]

We went through the charges and confirmed that the last time I used my card was 1/5/2011 to fill up with gas.

Did you "pay at the pump"? A common way for illegal means of obtaining CC numbers is to attach a "skimming" device to the card reader - you will particularly find this type activity at mom-and-pop type service stations (as comopared to a major C-store chain).

 

[cm8]

Umm, you are out with the lynch mob ready to hang the DMV employee. As others have stated it is more than likely the gas station or ATM that is the source of the compromise. Calm the heck down, notify the credit bureaus and monitor your credit. Put the noose away and quit making unfounded accusations.

There is nothing wrong with her making them a suspect of high interest since she recently had to send them her personally Identifying information.


She has every right to think that the breach in fact could have came from the VA DMV. It could have also happened through another source as well.
To imply that she is trying to become an executioner is a bit far fetched in MY opinion. Op, I hope that you are able to set up some form of fraud protection for yourself and all that are affected by this breach.