Has anyone else had the cc# stolen @ BWVs?

[hrsmom]

That really stinks and it's really ashame to hear that no one at Disney seems to care.

BTW SCfireman, I'm in Summerville. I've noticed there's several of us on here from the Charleston area.

 

[Tinkerdreams]

I will be honest and say that I always bring travellers checks and cash. I've always been skeptical on using any type of credit or debit card. One of the things Disney could do for its guests is to allow them to pay for the dining plan before they arrive. I know a lot of people will pay with a credit card and this could help with this issue if the DDP could be paid for ahead of time.

As for the other purchases, stick with travellers checks and cash.

 

[Olaf]

I guess we all need to be more vigilant when we hand our CC over to be scanned. Sounds as if it would be worthwhile to check your credit card accounts online after a visit to WDW in the future. Probably advisable to do it after any trip. This is disturbing news. I really wish they'd catch some of these scum bags and make a huge example of them.

 

[JimMIA]

The credit agency said that thieves have sophisticated computers that do some kind of random number searches until they get a "hit."

That's a pretty clear sign that the person you are talking to doesn't know what they were talking about.

There is a computer program, called "Credit Master," which contains the algorithms for generating legitimate 16-digit credit card numbers for various types of credit cards. It's freely available on the Internet, but it's virtually irrelevent today. It would NOT work with any credit card from the United States, because all it does is generate the card number itself. It cannot generate any of the security devices which are used, so it's useless on U.S. cards.

I last saw Credit Master used about 10 years ago, against a credit union which had zero security on their cards. The bad guys hit them for over $400,000, but that would not work today. It might work on a few cards issued by small international financial institutions, but I doubt it.

Skimming, however, copies all of the information contained on the magnetic stripe on the back of your credit card, including the basic levels of security information. It will not capture the 3-digit security code printed on the signature space, which is an additional layer of security that requires the person using the card to have the actual card in their physical possession (or know the number).

Skimmed data is usually transferred to stolen credit cards. Those cards have been cancelled, and are worthless, but with the new mag stripe information they become carbon copies of your card. That's how you can have your card in your pocket and some crook can be using it hundreds (or thousands) of miles away.

The merchant defense against skimming is manually entering the last four digits of the number embossed on the front of the card as one step in the authorization process. If the card is a counterfeit, those embossed numbers will not correspond with the mag stripe info, because that info will be from a different card.

disneynutz is correct that the credit card companies don't care about individual transactions or issues with individual accounts. They just charge them back to the merchant and move on. They do, however, have investigators who work primarily on internal problems and large credit card fraud rings.

Law enforcement usually takes a similar approach -- they focus on ring activity, rather than individual transactions which are very difficult to prosecute. The U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service are the two primary federal agencies involved. Local departments may be very active, or not at all active, depending on the size and sophistication of the agency.

Disney security should be interested if there is good reason to believe the transaction occurred at a front desk. They have people trained in credit card fraud investigation, and they do work those cases.

 

[BCV23]

During our recent stay, someone asked me if we had driven. At the time, it seemed a curious question...sort of out of the blue. Now it makes me wonder.

 

[snowbunny]

stick with travellers checks and cash.

I'd rather take my chances with the card. I will not be held responsible by Amex for fraudulent charges, but if my cash is stolen (see other thread where someone's mom left $900 on her bedside table ), that's the end of that.

 

[Chuck S]

During our recent stay, someone asked me if we had driven. At the time, it seemed a curious question...sort of out of the blue. Now it makes me wonder.

They always ask at check-in because if you've driven you need a parking slip for the dashboard.

If you were questioned somewhere else about whether you drove, that may be part of a skimming thing, but really it wouldn't matter if you drove or not, they could still use the skimmed card at least once, maybe several times, before the CC issuer would contact you.

 

[BCV23]

They always ask at check-in because if you've driven you need a parking slip for the dashboard.

If you were questioned somewhere else about whether you drove, that may be part of a skimming thing, but really it wouldn't matter if you drove or not, they could still use the skimmed card at least once, maybe several times, before the CC issuer would contact you.

No, this wasn't a question about whether we had a car. We always have a rental and need a parking pass just as if we'd driven. It was specifically about whether we drove or flew. Just an odd question and didn't fit the moment. But I don't even remember if it was at a checkin (we stayed two places last trip), while dealing with a concierge CM or even at a restaurant or shop. It was just odd.

And then I noticed a couple of people in this thread had fraudulent gas charges and those posters did drive. Makes me wonder.

 

[Aunt Cawa]

We flew down at the beginning of December and stayed at SSR with a rental car. We had over $400 of gas charged to our card in one day at the end of January in Palm Bay and Melrourne FL.

 

[Olaf]

I'm lost here. Why would it matter whether or not you'd driven? Is there something else I need to be watching for at the gas stations? We normally just swipe a card and pump our own.

 

[BCV23]

We flew down at the beginning of December and stayed at SSR with a rental car. We had over $400 of gas charged to our card in one day at the end of January in Palm Bay and Melrourne FL.

So much for that theory! Thanks.

Isn't it amazing that so many have had this experience lately.

 

[BCV23]

I'm lost here. Why would it matter whether or not you'd driven? Is there something else I need to be watching for at the gas stations? We normally just swipe a card and pump our own.

It apparently doesn't matter at all. I had just noticed that several posters who had gas charged to their cc had driven. Thought perhaps if there were already charges for gas on long trips to FL, red flags weren't raised. Obviously not the case with Aunt Cawa.

I guess I just had a very curious CM?

 

[Olaf]

Isn't it amazing that so many have had this experience lately.

Yes, it is amazing and extremely disturbing. I hope all of you contacted Member Services as well.

 

[RandyT]

We were at WDW last December. Well you know what I'll be saying next.

Last Monday when we went over our bills, my wife started to go over our Disney Visa bill and looked startled. She broke out a highlighter and proceeded to go line by line and highlight all charges that were not our charges. This was easy since they were from Kissimmee to Atlanta for the time period from the end of January to the first part of February.

She joked and asked if I made an unexpected trip to Disney without her. There were a total, as of this statement, over $5,000 of fraudulent charges.

Chase was wonderful about the charges they canceled the old card and sent me a new one in 2 days. Chase will start an investigation, however, I realize it will be difficult if not impossible to solve the crime.

I will be careful who gets my card on vacation from now on and use the strategy of never let my card out of visual site.

I agree you need to check your statement after a vacation, we do, The charges started almost 2 months after we left WDW.

I'm not putting the blame on Disney in any way. We used this card at time of check in and also used it at the liquor store, grocery store and went to several restaurant's using the card. Like I stated above I'll always keep my eye's on my card if it's out of site it's in jeopardy of being compromised. The waiter/waitress always want to be your cashier well those days are over for me. If I need to I'll go with them and watch them swipe the card for the charges.

My late father told me this more than once" First time shame on you second time shame on me".

I'll be watching whoever touches my card!