Help please, my credit card number was stolen

[Forever a Princess]

Hello!

My credit card company sent me an e-mail today that some irregular credit card charges had been made this past week.

One of the charges was made on 12-3-09 to a online laptop company for $2800!!!!!

My credit card rep went through my recent charges. She marked the ones I did not make. She marked these charges as fraudulent and marked the card stolen. She closed the account and I am getting a new card.

Bless the cardit card company for auditing and tracking the credit card charges.

The card has always been in my hands. No one has access to this card and I infrequently use this. I have a couple of automatic pays set up on this. I rarely use this to buy something online and I think I used it to pay for gas last week. I simply don't know who stole the credit card number.

I looked at the website for where the laptop merchandise was purchased. They are closed for the weekend.

My credit card rep gave me the fraud dept number to call tomorrow.
I think I am going to start there.

Do I need to call the laptop company or does the credit card company do this for me?

Is the laptop company going to hound me for the money????

I'm more scared than upset. For those who have gone through this I thank you for your advice in advance.

I guess that this means that I will be paying cash for my gas, changing my automatic bill items to them sending me a paper bill and then I'm not using my credit card online anymore. I've learned my lesson-the hard way.


Renee

 

[T16GEM]

Sorry to hear that this happened to you. We had the exact same thing happen with our card back in August. The credit card company flagged a transaction in another country that had been made on our card, we obviously hadn't made it so they stopped our card.
We were not held liable for the transaction and our cc company did the same as yours and had us check everything off and say what we had used and not.

The card was cancelled and we had to wait until we got a new one in the post.

It was a pain in the butt, as we only have one card to use. Like you our card had never been out of our hands, and we don't know how it was compramised. Just one of those things I guess.

 

[Rafiki31]

First and foremost, I would call the telephone number on your card, DO NOT click or call any numbers from an email.

Once it is reported stolen, your credit card company handles everything. I had mine stolen at work, and it was used at a local mall, and I went to the store because I wanted to know who was stealing from me and they were very reluctant to help me. They wanted everything handled by teh credit card company for fear that I would retaliate against the criminal should they show me the video.

BTW I was able to convince them to show me, and I did find out who it was.

But your credit card company should handle it all.

 

[kirbsam]

more than likely, you will not need to do anything else. your credit card company will take care of things from here. you will get your new credit card, and you will not have to do anything more. you shouldnt be liable for any of the fraudulent purchases.

 

[clovergirl5]

Oh crap, Im sorry that happened to you. Sorry I don't have any advice for you.

 

[DawnCt1]

Frankly, credit card number theft is an ongoing problem and I am surprised that they emailed you. They should have phoned. When my DS#1's credit card number was stolen just about a month ago; the thief actually made a card and went shopping, bought rims at Town Fair Tire for $1700, spent nearly $1000 at Game Stop and a few other places to the tune of about $2800, the fraud devision of the CC company called. What they should ask you to do is complete an affidavit that they will probably send you which states that you didn't make those fraudulent charges and ask if the card was in your possession at the time they were made. Ironically, the only time he used his card in about a year was to make an on line purchase for malpractice insurance for the program that he is enrolled in. That had to be the leak, but the bank will look into it...I hope.

 

[Forever a Princess]

Frankly, credit card number theft is an ongoing problem and I am surprised that they emailed you. They should have phoned. When my DS#1's credit card number was stolen just about a month ago; the thief actually made a card and went shopping, bought rims at Town Fair Tire for $1700, spent nearly $1000 at Game Stop and a few other places to the tune of about $2800, the fraud devision of the CC company called. What they should ask you to do is complete an affidavit that they will probably send you which states that you didn't make those fraudulent charges and ask if the card was in your possession at the time they were made. Ironically, the only time he used his card in about a year was to make an on line purchase for malpractice insurance for the program that he is enrolled in. That had to be the leak, but the bank will look into it...I hope.

Wow! What a spree. Yes they are sending me the affadavit to sign.

Thanks to all who have already posted.

I just feel so vulnerable.

 

[Forever a Princess]

First and foremost, I would call the telephone number on your card, DO NOT click or call any numbers from an email.

Once it is reported stolen, your credit card company handles everything. I had mine stolen at work, and it was used at a local mall, and I went to the store because I wanted to know who was stealing from me and they were very reluctant to help me. They wanted everything handled by teh credit card company for fear that I would retaliate against the criminal should they show me the video.

BTW I was able to convince them to show me, and I did find out who it was.

But your credit card company should handle it all.

Yes I know not to respond to any e-mails regarding credit card info and personal info.

I called the phone number listed. When I called they had already flagged the account (they knew I would be calling). I had to verify a small list of security items so that they knew it was actually me calling.

This is all so wierd. I hardly use this cc at all.

I have another one that I use and for that one I pay for fraud protection.

Renee

 

[Caropooh]

Yes I know not to respond to any e-mails regarding credit card info and personal info.

I called the phone number listed. When I called they had already flagged the account (they knew I would be calling). I had to verify a small list of security items so that they knew it was actually me calling.

This is all so wierd. I hardly use this cc at all.

I have another one that I use and for that one I pay for fraud protection.

Renee

Was this the number stated to you in the email or the number on the back of your credit card? You really need to contact the number on your credit card. If the email was a fraudulent one, obviously they are expecting you to call it, but it may NOT be the bank that issued the credit card.

 

[C.Ann]

Wow! I don't blame you - I would be a wreck too.. I'm sure it will all get straightened out fine though.. Good luck!

 

[golfgal]

Dh took a business trip to Miami a few years ago and his corporate credit card number was stolen. They charged $15,000 in electronic equipment on the card before DH discovered what happened. Turns out the clerk at the hotel he stayed at lifted the number off the card and made online purchases.

 

[Bluestars]

A little over 10 years ago someone got my credit card number and purchased several items online. Luckily, I got my statement a couple of days after they started doing it, so they only had time to charge $1,000. My bank did not hold me liable, but it took almost a month to clear up.

My bank will both call and send an e-mail if they think there are fraudulent charges being made on my card. Also, I have alerts set up so that I will be e-mailed daily with my account balance. I will also be e-mailed if a cash withdrawal is made on an ATM machine and if a purchase is made online. i was able to set up the alerts I wanted. This way, if anyone uses my card I will find out the day it happens.

My husband recently got a bill from a collection agency saying he owed Verison almost $800. It turned out that someone had opened an account up in his name. Since then we have both put freezes on our credit.

 

[agnes!]

Was this the number stated to you in the email or the number on the back of your credit card? You really need to contact the number on your credit card. If the email was a fraudulent one, obviously they are expecting you to call it, but it may NOT be the bank that issued the credit card.

YES. If you could just update that this is what you did...

You should probably also enroll in one of the credit check programs like what Equifax has, you can sign on and see if anyone's checking your credit, you get alerts if your balances change, etc. If you have any other credit cards, I would cancel *everything* and get new ones, just in case the criminal is into ID theft instead of just credit card # theft/fraud.

Good luck,
agnes!

 

[Rootskate]

Oh wow. Definitely call the number on the back of your card!! I have never heard of a credit card company sending an email for this type of thing.

 

[Jeanne B]

I've had this happen to me four times in the last several years, most recently just a few weeks ago.

It does seem odd though that your cc company sent an email vs receiving a phone call from the fraud department.

Anyway, it's frustrating when it happens but my cc companies have always quickly canceled my card, issued me a new one and I have nothing more to do (they said this time they were going to send me an affidavit but I haven't received it yet).

 

[Allison]

I'm with the others. It seems very fishy for a credit card company to send an email about fraud.

 

[RadioNate]

You need to make sure you are calling the number on your statement or on the card. NOT the number on the email.

We had are card stolen earlier this year and they called us. We did not recieve an email about the fraud, just the phone call. Actually in the phone call they gave us a case number and name and we were to call back using the number on our card to verify. We didn't discuss any specifics until we called them back.

 

[Forever a Princess]

It was not fishy for me to receive the e-mail as I have online banking set up through my credit card company. 2 numbers were given in the e-mail. One was for the online banking dept of the cc company and the other number listed was on the back of my credit card.

The e-mail was listed as Online Banking Alert.

I did call the phone number listed on the back of the credit card and verified and double checked to make sure that the e-mail was from my credit card company.

Everything is checked out and all is verified.

I will take the advice and check my credit status. I will also be calling my other cc to place them on alert.

Keep the comments coming. I so appreciate all of your help.