We were robbed at BCV or SWAN!

[lab01]

We returned from a fabulous, 7 day- 2nd honeymoon several weeks ago. We had the most magical vacation!

Upon review of our credit card bills - we noticed a $475 charge at Target, several days after we returned from our vacation. This was puzzling because 1) we are broke after our vacation and can not afford to spend $475 on anything and 2) we live in northern Vermont - there is not a Target within a days drive!

On further investigation we learned that our credit card was used at the Target store in Bradenton, FL (several hours drive from Orlando)- and that the card had not been swiped at the check out counter - only the number had been punched in. Sounds fishy!

To make a long, long story short, our credit company removed the charges. Target security is looking into the incident. They were actually able to find out what time and at what register the charge was made. The head of security called us and told us that our credit card number was used to buy a Target gift card. Their security cameras photographed a black male conducting the transaction.

Now - we kept very strict records of our charges at Disney. In fact, most of our vacation expenses (limo, passes, airplane, etc.) were paid for in advance by a different card than the one in question. We strictly used the compromised card to pay for our hotel incidentals. All our purchases during our stay were posted back to our room.

So, we concluded that the number must have been taken by an employee of either the Beach Club Villas (where we stayed for four nights) or the Swan (where we stayed for three). We simply have no other charges to our card in Florida, except for the Target charge.

So - as everyone knows - be careful and check your records diligently!

Does anyone out there know the address to send an "incident report" such as ours to the Disney people? I believe that Target might have gotten the police involved, in which case I'm sure they will contact the hotels. But, I would personally like to let Disney know what happened.

 

[Pkdcoastrs]

That's horrible that this happened to you. Other than Disney, you didn't use the credit card anywhere else like at the airport or anything?

That's so weird.

 

[Dodie]

Don't be so quick to assume it happened at your resort.

They wouldn't have had to actually see or get your card to do this. If you bought anything on Disney property using a credit card and accidentally dropped or discarded your receipt, your number is printed plainly right on it.

It drives me crazy. There's no excuse for it. Almost everywhere uses xxxx to block most of the numbers on the receipts nowadays, but not WDW!

This is why we always charge to the room instead.

 

[pooh2001]

We pay for our balance of the room (minus the 1 night deposit) by check when we arrive.
No charges allowed on our room keys.

We pay by cash or traveler checks while we are at WDW.

No bills to come home to.

No credit card # printed anywhere.

We do carry the credit card with us - for emergency only.

Just a thougt.

 

[palmtreegirl]

That stinks!! I saw on a news show about people using these scanners to scan your card a 2nd time to steal numbers. It only takes them a second and they keep a small machine hidden, they then swipe it real fast and it records the info.

I would definitely give them both a call. The Swan is actually owned by Starwood, so you should probably call directly to them. Try calling the main Disney number and ask to be connected or for the number of Disney security. If someones stealing numbers at one of their resorts I'm sure they'd want to know about it. I'd also contact the local police department and file a report with them just in case Target didn't.

Sorry this happened to you! I've BTDT when I had my purse stolen years ago.

Hope it all works out!

 

[Puffy2]

I would at least give the General Managers of Both Resorts a heads up - state up front that you just want them to be aware of a potential problem and briefly describe what occured. You might mail the resorts your info as opposed to calling or emailing. Just address you letter to the General Manager.

 

[ozziewags]

Sorry this happened to you. I had my college-age son tell me that he and his friends now print out the cost of meals at restaurants where they use their credit cards on the bottom of the bill, under the numbers, because sometimes an unscupulous employee will write in more zeros on your receipts and then walk off with the extra cash at the end of the evening.

 

[Selket]

Several years ago I was contacted by a credit card company saying that I had applied for a mastercard and she had just spoken to me awhile ago and I had a different voice. She was with security at the credit card company and from her I learned that someone was applying for credit in my name. But they didn't just have my name and a few details, they apparently had some way of getting ahold of my entire credit report so they knew my SS#, how much I owed on all my loans and bills, etc. Someone had already used the info to take out several dept. store cards in California. This person was trying to assume my identity for getting credit cards! I know this has nothing to do with your trip but don't feel too singled out! I think this is a common problem. I agree that someone could have pulled the numbers from a receipt that you dropped if you used the card anywhere but at the hotel.

 

[undertheradar]

Chances are that your card number was learned by other means. Most employees would not risk jobs for such a small amount. Security will take a report, but not much more will transpire. If someone were caught, you would be expected to appear in court to substantiate the complaint.

 

[DebbieB]

I always charge back to my room rather than using my actual credit card because I think it's safer. But the OP said they did that too. So if they dropped a receipt, it would have their room charge #, that wouldn't do anyone any good at Target. I looked at my receipts from last month, the restaurant receipts only had the last 4 numbers, the merchandise receipts had the full room card #. Unless they charged something direct to the card somewhere, someone had to have tapped into the front desk computer system to get the actual credit card #.

 

[awatt]

Do not assume this happened on the hotel proprty.

When we went to WDW 3 years ago we rented a house,did not stay on site. About 6-9 months later we got a call from a credit card collection company. Someone had opened upo an account in my husbands name right about the time we were in WDW and started charging all sorts of thing in Florida,about $2000 or so.

We still do not know how this happened. Perhaps he dropped a receipt,we'll never know. Bottom line is it can happen to anybody as there are devious people out there so protect your personal info as much as possible.

 

[DVC-Don]

The same thing happened to a friend of ours at a resort in the NY Catskills. The State Police arrested the desk clerk who checked them in. He was selling the numbers.

 

[NotUrsula]

"Most employees would not risk jobs for such a small amount. "

That's the thing; it usually isn't a small amount. Most hospitality employees who do this sort of thing do not use the cards themselves; they are being paid a flat fee for providing the numbers to someone who will then sell them. Usually they are sold overseas. The investigator I spoke to told me that the usual payment is about a hundred dollars per number; one work shift could net you several thousand dollars if you managed to swipe all the numbers for that shift.

It happened to me while I was travelling in the UK; the charges were all incurred in Jakarta, Indonesia. It was easy to prove I hadn't made the charges, as I had my passport stamps to show that I was in the UK at the time. In my case, it turned out that the employee on the take worked for the bank that issued the credit card; he had a gambling problem, and was selling account numbers to get cash to cover it.

PS: I would contact the hotels' gen'l managers. The police are likely to be going at the investigation from the other end; trying to find the person who actually made the fraudulent charges. The hotels should be made aware so that they can watch for evidence that someone might be copying numbers. If you send copies of your check-out receipts (with cc account numbers blacked out, of course), they will be check the records of your stay, and track back which machine handled each transaction, and what employee was on that station at the time. Every transaction you made would have been coded that way by the computer systems.