Identity Theft: A Reality That Can Happen to Anyone. Yes, including YOU.
By Nelson Carrillo
Last Friday evening as I was pulling over at the Office Depot parking lot here in San Diego I get a phone call on my personal cell phone from a Fraudulent Claim Representative from my bank. Let's call the representative "Justine."
Justine tells me that unusual activity on my Mastercard Debit Card has come up on the computer software the bank runs to spot possible fraudulent activity. She immediately asked me if I had just made a number of back to back purchases of electronics at two very well known stores that sell electronics such as Big Screen TV's, Computers, etc...
Of Course not! I answered. I have not used my card at all that day. I immediately reach in my pocket for my wallet. I pull out my mastercard debit card. I tell Justine how that could happen if I had possession of the card?!?!? She suggests that my debit card could have been skimmed or someone just stole my identity some other way. I thought I was always careful with my sensitive information (shreding docs, covering pin keypad at ATM, not letting anyone else see or use my cards, etc).
Anyway, Justine proceeds and tells me that she's going to cancel my debit card and issue me a new one. She then gives me instructions on what to do to file the identity theft/fraudulant card usage claims the following Monday to dispute those fraudulent charges.
I immediately, after hanging up, log on to my bank account from my iPhone and what do I see?????? My account completely cleaned! It had been left to a Negative Balance!!! Thousands of dollars gone in two hours!
As I looked at the transactions on my iphone, it listed the Two stores the card was used, their location, times of transactions, and amounts charged. Well, I drove to one of those stores and upon arrival requested to speak to security and loss prevention. Told them what had happened. They ran my credit card to find the transactions and from there, they were able to find good and clear evidence. We called the local police department filed police report, and blah blah blah. I then went to other store and same thing, they retrieved copies of the transaction receipts and from there got all the info as well for the police since they could not share that information with me.
Security and loss prevention at both stores told me that on all the receipts, they show my debit card number along with a different name. The criminals had a fake credit card made with my mastercard number and a different name. So that in case they're asked for an id, the name on the card matches that on their id. My debit card was skimmed!!! After tracing my steps, I remember using an ATM that I normally dont use. Went back to look at it and saw a skimming device on it after the fact, of course! I notified local police immediately.
Be careful out there when using your credit/debit cards. Beware of skimming devices on ATM's. Educate yourself and tell your loved ones.
Here's an update: On Monday, I filed a claim. On Tuesday the fraudulent charges posted. On Wednesday, I received the form to fill out to dispute the charges and submitted it immediately that morning. Same day in the afternoon, my bank credited all the charges back to my account! Thanks, Chase, that was fast!
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