*** Beware ***

[skyhightree1]

My mom called me and told me she was at a business meeting and ordered her food and then she went to pay for it her debit card declined. She told them its no way it declined they ran it again and it declined. She paid with a credit card went to her car after being TOTALLY embarassed called the bank and her checking acct where she uses that debit to pay bills and her checks deposited was with a .18 balance. She asked them how was that they said a tow company called sq towing has ran her car for 7800 so far and she has no $ left she told them that wasnt correct and advised someone has stole the money they started the fraud process and the next day she tells me the bank said the people are still trying to send authorization to get 1200 one hour 800 the next hour 1400 another hour all day long and they are tracking it. Meanwhile she has to go to police and file report then send it back to bank so she can get her $$ back. How did this happen? By being a nice person my moms friend didnt have $$ to get her car towed after breaking down so mom said i will pay for it just pay me back when you can. The tow truck driver apparently called in her tow to his legit company and had written the number down and he had a fake tow company set up with a bank acct and a card processing program and was doing it that way.

 

[highgrit]

Happens all the time. The card companies need to do a better job of looking out for the customer. We've been defrauded twice so far and to the tune of over 50k. The credit card companies took full responsibility both times. And both times the money went to Brazil. Sure stresses you out when stuff like that happens.

 

[skyhightree1]

Happens all the time. The card companies need to do a better job of looking out for the customer. We've been defrauded twice so far and to the tune of over 50k. The credit card companies took full responsibility both times. And both times the money went to Brazil. Sure stresses you out when stuff like that happens.

Its terrible and you are right to bad you can't get paid for your time to help fix the issue. I gotta say my credit union credit card company saw 2 large purchases and shut my card down because I never charge more than a couple hundred to keep my acct active.I called they told me that's why they turned it off

 

[LRTX1]

That's why I keep my cards maxed out, that way the thieves will get declined! :shock: :lol:

Sorry to hear about that Sky, hopefully everything will work out for your mom.

 

[skyhightree1]

That's why I keep my cards maxed out, that way the thieves will get declined! :shock: :lol:

Sorry to hear about that Sky, hopefully everything will work out for your mom.

:lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2:
Thanks LRTX1 It seems that its going well they said she will have her $$ back in a week talked to her a few mins ago the lady she talked to was lying saying shes only a dispatcher and cant do anything about anything the police dept called the same lady she admitted she was the manager as well sounds like the dispatcher or driver are the guilty parties maybe they are in on it together.

 

[Jogeephus]

Happens all the time. The card companies need to do a better job of looking out for the customer. We've been defrauded twice so far and to the tune of over 50k. The credit card companies took full responsibility both times. And both times the money went to Brazil. Sure stresses you out when stuff like that happens.

Yep, lots of difference between a credit card and a debit card. Seems like there was some dumb SOB on here several months ago telling everyone to trash their debit cards and only use credit cards but apparently you can only lead a horse water but you can't make them drink.

 

[Shanghai]

I travel a lot for work and use a CC for everything(fuel, meals, hotels etc)
I've had my CC number stolen 4 times I can think of and probably more I have forgotten

No way would I use a debit card, If my CC number is stolen I can refuse to pay(CC caught it everytime and never had an issue.)
Debit on the other hand once the money is gone, you may not get it back.

 

[Jogeephus]

Sky, as a piece of advice for your mom, she need to contact everyone she has written a check to or has a draft with before their checks bounce and explain what has happened otherwise she will be hit with $50 per transaction fees for bounced checks. By being proactive with this maybe they will be kind and understanding and wave these charges but by law they still have the right to charge her these fees and they can add up fast.

Next thing is to take her debit cards and burn them and get her a credit card. Or don't. Heck, some people may enjoy this type stuff.

 

[skyhightree1]

Yes sir thats what shes done is told everyone that she had bills with and so far spent a day getting all that cleared up. The bank Suntrust has been good through the ordeal and her $ will be back in the bank next week. I use my debit card for lunch all the time and really never think of it. It has taught me a lesson and her have that acct for bills and a few hundred in an debit acct for gas and eating. The silver lining is shes getting her $ back but has this bs to deal with. I assure you she did not enjoy that experience.

 

[Jogeephus]

That's good she did that. I have a friend who is an attorney and he is very wealthy and does pro bono work for people to keep him busy. He has some terrible stories about people who have been taken with debit cards and the worst of it seems to be all the bounced checks and charges these people get hammered with when they did nothing wrong other than possess a debit card. After talking to him you couldn't pay me to have one of these things. I mean why even have one when you can use a credit card like a debit card and pay the bill each month. Any fraudulent charges you can refuse to pay. Its the banks fault for not demanding proof of id from the retailers so it should be on their shoulder not yours.

 

[skyhightree1]

That's good she did that. I have a friend who is an attorney and he is very wealthy and does pro bono work for people to keep him busy. He has some terrible stories about people who have been taken with debit cards and the worst of it seems to be all the bounced checks and charges these people get hammered with when they did nothing wrong other than possess a debit card. After talking to him you couldn't pay me to have one of these things. I mean why even have one when you can use a credit card like a debit card and pay the bill each month. Any fraudulent charges you can refuse to pay. Its the banks fault for not demanding proof of id from the retailers so it should be on their shoulder not yours.[

Definately should be their fault. I don't know I think im going to keep a bare minimum in my debit card I use so that way if someone got it the joke would be on them :mrgreen:

 

[TexasBred]

Shy someone tried to charge a bit over $12000 to my credit card about 6 weeks ago. Changes as little as $1.35 to one for over $6,000 and multiple attempt for amounts in between. Bank caught it, locked down the account and notified me. Last time I had used it was about a week before at a restaurant. I did go the restaurant and talk with the mgr. and toldhim what happened. Of course he acted like he had no idea what happened which may have been the truth. Anyway, cost me nothing except an anxiety attack. :lol: :lol: :lol: A few cool ones took care of that.

 

[skyhightree1]

Shy someone tried to charge a bit over $12000 to my credit card about 6 weeks ago. Changes as little as $1.35 to one for over $6,000 and multiple attempt for amounts in between. Bank caught it, locked down the account and notified me. Last time I had used it was about a week before at a restaurant. I did go the restaurant and talk with the mgr. and toldhim what happened. Of course he acted like he had no idea what happened which may have been the truth. Anyway, cost me nothing except an anxiety attack. :lol: :lol: :lol: A few cool ones took care of that.

LMAO... I know my mom had a few cool ones stuff like that really gets her worked up. I just dont understand why people would rather risk going to prison instead of getting out working for what they want.

 

[inyati13]

Shy someone tried to charge a bit over $12000 to my credit card about 6 weeks ago. Changes as little as $1.35 to one for over $6,000 and multiple attempt for amounts in between. Bank caught it, locked down the account and notified me. Last time I had used it was about a week before at a restaurant. I did go the restaurant and talk with the mgr. and toldhim what happened. Of course he acted like he had no idea what happened which may have been the truth. Anyway, cost me nothing except an anxiety attack. :lol: :lol: :lol: A few cool ones took care of that.

Works wonders for all manner of problems. :lol:

 

[Engler]

Pretty much all debit cards have a max charge that you can put on them in a day. I know that the bank I work at has $1,000 on the top end of most customers accounts. About once a month I get a call from someone saying that they tried to use their card and it won't go through and they know that there's money in the account. 9 out of 10 times it's over that daily limit amount, I have the operations people bump that limit so the transaction will go through in the next 10 minutes and then drop it back 3-4 days later. Customer is generally mad when we start, but when it is explained why we do it they usually understand. Not fool proof, but at least slows down the crooks. Also the processing company will sometimes lock down a card if it's out of the normal pattern for someones usage. Several years ago the boss was trying to buy gas on the KS turnpike and his card got shut down, wow did we catch be nice, but why was his card in Kansas when he rarely leaves Iowa thought the computer? As luck would have it, it was during normal business hours so we called the processing company and 10 minutes later it was back live.

I would think that the bank would honor the checks that had been written. No fault of your mom's that she got scammed. They are going to make her whole anyway, so why not save her the pita of calling everyone and getting it stopped.

You don't need to cut up the debit cards, just call the bank and see if they can drop the daily limit so that if someone is trying to clean you out it takes them a while and you can at least have a chance of catching it before your account gets down to $.18. Also, if you're traveling call the bank and say I'm going to X, they will probably give you a number to call if there are any problems and they can get ahead of anything that gets flagged. Moral of the story is the bank doesn't want to have to deal with a fraud deal any more than you do, so we try to build in safety features.

 

[skyhightree1]

Thanks for the post Engler I think my mom had her limit to 1200 or 1500 if im not mistaken.

 

[chippie]

I check my balance daily.

I am sorry to hear about your Mother skyhightree1. Happy that it will be made right.

 

[skyhightree1]

I check my balance daily.

I am sorry to hear about your Mother skyhightree1. Happy that it will be made right.

Thanks. I guess I will have to start watching my acct more im guilty of not balancing and checking all charges untill weeks later.

 

[chippie]

It is really important to.
A friend had a different sort of bank incident. She ordered checks from an online source. The company made an error and printed checks for another person and used her bank routing number and her checking account number. The person wrote about $1600 worth of checks that cleared the bank. My friend was shocked when she received bounced check notices. She hot footed it to the bank and the forgery was discovered when the images of her cancelled checks were viewed. She told me that her daughters fussed at her for not checking her account online daily. She does now.

 

[skyhightree1]

Yea I don't use checks all debit. When I go to auctions and buy stuff I either take case or in some cases the auction house will alow me to do a bank to bank wire of money to pay for stuff.