Melissa B Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 Our bank credit card number was stolen on Friday (or hacked from the computer - not sure) and the person who stole our number used it to make a $1000 donation to a charity! :confused: :confused: I check my account every morning - so while on vacation yesterday, my dh and I drove to our nearest bank branch. We had to cancel the card and have a new one issued. Later that day we called the charity (they are out of California so we waited until noon) and the man we talked to on the phone said this person had used 60 card numbers to make donations. I would assume $1000 each. The charity didn't appreciate it, as they had to go back and refund all of the money. What is the point of this??? Is it just a joke to the person stealing the numbers? It seems like a great risk with no benefit to anyone including the person stealing the numbers in the first place. The money was returned to our account the next day, so it was only a small issue for us. If I hadn't checked, maybe we could have overdrawn the account before the money was credited back to our account? Is this a common thing? I have never even heard of stealing bank numbers to donate money to charity. And using 60 different numbers is a sure way to get caught. Or at least it would seem so to me. :huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalanamak Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 Sounds a bit deranged. Perhaps the voices told him he had to do this or suffer grave consequences. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KAR120C Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 The trick is that if there's no shipment to be made, they might slip by without you noticing. But generally, the donation is very small - like $5 - and done only as a test of the card before they start using it for actual stuff. It sounds like it was stolen by a rank amateur... a professional would have done something much smaller in hopes of staying under the radar and being able to use the card again... especially if he had 60 to cycle through. I can't imagine anyone would overlook a $1000 charge! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nestof3 Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 It sounds like it was stolen by a rank amateur... a professional would have done something much smaller in hopes of staying under the radar and being able to use the card again... especially if he had 60 to cycle through. I can't imagine anyone would overlook a $1000 charge! That is so strange! This reminds me. When someone stole my credit card (which my then 3-year old had pulled out of my wallet and dropped on the booth in a restaurant), the person attempted use at a gas station, then went to Hechts, then Circuit City. He/she was denied use at Hechts (I guess they asked for ID), but Circuit City let the person buy $4,400 worth of merchandise -- without identification! The thing is, I called the police, and they said I had to get Circuit City to file it. So, I called Circuit City, and they didn't want to check on it. They had the transaction time, they had an overhead camera. ugh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asta Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 I saw a story about this (sorry, don't know where - CNN? - I read a LOT of news)... it is happening to a lot of people who have clicked on political sites this year. The story was about a man who had the same thing happen as you, and the police kept asking him "are you SURE you didn't click on so and so's donation button?" The poor guy kept saying NO - so and so is not my political persuasion; I went to the site to read policies (trying to be the informed voter, etc.). The gist of the story was that this guy wasn't the only case that the credit fraud agencies were dealing with. asta (hope you get it settled) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
battlemaiden Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 Our bank credit card number was stolen on Friday (or hacked from the computer - not sure) and the person who stole our number used it to make a $1000 donation to a charity! :confused: :confused: I check my account every morning - so while on vacation yesterday, my dh and I drove to our nearest bank branch. We had to cancel the card and have a new one issued. Later that day we called the charity (they are out of California so we waited until noon) and the man we talked to on the phone said this person had used 60 card numbers to make donations. I would assume $1000 each. The charity didn't appreciate it, as they had to go back and refund all of the money. What is the point of this??? Is it just a joke to the person stealing the numbers? It seems like a great risk with no benefit to anyone including the person stealing the numbers in the first place. The money was returned to our account the next day, so it was only a small issue for us. If I hadn't checked, maybe we could have overdrawn the account before the money was credited back to our account? Is this a common thing? I have never even heard of stealing bank numbers to donate money to charity. And using 60 different numbers is a sure way to get caught. Or at least it would seem so to me. :huh: I'm curious. What was the charity for? If you don't feel comfortable giving the actual name can you tell us it's general function or area of charitable work? Thanks. Jo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blessedfamily Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 My mother's card# was stolen by a fast food worker when she used it at a drive-thru because she didn't have cash on her. They charged a bunch of calls to a s*x line in California, but the cc company caught it right away and called her house. I told her never to use her cc at a drive-thru but I guess when you have a Big Mac attack, you do what you have to. I agree with the poster who said he's a bit of an amateur. Thieves are supposed to make small charges first to check the card and then charge the cards up quickly thereafter. He had 60 cards so maybe just breaking into the business on these websites that sell cc#'s or else he works for a store or bank. If he/she was smart enough to hack some company's computer system, you would expect more common sense in carrying out the rest of the theft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paisley Hedgehog Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 nm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Country Mouse Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 I had someone get a hold of my AmEx number and they did what pp mentioned - charged a dollar to Nature Conservancy and then ordered a PSP bundle. What really bothered me was that I had to call AmEx to tell them it was a fraudulent charge. Then, they investigated - got all the records from the online co. that sold the PSP, complete with a shipping address to some guy many states away - and said it wasn't fraud. :confused: I had to keep calling until they finally credited it back to my card. It made me mad because it was so obviously fraud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renee in NC Posted November 3, 2008 Share Posted November 3, 2008 That is so strange! This reminds me. When someone stole my credit card (which my then 3-year old had pulled out of my wallet and dropped on the booth in a restaurant), the person attempted use at a gas station, then went to Hechts, then Circuit City. He/she was denied use at Hechts (I guess they asked for ID), but Circuit City let the person buy $4,400 worth of merchandise -- without identification! The thing is, I called the police, and they said I had to get Circuit City to file it. So, I called Circuit City, and they didn't want to check on it. They had the transaction time, they had an overhead camera. ugh It's actually against our Merchant Services Agreement to ask for I.D. - we are not allowed to do so by Visa, MasterCard, Amex, or Discover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nestof3 Posted November 3, 2008 Share Posted November 3, 2008 It's actually against our Merchant Services Agreement to ask for I.D. - we are not allowed to do so by Visa, MasterCard, Amex, or Discover. Wow -- is this a normal thing and most companies are violating it? Most places ask for an ID if my purchase is over $50. I wonder what the purpose of such an agreement could be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renee in NC Posted November 3, 2008 Share Posted November 3, 2008 Wow -- is this a normal thing and most companies are violating it? Most places ask for an ID if my purchase is over $50. I wonder what the purpose of such an agreement could be? It's my impression that it is true for everyone, but maybe it is only our processor. The other thing is that requiring minimum purchases also violates the agreement, so I have to let people charge $1 on their card (even if it will cost me almost that much in fees.) I have NEVER been carded for a major credit card purchase. Maybe it is a state by state thing? Even so, in FL my mother cannot I.D. people either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa B Posted November 3, 2008 Author Share Posted November 3, 2008 I'm curious. What was the charity for? If you don't feel comfortable giving the actual name can you tell us it's general function or area of charitable work? Thanks. Jo Hi Jo, It was a very large charitable organization whose function is not allowed to be discussed on this board due to board rules. It is not a charity that I personally support - so it was especially shocking to see it show up on the bank statement. :) When we contacted the charity the man we spoke to was very forthcoming and knowledgable. He had no problem identifying the donation and fixing the problem. In fact, it had been identified and corrected before we even called. It simply took overnight to refund to our account. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeanestMomInMidwest Posted November 3, 2008 Share Posted November 3, 2008 It's actually against our Merchant Services Agreement to ask for I.D. - we are not allowed to do so by Visa, MasterCard, Amex, or Discover. Instead of my signature, I have "please ask for photo ID" written on the sig line of all my credit/debit cards.....Of course this won't help with online stuff. You would be surprised, though, how many times I've made purchases and the checker either doesn't even flip the card over to look for a sig or flips it over, and runs the transaction through w/o asking for ID. Of course nowadays there are many merchants who use the scanner thing that we run our own cards through, so the checker never touches/sees the card. We have only been the victim of fraud one time and we caught it very early (it was our Sears MC) and they erased the charges no questions asked. We were alerted because a vendor called us at home when the billing address on the cc didn't match up with the shipping address for the $500 worth of perfume ordered over the telephone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renee in NC Posted November 3, 2008 Share Posted November 3, 2008 Wow -- is this a normal thing and most companies are violating it? Most places ask for an ID if my purchase is over $50. I wonder what the purpose of such an agreement could be? It's a Master Card policy: 9.11.2 Cardholder Identification A merchant must not refuse to complete a MasterCard card transaction solely because a cardholder who has complied with the conditions for presentment of a card at the POI [point of interaction] refuses to provide additional identification information, except as specifically permitted or required by the Standards. A merchant may require additional identification from the cardholder if the information is required to complete the transaction, such as for shipping purposes. A merchant in a country or region that supports use of the MasterCard Address Verification Service (AVS) may require the cardholder’s ZIP or postal code to complete a cardholder-activated terminal (CAT) transaction, or the cardholder’s address and ZIP or postal code to complete a mail order, phone order, or e-commerce transaction. (http://www.mastercard.com/us/wce/PDF/MERC-Entire_Manual.pdf) For Visa: When should you ask a cardholder for an official government ID? Although Visa rules do not preclude merchants from asking for cardholder ID, merchants cannot make an ID a condition of acceptance. Therefore, merchants cannot refuse to complete a purchase transaction because a cardholder refuses to provide ID. Visa believes merchants should not ask for ID as part of their regular card acceptance procedures. Laws in several states also make it illegal for merchants to write a cardholder’s personal information, such as an address or phone number, on a sales receipt. (http://usa.visa.com/download/merchants/rules_for_visa_merchants.pdf, Rules for Visa Merchants, page 29). So they can ask, but if you don't provide they can't insist! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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