Farking credit card thieves!!!!

Hasn't ever happened to me, but I use cash 99% of the time when it's an option, and I know how to spot an ATM with a card scraper attached.

I have never seen one of those card scrapers, but one was found on the ATM outside the main branch of my bank. That took cojones, and they were quickly caught. Yay.

In a related topic, today I got the scam call from "Card Services."
I felt like playing along.
All I needed to do was give the expiration date of my card.
They could not tell me which card so the Indian accented woman just said Visa through Chase or Bank One.
Then to verify that I was the card holder she wanted me to give the LAST 12 Digits of the card.
Yeah, right.

stuart in mn wrote: Happened to me once, after eating at a restaurant and letting the waiter take the card away with him to run the charge.

So how do you handle a restaurant purchase? Here they always take the card away.

Its happened to me on Amazon a couple times.

I told my wife that with some of the great deals I get on Amazon, its practically worth my card getting stolen annually.

I guess my bank is on top of it though because they always seem to catch any fraudulent activity immediately.

failboat, why do you suspect Amazon? I've been using amazon and I wonder if that's where mine got released to the wild.

When you buy something through amazon, and it is from a 3rd party, not amazon themselves, does the 3rd party get your credit card number or does amazon handle all that and the 3rd party only gets money from amazon?

My cleaners was robbed last year. They put all bills larger than $10 in a canvas bag under the counter and, unfortunately, put all the CC slips in the bag, too. Guy produces a gun and says "Gimme the bag under the counter." So now they're calling all their customers to tell them to cancel their cards. Idiots.

Dr. Hess wrote: When you buy something through amazon, and it is from a 3rd party, not amazon themselves, does the 3rd party get your credit card number or does amazon handle all that and the 3rd party only gets money from amazon?

At least if you're small fry (I sell the occasional book on Amazon), Amazon Payments handles all the payment processing including the deduction of their share.

All I see is that a certain person has successfully paid and that I need to dispatch whatever they bought. Nobody shows me any CC numbers.

In reply to Dr. Hess:

because I rarely buy stuff online. amazon is one of my more frequented sites, although as you point out sometimes it seems its just a storefront for other vendors.

I assumed it was because I dont have my amazon account nearly secure enough.

one other time (several years ago, with a different card and bank) I determined it got stolen with a scanner at a dc metro fare card terminal.

It is almost alarming how fast my bank(s) have caught this activity, always before I ever notice something is amiss and always before a charge ever clears. I try not to think much about how they are tracking my purchasing habits and general movement on a daily basis. lol.

I would doubt that amazon was the leak then. As I said, I think if you're an amazon vendor, amazon handles the billing and you don't see the customer's card info. I would hope that amazon was secure, but anything is possible.

spitfirebill wrote:

stuart in mn wrote: Happened to me once, after eating at a restaurant and letting the waiter take the card away with him to run the charge.

So how do you handle a restaurant purchase? Here they always take the card away.

Either I pay cash, or else I tell them I can't do it - I'll pay at the front of the restaurant so the card doesn't leave my sight.

Another way to skim credit cards:

http://consumerist.com/2013/10/17/scammers-distract-cashiers-install-skimmers-on-nordstrom-cash-registers/