credit card fraud after 3 months here!
 

someone started using our credit card details near San Diego. Luckily the amounts charged were small, and the credit card company fraud department detected it. It's taken a week to sort out and get a new credit card number, and update several companies who will be billing our card periodically

Colleagues have mentioned this can happen quite often here in USA, so maybe it's worth getting two credit cards:-

1. one that you only use with really trusted parties (such as utility companies) and leave at home

2. the other for day to day purchases, and when travelling, which may get compromised and so need to be cancelled

Re: credit card fraud after 3 months here!
 

Actually it isn't a bad idea to have at least 2 cards that you use for "day to day purchases" precisely so that if (when) one of them is compromised (either for real or just because the credit card company's fraud department was a little over zealous and put a stop on it) you still have another one that you can use.

It is important that you use both of them because if you keep one "just for emergencies" that you don't normally use then when you *do* start to use it the credit card company will get suspicious at the "unusual" usage pattern and you might find that one getting blocked after only 2 or 3 purchases.

Re: credit card fraud after 3 months here!
 

i got hit within 2 months. Amex were very helpful sorting it out.

Re: credit card fraud after 3 months here!
 

grr, I'm in the middle of it now.
Darn Europeans having a field day too. Trying, anyway.

Re: credit card fraud after 3 months here!
 

Get a shredder and nuke anything with your name and address that comes through the door from credit card companies etc...

Re: credit card fraud after 3 months here!
 

I've got to hand it to the CC companies tho... they are very good at catching fraudulent use and apart from the wait they make it very straightforward to sort it out.

It's also worth getting your free credit report annually to just be sure there isn't anything else untoward happening under your name.

Re: credit card fraud after 3 months here!
 

That's an excellent practice, but unfortunately the major proportion of CC fraud comes from circumstances outside the individuals control (i.e. dishonest employees of a business you use your card at, mass compromise of a companies records, etc. Only true way to be bullet proof is not to use credit cards. Being as that's almost impossible these days, the next best thing is to regularly monitor your account to catch is as soon as possible.

Re: credit card fraud after 3 months here!
 

I recently had an instance where two of my cards were skimmed at a Bank of America ATM in New York City. Our bank didn't alert us to this and the thieves drained our checking account, putting us into overdraft fees within a week. Luckily most of our money is in our savings account and the two are not linked.

What really amazed us was how common this seems to be. "Tis the season for fraud" the bank manager told us, indicating that we were the second couple with this issue that day, and it was 10am.

To their credit, they did put all of the funds back within a day or two, the speed was amazing really. Still ... it's amazing that this goes on so frequently.

Re: credit card fraud after 3 months here!
 

I am 99% sure that is what happened to me as I shred everything.

Re: credit card fraud after 3 months here!
 

That's true, but you can only do what you can control...

Re: credit card fraud after 3 months here!
 

I second this suggestion - and would even go a bit farther. The 3 major credit reporting agencies - Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax - all let you to get a free credit report once each year. So, you get one from Experian, and then 4 months later get one from TransUnion, and then 4 months later get one from Equifax. Four months later, it's the next year and you can do it all again... and again... etc.

Monitoring your account every 4 months is a lot better than once annually. :)

Ian

Re: credit card fraud after 3 months here!
 

Yep, that's what I do, even to the extent of marking on my electronic calendar when I can get the next free report from each of the three agencies.

And I second the earlier call about cc companies having gotten better about tracking fraudulent usage. I made a big (c $700) charge online yesterday and within two hours I got a call asking me to confirm the charge was mine. Otoh, I have had my card with this company compromised twice in the past, so maybe I'm marked for "special" treatment!