We have two checking accounts with our local credit union. One for our common expenses, and one only my wife uses. Her debit card apparently got hacked; the CU was very good about canceling the card and reimbursing the charges. (Bonus points to them for the immediate reimbursement!)
The thing is, I also have a debit card that accesses that account. I put it away in a drawer and literally never use it. But one of the fraudulent charges was on my card. How did the hackers manage to clone a card that’s never been used?
(Put in IMHO, but if there is any actual factual answer, this can move to FQ.)
I presume they had access to the online account, which gave them the details of the card, and maybe did their purchases online as well.
It could be somebody who works for the bank, or somebody who successfully hacked into your own account. Have your or your wife recently received any emails pertaining to your bank account (which might have been fraudulent phishing attempts)?
Definitely not phished. And if they did somehow get into our online access, that would have let them into our other checking & savings accounts, which remain untouched. And I don’t see any details of our debit cards anywhere online.
An inside job crossed my mind, but if so, why only that account? And at a Pizza Hut and a motel 6 in Klamath Falls OR? While mine was used at a beauty supply store in Vancouver BC.
Just seems really weird…
It happened to me once, too.
I got a call from my bank asking to verify a withdrawal of $200 from an ATM in California. They implied the PIN was used. I confirmed it was not me, they sent a new card and I never heard anything else again.
I only use my debit card for ATM stuff and, MAYBE every few years at a place that doesn’t take my usual Amex CC and those are never PIN transactions. I make a point to only use ATMs in Chase branches to help with skimmers or cams or dodgy machines. I’ve never been called about an ATM transaction, before or since. I have to wonder if I didn’t get caught up in a drill/training exercise, a mistake, an inside job or something because I really don’t think I slipped up.
She did use her card at a non-bank ATM a couple of weeks ago. We figure that’s most likely how they skimmed hers. But how did they manage to hack my card, which has a different number, and which has never been used for anything, anywhere? That’s the mystery.
Credit Union, and most bank employees working as tellers, are barely paid above minimum wage. I live in a large county with few people in it, and I have lived here for almost 70 years, so it is not unusual to know the background of the people working at my local credit union.
My reaction when I walk in has often been, “How did this person get hired here and is handling money?!” Maybe they turned their life around, maybe this is a new chance, or maybe they shouldn’t be handling my money information.
It is not always someone from outside that is taking advantage of you.
Dallas,
I am curious. What were the signs the tellers gave you that led you to believe that they were unqualified to be handing money? I very rarely go into my bank in person ever since they allowed us to deposit checks using my mobile phone but whenever I do my tellers - Bank of America - all seem to be normal run of the mill people. They are mostly female too and seemingly non-threatening.
Because I read the local 911 event logs, the police scanner reports, and the county jail roster, daily. It is all available on line if you know where to look. And the same names keep coming up, over and over, and over again. And then after a slight pause where they may have been given another chance, I see them behind the counter.
1234 5678 0000 0001 - July 23 - 001
1234 5678 0000 0001 - July 23 - 002
1234 5678 0000 0001 - July 23 - 003
…
1234 5678 0000 0002 - July 23 - 001
(Yes I know there’s a check digit somewhere. That makes it easier.)
Hack into a few small business ecommerce sites and use their systems to do this in bulk, and eventually you’ll hit on one that works.