Logged in to my ‘special’ account that I use almost exclusively for my holiday savings, only to find nearly $1500 missing in a number of separate transactions just a couple of days ago. I’m hoping that the bank honours the debits as being fraudulent, but it might take 8 weeks for a resolution. And I’m going on hols in just 6 weeks…might be a tight squeeze.
I’m curious as to how a hacker gets in though. I HAVE used my card overseas, but the last time was in May 2018. Only time used here in Australia has been for minor purchases when I get to the checkout and realize that I’ve left my regular card at home. Most activity is deposits, not debits.
Anyone else been hacked? And did you get any intel as to how it happened?
I’ve had my card skimmed at gas stations, hacked from various retailers (meaning the retailer’s system was hacked and data was stolen, including mine). I’ve even been impacted when the credit card companies or reporting agencies (such as Equifax) were hacked. It’s also happened at a few restaurants and at least once at a hotel.
There are a wide variety of ways in which your information could be accessed, and many of them are completely beyond your control.
I’m sorry this happened. I hope it’s resolved before your hols.
Can you clarify - what it via fraudulent use of a debit card number? If you can say what type of card (e.g. Visa debit) you can probably get some peace of mind on whether you will get restitution. I remember it was quite easy to find Visa debit policy for fraudulent transactions on a prior thread, and I suspect most of them have their policy online as it’s a selling point promoting the card.
You weren’t hacked. The account probably wasn’t hacked. The account information may have been physically skimmed or removed from a server that was actually hacked. And then used in an otherwise normal set of purchases. But fraudulent charge != “hacked”.
One thing you can learn is to never use a debit card for purchases, only credit cards. But that’s something that a’changed thirty years ago.
In the US you’d be covered & have your money back in plenty of time. I don’t know consumer banking laws in Upsidedownland but I suspect they’re somewhat similar; otherwise, once word of how one person got screwed no one else would use a debit card.
I’ve had two cards compromised. First a debit card was skimmed at an ATM, the bank refunded me within days. Second was a credit card whose details were stolen at a pizza place, that was caught by the banks fraud department and I didn’t lose anything.
Neither one could happen again in the same way. My debit card is now a chip card and online credit card purchases requires 2-factor authentication. But who knows what new methods are being cooked up by card thieves.
The best part about the thefts? They both happened while I was part of the team adding new security measures to the card processing software. So I got to be a real world example for the developers working on preventing this sort of thing.
I didn’t even have a debit card until recently. My gf asked me to order her something using my Amazon Prime account, where she has one of her credit card numbers on file.
Turns out the card had expired. She didn’t want to deal with it at the time and told me she’d give me the cash. So, I ordered her item and paid with my credit card.
Minutes later I get a text from some entity called Zelle. My gf sent me cash using Zelle, which I’d never heard of. The only way to get my $$ involved giving them my debit card number. So, now I’m in the process of getting a debit card that I’ll never use after this one transaction.
I had my card number stolen recently. I think it was boosted from a hotel hack. It was used for some Uber rides in NYC. I’ve never used Uber and I live on the left coast, never been to NYC.
My bank, Wells Fargo, was very helpful and prompt. I got a new debit card within a week (They issued me a temporary one immediately), and the incident went under review but was resolved within a week. They didn’t charge me anything and the phone help desk was great.
There are other ways of getting you money (electronically) rather than using Zelle, which requires you to go out of your way to do something. Zelle can get you your money quickly, if you already have a debit card & text messaging (not everyone does) & both use one of the participating banks. If you use a small, community bank &/or credit union, you may not be able to use it.
Well, I am going to give Citibank a BIG PLUG HERE! The money that was withdrawn with the first two debits on 02/01 has been reinstated to my account already. $1100 worth.
The other 4 x withdrawals went out on 04/01 so I imagine they will appear in the next couple of days. Sheesh…just one full business day after reporting the scam and I’m back in the black.
All the monies have been reinstated to my account, YAY.
But I’m still really curious how this happened. YES, I was in Vietnam last year, YES, the transactions went out in VND. Got that.
But my Citi account alerts me when a transaction goes through, but for the 6 x ones that were fraudulent, no alert happened on my phone.
Did the fraudster manage to actually hack my account and change other personal details like my phone contact? Should I just cancel that whole account and start a new
I’ve only ever had it happen once. There was an attempted charge on my American Express card for a $300+ Uber charge. Amex sent me an email to let me know they denied it. I did call them to see if I could get any details (like where it was) but they had none. Only that it was denied and that they could push it through if I informed them that it was a legit charge.
My first thought was some Uber driver is going to be pissed they did’t get paid for such a long drive (or Uber itself, I guess). Then I realized that most likely no one went anywhere, someone probably just told Uber they were taking a long trip and used the fake card and set it up so the driver was themself or a friend.
Anyway, this, and several of the examples mentioned here, are why I don’t use a debit card. Only credit cards (that are paid off constantly). When I explain to people that they can be used fraudulently, they always interrupt me to say that the bank will reimburse me. Yes, that’s true. I’ll get all the money back*, my issue is that in the mean time, I won’t have any money. I’d much rather they max out one of my credit cards and I have to use the other one for a few days than over draw my bank account and suddenly I can’t pay my mortgage or electric bill etc.
*IIRC, with debit cards you can be responsible for $50, so if they don’t waive that, you’re still out $50.
Doubtful. If an account is compromised that severely it would have all funds withdrawn immediately. But what is a good idea is to check if there are additional security features you could enable on the account, 2-factor authentication etc.
