My credit card was scanned and used for fraudulent charges. Should I?
Call the places where the card was used or should I just hope the bank is doing the investigation? I am not sure where the card was scanned or photoed or whatever they do, but a large amount was charged at walmartonline.com, sephora.com, and zazzle. I went to the bank the day after I saw the charges and destroyed my card. Hopefully, bank insurance will cover the charges, but it ticks me that there is a thief out there so I am wondering if I can call the numbers and ask them where the merchandise was sent? It isn't fair to our banks that they have to cover costs either. What else can I do? Should I have reported it to our local police? I haven't charged anything online. It is just unsettling wondering who stole from me. If you have any advise that can help me to be more careful, I would appreciate it. I usually keep my eyes on my card when using it. I guess it can happen fast. Bummer people are too lazy to get a real job.
Reena2013-11-17T12:16:27Z
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You needed to call your credit card company (bank) and report the fraudulent charges. They will do the investigation, refund the charges and you are not liable for the charges, of course.
It is useless to call the merchants. The charges were done online on their automated websites and the card information was most likely taken when you swiped your card at a compromised terminal. This could have been anywhere... from a gas station to your local grocery store.
Here is how it works: Criminal installs their capture device at an unattended terminal (breaks into gas pump at night, manages to get it done at the check out lane that is hardly ever used in the grocery store, etc.) You pay at this terminal as usual and nobody is the wiser until they "harvest" the capture device and use the information and load it onto a gift card. Now this card is then sold to another set of criminals or they don't even bother and just use your card number and PIN that was copied while you used the compromised terminal.
The merchants don't know who it was that used the card and even if you should find out... you are better off not knowing because these are hard core criminals - usually gangs - that won't hesitate to get violent.
Never put your card into a gas pump. PERIOD... Go inside and prepay with the cashier. The inside terminal is protected by a firewall and under constant "surveillance" by the cashier. It is impossible for a criminal to get into that one without being questioned by the cashier.
At the grocery store... Always use the "busy" isle. Stay away from the lane that is at the very end and is only ever opened when a line forms. Those are the lanes that do not have a cashier at their post all the time and can be overlooked by the employees.... which gives a crook the few minutes it takes to break into the terminal and install their device.
One more thing... don't feel sorry for the banks... they don't lose a penny. The merchant is the one that will get the charge back. So feel sorry for the merchant that lost the money and the merchandise.
You are not liable for fraudulent charges on your credit card as long as you report the charges in a timely matter. Don't worry about what stores the charges are from...let your credit card company worry about that. Just call the credit card company and request charge backs on all fraudulent charges...and have the card cancelled and re-issued under a new #. You don't need to call the police either...If the credit card company has ample evidence of who did this, then they will take care of prosecuting this person on their own.
You should not do any investigation--that's the responsibility of the bank and the police. Whether they do so or not shouldn't really matter to you (once you get over your anger) since, provided you promptly alerted the bank, you will not be held responsible for the money.
Do not call the places. If you call the places, you might task to the person who did it, and accidentally warn that person to destroy the evidence before the police come. Let the bank and the police handle it.