Check your bank statement carefully

[CajunMama]

My atm mastercard/bank account has evidently been compromised. I had 2 withdrawels to earthlink.net on April 7 & 11 for $65 each. I called earthlink and "harry" wanted me to give him my checking account number. Yeah right harry! He put me on to his supervisor "Marco" who only found one of the withdrawels. Yeah right Marco! I've emailed them at their abuse center and also called my bank. I'll be heading to my bank tomorrow to fill out the forms to dispute these transactions.

This is scary. How did someone get my account number.????? I shred all documents with numbers on them.

And, i've never used earthlink for internet. I've only used bellsouth or cox for my internet.

[angelwing]

CM, that's one of the reasons I no longer have a checking account, about 5 years ago someone somehow got my debit card numbers and completely wiped out my bank account, it was a mess! I'm still working on it, but in the meantime I got a credit union account (no checking) and I pay my bills with mney orders (I get them for free)..it's a lot less headaches for me.

[Jack8631]

If your checking account was compromised, it might be a good idea to check your credit report if you haven't done so already.

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp

[angelwing]

Good idea and you can call one of them to put a 90 day fraud alert so no one can open an account in your name, I just did that myself

[Stephanie]

That is scary Cajun! I know I would feel so insecure now about my information.

[vbhoutex]

Do make sure you put a fraud alert on all 3 of the major bureaus. I did after our checking account was used fraudulently and it was obvious they had the info they needed to open accounts. I much prefer the inconvenience of talking to someone at the credit bureau to approve my own application for credit as opposed to finding thousands more than I have gone out of my accounts(due to bank incompetence and the theft of information from a previously written check).

[Cryomaniac]

My girlfriend lost £700 thanks to an elaborate scheme which caused about 200 people's details to be stolen when they paid at a gas station using a credit or debit card. She got the money back from the bank, but it took a few weeks and caused a lot of stress.

[tropicana]

that is really scary.

[southerngale]

Dang, Frick! I have seen a few unusual withdrawals on my account that initially sparked a red flag, but I always figure them out. *crosses fingers*
I have a lot of withdrawals with my debit card as I rarely use cash, so there's a gazillion transactions on my statements. They don't always list the name of the places, so if I don't recognize the address, I'll search it online. I'm always like, "oh yeah."

I get quite annoyed when the person behind me at a store gets too close when I'm entering my PIN. I have no problem holding up my hand to cover what I'm doing while giving them a look of "uhh, how 'bout some personal space?" I'll be done in a minute... get off my tail.

[coriolis]

I hope you get to the bottom of this CM. Thanks for the reminder.

I check my checking account daily on line. My biggest concern is security on my computer, but my best defense is never having any money!

[CajunMama]

I've sent an email to disputing the charges to earthlink. I also went to my bank this morning and cancelled my debit card and they are going to dispute the charges also. My new debit card will take about 10 days to come in. I actually had to write a check today. I almost forgot how to!

[gtalum]

It's no cause to freak out or be afraid. These things happen. It's a good reminder to always check your statements carefully. I monitor my accounts online at least twice a week.

This is also why I use a credit card to pay for everything I can, and then directly use my checking account as little as possible. If someone gets hold of my credit card info, then my dispute is done on the bank's dime instead of my dime.

[CajunMama]

gtalum, i don't know how they got my debit card number. That's whats so confusing to me. It could have been in the grocery store or something like that. There's a restaurant here in town that had all their customers cards compromised and they believe it's no one local but someone overseas. I've had airline tickets charged to my discover card before and they took the charges off as soon as i called them.

[angelwing]

After I got crapped on, I pay cash from now on or money order, it's easier and safer and no fees.

[southerngale]

After I got crapped on, I pay cash from now on or money order, it's easier and safer and no fees.

I don't pay any fees for my debit card (or my checking account), but money orders would cost money, plus I have so many bills... if I had to go buy money orders all the time, I know I would have late fees. I pay bills several times a week and I love the convenience of paying them online. I have enough trouble keeping up with it when I can just go to my computer and do it. lol Going out and buying money orders, filling them out, filling out the envelopes and mailing them would be a pain in the butt for me. I understand why you do it, though.
Also, while what you do is safer in one aspect, I had my wallet stolen right out of my hand years ago... I'm uncomfortable carrying very much cash around.

[Cryomaniac]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article3455652.ece

A link to the article about what happened to my girlfriend. The second comment at the bottom is by her.

[gtalum]

Cryo, that's why I use a credit card and not a debit card. I am not out any money at all if someone uses my credit card number fraudulently.

It also helps that I earn 1.5% cash-back (5% on gas and groceries) for using it.

[tigergirl]

I use my debit card for everything and after reading this thread, will be more cautious!

[CajunMama]

Another $65 earthlink got thru yesterday. I went to my bank and the woman who helped me had already seen it and added that to my claim. Total up to $195 now. Another transaction tried to go through but was cancelled and credited. This one was to Domain/Hosting Services out of arizona.

[southerngale]

Didn't you cancel your debit card yesterday? Did it go through before that? Surely not after. Geesh... this is creepy.

I'm a little surprised that it takes 10 days to get a new debit card though. When I lost my debit card (in my house... kid playing with my wallet!), I went to the credit union to replace it and they suggested that I just cancel that one to be on the safe side, since I wasn't sure where it was, and I got a new one with a number right then.

What's a check?