Someone is spending my money!

[Sush]

So like 5 minutes ago I went online to check my bank statement and there were two new charges that I DIDN'T DO!!! They were for some online anime game site (there was a phone number on the statement) . One charge was for $40 and the other $120!! I'm freaked out! I have my card and I know I wouldn't spend money on something like that. I called my bank and they have me on hold to dispute the claim. Has anyone ever had this happen? What did you do? Will I get my money back!? This sucks! I'm worried

 

[Sweet72947]

Looks like you've been a victim of identity theft. CANCEL THAT CARD IMMEDIATELY!! I'm sorry this happened to you. It happened to my mom once, somebody used her card to buy like $1000 worth of flowers in hawaii.

 

[Charliesmommy]

Yup! It happened to me. You will most likely get your money back, but I would advise to close the entire account. You bank will probably tell you to just cancel your credit/debit card, but that's what I did and whoever had my information figured out how to do some electronic check payments for some things. Close your account!

Do you have any idea how someone could have gotten your information? Do you shop online, or have you lost any of your cards?

 

[Sush]

What did she do? Did she end up getting her money back?

 

[ToscasMom]

It's probably ID theft. If it is, you are not responsible for the charges but you MUST notify the creditor and have the card flagged. They will cancel the card and issue a new one. Do not let a minute go by here. If you are a victim, the charges will pile on. You must notify immediately. Disputing the charges is not what you want to do. You want to file an ID theft report with your charge card company.

 

[bubbatd]

Happened to me once ....seems I join a Playboy site from San Juan for $50 !!! Got my money back and haven't had anymore problems ....check constantly though !

 

[savethebulliedbreeds]

Yikes. I have never had a problem with that but now that I have actually heard it happen first hand I am defintely going to be more careful. Best of luck with this. Please let us know how eveything turns out ok.

 

[squirtsmom]

Close the account now. You will get your money back probably within 5-10 days, but you will have to do paperwork for them, and the bank will call and get your official statement. They may want you to go to the police, ask them and tahey will tell you. One of my ex employees stole my card, and did a bang up job at the casino. Evidentally they had seen me use my car and knew the code. I am idiot. Anyway, that is what will happen. He cleaned me out to.

 

[ToscasMom]

There are tons of slimeballs out there just waiting to steal your identity. When my brother died, they stole his wallet and ran his charge cards while we were burying him. People don't realize the many ways they can have their identity stolen and this is something that is rampant now. It has become so serious that the DOJ has a site about it.

http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/fraud/websites/idtheft.html

 

[Sush]

Okay update...I called the company at which the charges were made and they are blocking the card for any other purchases made with them as well as refunding my account. I was on hold for like 20 minutes with my bank and evejntually hung up to talk to the guy at the game place. Apparently I bought acces to Warlords something or other as well as Lion something. He said most likely me info is being traded on the internet as we speak!!! Crap! I still have to get back to my bank to cancel my card, I can't go in in person because I'm at work until banks close so this majorly sucks. So I should close my whole account? What about checks that havn't cleared and this refund they will be doing?

 

[ToscasMom]

By the way, sometimes people don't even know they are being used until their credit rating gets checked. There is a new law on the books that says every person is entitled to one free credit report from the three major credit agencies per year. There is a legitimate website you can use to find out how to do this correctly. Do not fall for ADVERTISEMENTs on free credit reports. They are not the same thing. I have used this law twice and intend to use it every year. You can get the LEGITIMATE free reports by following instructions on the FTC site.
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/freereports.shtm
Go to the site they provide for the information, and I suggest you do NOT use the online form, but make the phone call. You will call an 800 number and key in the information for each of the three credit reporting agencies. Youre free reports will come in the mail fairly fast.

 

[Charliesmommy]

They will not let you close the account entirely until all your checks have cleared.

 

[ToscasMom]

Well it could be just that one card that got gigged. What you MUST do is notify your banks and all your other creditors that it happened and they will put a watch on your accounts, check with you if any charged are attempted etc. When a vendor does a check on a credit card, the warning will come up. This will make it a LOT harder for anybody but you to charge on the card. It also makes for an arrest when somebody makes an attempt at it.

 

[Denaluvscorgis]

That happened to me a couple of times to. The weird thing is that they never posted to my acct. They were there as pending transactions then were gone.

 

[Sush]

Thanks TM for the info! I'll definately be doing that. It's easy to see how someone can completely ruin your credit No wonder I love animals more than people....grrrr. I was just talking to patient at work and he was saying you can buy a bundle of 1000 CC numbers and info for $50!! All it takes is a person working a cash register to collect names and info or a hacker to get into business accounts. I do shop online occasionally but have never had lost this card. I can't believe this happened, I totally had that "it won't ever happen to me" syndrome going...

 

[ToscasMom]

One thing you always must do when you make an online purchase is NEVER let them retain your personal information. You are given the option to "join" or have an "Account" with them. Don't take the option. It will mean you have to type in your personal information every time you make a purchase, but the trade off is, they aren't storing your charge card number and address etc in their data base, which as we all know, have been known to be hacked MANY times. Hundreds of thousands of people at a time have had their personal information passed onto hackers who have found ways to defile data bases, even on "secure" sites. Just say NO to a vendor account. It's far more worth it to just type in your information each time you make a purchase.

 

[Mayasmydobe]

WOw Im sorry this is happening to you.

about 6 months ago we got a phone call from the credit card company about a charge on our card. Someone tried to buy some things from Germany and have them delivered to California. They had tried to spend well over $5,000! Luckily the credit card company found something odd about it so they called to confirm it.

 

[Sush]

Wow, it could definately be worse for me! I just canceled my card. I have a question though. Will canceling my card affect the refund that he was doing? He said it would post to my account within 3 days but I've already canceled and shredded my card!

Wow that was a definate wake-up call! Thanks for all the immediate help everyone It's weird but I felt like I had so much backup, like I had an instant support goup Thanks again. :hail:

 

[M&M's Mommy]

Happened to me once, too. Someone used my credit card number to buy $850 worth of gas within two days!! I didn't even have my driver license at the time!

 

[Sush]

Wow I can't believe how common this is! It's weird what these people spend money on...Flowers? Gas? Video Games? Gees if I was gonna steal (if I was a deadbeat scumbag) I'd at least buy something cool.....like....maybe go on a shopping spreeor clothes! Of course I'd never think of doing that, people work hard for their money!