Fraud Charges - Any Recent Web Site Hacks?
 

I just got $10,000 in fraudulent charges on my credit card and am trying to root out the problem.(Merry Xmas to me!)

Does anyone know of any sites being hacked recently or has anyone had any recent fraud charges on their account as well?

Recently I've done Amazon, DDD, DVDPlanet, Walmart.com, and EBGames as well as Delta.com and Amtrak.com. Beyond that it is only two restaurants and the movie theater.

Trying to figure out other possible reasons... virus or spyware on the computer, an employee at a company... any ideas? My worst fear is that someone broke into my apartment back in Chicago while I'm here in Atlanta and not only got my credit card info, but also stole all my stuff.

Thanks for experience, advice, or whathaveyou.

Talton

I have never had a fraudlent charge except from AOL many years ago. I have not heard about any sites lately being hacked like there used to be. I have seen on the news recently about ATM machines that steal your info or something like that but I do not use them.

Movie theaters take CC??? Its been so long since I have been to one.

I think probably your apartment got broke into but I guess it could be just about anything.

I guess I will go and check my CC.

I just had someone use my balance transfer check to pay his/her credit card for $7100. My credit card company tracked down the person's account, name & address and will deal with the person.

TLwizard, are you sure it wasn't someone who got a hold of your balance transfer check in mail ? The charge will appear on your statement as a balance transfer.

I am sure your credit card co. will credit it back to your account after an investigation. Hope it works out.

I've placed quite a few orders at Amazon and DDD without any problems. Is it possible one of the restaurants could have gotten your card number? I'm always suspicious whenever a waiter or waitress takes your card and disappears with it for awhile when paying the bill.

There are dozens of ways a thief can get your credit card information. And the sad part is, the credit card companies for the most part don't care. I was recently a victim of identity theft, (there's a thread here somewhere) and the total bill was around $16000 using a variety of credit accounts, some new & some pre-existing. All the creditors dismissed the charges relatively easily, but weren't too concerened by the "small dollar amount".
So the good news is that the charges should be easy to reverse, but don't expect much help or concern from anyone.

I feel for you TLwizard as I had a similar expereince earlier this year. Problem is as Movie_Man states that no one seems to care too much. There are apparently software programs that generate random numbers or something based on information gained from financial instiutions of some sort. With me my card was used by someone in Indonesia of all places and did several on line transactions with it. At first I was also trying to figure out how on earth they got my card number. Worst thing I see from all this is the complete lack of interest by the card issuer. All they do is reverse the charge where the card was used and the retailer has to wear the cost completely. I felt quite bad in that case but obviously happy that I was not the one out of pocket. In the end though that was that. Nobody was even interested in pursuing the criminals who used my card in the first place.

Thanks for all the replies.

Police checked my apartment and it luckily wasn't broken into. But I still can't figure out where this all originated. One charge was from a Chinese Travel agency called Cathay. Then $2K at Marriot and then $8K on SwissAir.

What annoyed me the most was that I called Marriot to say hey, this happened, maybe they're still there, and you can find them. Marriot told me that they couldn't do anything. They couldn't type in my name or credit card number unless I knew the exact hotel that it happened at. Their loss at potentialy catching someone.

Hopefully it wasn't the restaurant waiter because the last one I went to I was served by an old college friend of mine. Maybe she had it out for me... who knows.

Now I'm off to call all the companies where I ordered Xmas presents that are having the charges rejected. It's the most wonderful time of the year.

Thanks again. Stay vigilant. :)