November 7, 2013

Cloned and loose in Philadelphia

I was sipping on my morning coffee when the phone rang. My immediate reaction when I heard the recorded voice on the other end of the line was to hang up. After the endless recorded political messages we received during the past political season I want to poke myself with something sharp.  But I listened because I’m good that way.

BOY DID I GET A SURPRISE.

The recorded voice on the other end on the line said “this is the fraud alert department on your MasterCard and we have detected some suspicious activity on your card.” If you used your credit card at the Shop Rite in Philadelphia on Nov 5th you can hang up; if you did not incur this charge then press ONE.

Philadelphia? I hadn't left the house in days. How was this possible? My card was safe in my purse, Bill's in his wallet.

I PRESSED ONE

I was connected with a representative from the bank who went on to tell me that my credit card was used eight different times on that day in seven different Shop Rite grocery stores in and around Philadelphia and in a gas station store. The charges ranged in amounts from $49 or less seven times at the groceries and $1 at the gas station once. Since we were still in possession of our cards the conclusion was this.....

MY CARD HAD BEEN CLONED

They had already declined further use of the card once they became suspicious. After I confirmed there was a crime being committed (rotten thieves). We immediately closed the account and generated a new account and new cards would be issued and password was generated.

WITH SCISSORS IN HAND I CUT MY CARD INTO TINY LITTLE PIECES.

After hanging up with the bank gal I went onto Google.com and looked up cloning credit cards. I was curious to see how that was done.  This is what I found; you can read about it here. As I read thru a few other articles I was surprised to read that thieves were getting sophisticated to the point of posing as representatives of the bank to gain access to people’s information.

I RAN TO THE PHONE

And called the bank, thank The Lord the lady I had spoke to was legit.



16 comments:

  1. It's bad enough when something happens with the credit card, but being sure you are actually getting a call from a legitimate source is scary, too.

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  2. Thank goodness the credit card company was suspicious of all the out of state charges. It's pretty frightening how easily they can "clone" credit cards. Sorry that you had to go through that, but I'm glad everything got straightened out. I will definitely check out the website.

    Julie

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  3. Pain in the ass! I've had them call me for my own/or Scott's charges (if one of us is somewhere weird) and I am always happy they do. Because THIS could happen. Sorry!!!! Glad it is all straightened out though. Hope all is well!

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  4. That's crazy! Thank goodness the credit card company alerted you. I had not idea credit cards could be cloned like that.

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    1. It was a shock to me to. Just one of those things that you think happens to everyone else. Thanks Jennifer.

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  5. Hi Jen .. I've had that but thankfully the bank has managed to intercept the first transaction and queried it ... actually mine wasn't cloned, but a false transaction was tried ...

    It's good to check .. because it always worries me when they ring, perhaps for other reasons, and then say but we need to check who you are .. and I'm thinking, but you've rung me and know who I am ... but I don't actually know if you're real. One of those chicken and egg situations ... then one has to use one's intuition ..

    Glad it's been sorted for you ... and we always need to be on our toes at all times re credit cards, bank cards, transactions of any sort ....... cheers Hilary

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    1. Thanks Hilary, Not that this is a victimless crime but at least I wasn't hurt. And like you said they caught it before it got out of control.

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  6. Jen, thanks for the heads up on this! Could happen to anyone I guess. We have to be so careful nowadays about a lot more things.

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  7. Hi Jen! Long time no hear I know. Busy girl...this is a scary post though. Thank goodness you were alerted by the bank & they were on the up & up. People are becoming more & more scandalous these days! Really happy things turned out good for you.

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    1. Hey there lady!! I visited your blog yesterday and you haven't posted in a while. I guess like me you've been busy.
      Hope all is well with you and yours.

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    2. Just started posting again. Yep, I've been busy as can bee. lol

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  8. Wow, Jen, I don't get out much, LOL, I had never heard of credit card skimming, but its not surprising that someone would come up with this. Glad your bank was alert to it and it got figured out and solved. Good reminder for us to be careful with who has our cards when doing transactions. Makes one want to consider carrying cash, doesn't it?

    betty

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  9. oh god!
    But I am really happy with the banks/credit card companies.. they do stay on top of fraud alerts.. every time I make a big purchase they make sure it was me.. and while it is annoying then.. as a big picture I am thankful.

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  10. that sounds scary. wow, i am glad it work out so well.

    thanks, for stopping by today. hope you are doing well. ( :

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  11. How awful.The first thing I thought as I read this was please dont say you gave your details on the phone. I am very aware of that scam but I'm glad it was legit. Really good of the bank to contact you I hope you got the money back.

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