Last evening I found out that someone’s been using my grandmothers credit card info to buy stuff. On the latest bill the appear to have made 3 purchases for what I believe are airline tickets (judging by the info) for about $900 each. And apparently the last bill listed that they spent $75 on flowers. We don’t know if its been used anymore after the bill was printed or not.
Now its no surprise someone managed to get this info. She doesn’t do anything to keep it safe even after we kept telling her (in fact she actually thinks this is funny)

Of course you can guess who’s going to have to try to take care of this.
Considering it was too late last night we will be calling the credit card agency today to see if there’s anything we can do. So I’m wondering if any of you have ever had this problem and if so if you have any advice on how we can keep her from having to pay about $2700 or more for some stuff.

Also I want to warn you guys to watch out how you use your cards.
Remember
when using it in public try to keep the info covered and put the card away as soon as your done.
If possible when ordering stuff from the telephone marketers (not that you really should be anyway) send a check instead of using the card. (You never know who they have working on the other side of the line and they could always be writing this info down for themselves to.)
And one that not as well known for god sakes if your giving this info over the phone DO NOT use a cordless phone (I can’t speak for sell phones). Any one with a half decent scanner who knows what there doing can pick up your phone calls on it and listen to everything you say! (Trust me. My father would do this to black mail people. And no I don’t get along with him)

Report it to the Card Company. They will track these people down. I know mastercard goes pretty hardcore after these people. My brother in law had this happen (the ol double swipe) and both a bank and the card company gets involved quickly.

Things to prevent it is to pay the extra bit a month and have the special coverage (if u dont authorize, u dont pay). Or cut up her card (just kidding)

good luck

I think we got things straightened out now luckily.
The cards been canceled and she’ll be getting a new one here soon. Luckily doesn’t look like she will need to pay for the charges.
They started taking money out on the 18th and had already gotten a little over $5,000.

If they got airline tickets then I suppose the cops could be waiting for them when they land!!!

Hi Jacob

You may want to advise your Grandmother of a few things. First get a credit check. Do this to make sure that no other cards were takin out in her name. Second, Make sure she checks with her bank. This is to make sure that a "new" debit card has not been issued.
Basicly what you are checking for are signs of ID theft. Lastly, {This should have been first} You need to contact not just the local Police, but the Feds. If these folks are crossing state lines then the case falls to them. Good luck, and be careful, I don't want to scare you but while it may seem like a nonviolent crime the people who are more often then not involved in this type of crime can be.
Good luck.
Harry

I hope so.




I’ll look in to that.

Just one question. What should we report to the cops? Considering that we have no idea who did it or where they might.
Also wouldn’t the Credit card company be the one to take legal action now considering there the ones out $5000 and probably have or can find more info on where it was spent and who could of done it?

Jacob

I'm sure the credit card company is going to take legal action. What your Grandmother needs to look at is how this person got the credit card number in the first place. Was the card itself stolen ? If so, what else may have been taken with it ? If it was just the card number how was the number stolen ? Your grandmother has been the victim of theft. For what you wrote in the first post, just how much was stolen may not yet be known. As far as what to report to the cops. Tell them what you have told us. That the card has been used by someone without your Grandmother's OK. The officer will ask the questions from there. As the victim of a crime it's not your job to find out who did it.
Does your Grandmother still have the card ? If she does then she does need to contact a credit agency and get a copy of her credit report. This way she can tell if a replacement card was issued to this person. She should also be able to tell if any new cards were issued without her knowing about it. Good luck , If I can be of any help just let know.

Harry

There are some safeguards to use to minimize the damage when someone gets your credit card information. First of all, have a credit alert placed on your cards that requires verification for purchases over a certain amount of money (say $200-250). Secondly, have a low credit limit on a card that you only use online.

I have a $250 limit on the only credit card I use online. If I need to charge something that is over $250, then I can call the company and ask them to raise the credit limit to whatever I need it for for that charge. After I pay that bill at the end of the month I ask them to lower it back to my $250 limit. They occasionally like to reward me by raising my limit to $25,000 or more, but I call them and tell them to keep it at $250. I can also do this online too.

Step one though is to always safeguard your credit card information.

Thanks Harry,
I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to get her to call the cops (she still doesn’t believe this is a big deal.) but I’ll see what I can do.
The card itself wasn’t stolen but we don’t have a clue how they got the number (so we don’t know if they got any other info)
I have already told here to check about the credit report and to check on the back accounts.

Robin that’s a good idea and we might look into something like that here at the house but for my grandmother that wouldn’t work to well. She uses it for random things from time to time and rarely pays of more then the interest.

You know, I get hell from my wife every month when she has to pay the bills and she sees a 9 dollar and 99 cent charge to the credit protection agency. Hey, every single day my credit is checked and if ANYONE even myself opens a new account I'm notified immediately by the agency. Even if its international. Its a pain in the ass having to pay this every month, but the damage thieves can do within a month can set you back years in straightening it out.

Another thing to do is to shred any piece of paper that has your information on it. My wife gives me crap every time I shred grocery store receipts before I throw them out. Hey, some of them have our name on them and a partial account number. I don't want some schmuck going through my garbage cans and getting his or her dirty paws on any piece of my info.

Hi guys

Let the wifes yell and scream. It is a small price to pay when compared to the damage that these type of animals can do when they get hold of a little personal information. The real shame of it all is alot of these guys operate outside the US. By using the internet they can steal the information and stay out of the reach of American Law Enforcement . The only hope is when the FBI works with counter parts from other countrys. Unfortunately with the priority being on counter terror crime takes a back seat. Its a hard lesson to learn. There have been some very good ideas mentioned on this post. From shreading everything with info on it to keeping a low credit limit on a card. Last week I tried an idea a buddy gave me. I sent my Squadron order in the old way . You know, the way we did things before the net. I sent the order form with a check to Squadron. I got my order in four days. The exact same time it takes to order off the net and it a heck of alot safer. Take care
Harry