Monday, June 18, 2007

Credit Cards

I just got a call from my MasterCard company this afternoon. The guy tells me that he’s following up on suspicious transactions on my card over the weekend. Ummm, excuse me? I wasn’t using my card over the weekend as I was out in the mountains (with no cell service) camping. Anyways, I guess someone got my card number and booked some flights with Air Canada and did some online shopping at La Senza (something sexy for Father's Day?) and a few other things. Anywho, I have no clue where someone would have gotten a hold of my card number. I still have the card, Tim doesn’t have a supplementary card, and I have NEVER used it over the phone or internet. That leaves me with three options: 1) Someone intercepted the supplementary card application that I sent in for Tim; 2) I never received the cheques they said they were going to send me...I just thought they were slow; or 3) Someone at work got into my purse. Well at least my MasterCard company (President’s Choice Financial–who I’ve sung praises about before) caught these "suspicious transactions" a month before I received my statement. They’ve cancelled my card and I’ll get a new one in a few days. And I won't have to pay those charges.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Option #4 - The phone call was a scam to get your personal information and now they are going to rack up a bunch of new charges on your card.

Anonymous said...

I had exactly that same problem - TWICE. Once with my Visa card, and once with my bank card. My bank wouldn't tell me where they were scammed, but they did hint heavily that it was my local convenience & gas store. I haven't been back there (unless I'm desperate and have cash).

On a related note, as part of my job I've sat in on fraud seminars put on by Visa, Mastercard, and the Police, and it is truly amazing what fraudsters are capable of to get your card. For instance, it is not uncommon for them to put in fake bank machines, to put a reader right into the slot on a bank machine, or to put a second magnetic head into the hand-held swipe unit at a store. Truly amazing!

Tim and Ashlee said...

No, it wasn't option 4 cuz I didn't give them any info on the phone. They called me at work and only asked for my name. They didn't ask for any security answers (birthdate, mother's maiden, etc). I never gave them my card number or those 3 numbers on the back. They knew all recent transactions that were ACTUALLY mine and that weren't on a statement yet. And I checked later to see if it had actually been cancelled and it was. I'm 100% sure it was PC calling me.

Skye said...

yikes! That's freaky! I've never had to deal with any of that, thank heavens! At least you don't have to pay anything!