General Chat

I had a message to ring the fraud dept of my bank. Someone has tried to buy items on line with my card details. Fortunately someone was on the ball, and the transaction was declined. I suspect that the delivery address was different to mine. Otherwise I would be nearly two and a half grand out of pocket. How do these people get my details?

That happened to us a while back Bob. We were scammed at a petrol pump when we paid by card but fortunately our bank picked up on it straight away and blocked it until I had spoken to them.

Bob ...............

they could have picked up the details any which way.

OH goofed about a month back, most unusual for him as he is pretty savvy.

He got an email from Canada Post saying that they had been unable to deliver a parcel from NZ to his address on the university campus, and that money was due. Click on the link.

Now, he usually would not "click on the link" except that he knew that I had been receiving emails from Canada Post telling me that a delivery was on its way and would be "delivered by the end of tomorrow".

No link given, plus there was a tracking number that I sometimes clicked on to double check.

So he thoughtlessly clicked and was asked to give details of his credit card.

He then came and told me that he thought he might have made a mistake.

I was trying to tell him what to do ........call the credit card number, and tell them there might be a scam ....... when the phone rang.

It was the credit card company (M/C) saying they thought they might have caught a scam. Had he bought ...............

No he hadn't.

I checked the card account online, and there was a 3rd charge we hadn't made.

He called the lady at M/C back and told her ................. she said get down to the bank immediately, tell them we've called you, get the teller to double check that there have been no more. We've closed your card down and will issue you a new one.

He had the new card less than a week later. All scam charges had been removed for the account.


That was his fault.

We've also been caught back in the day when a charge slip had to be passed through a machine, and they got hold of a copy of the shop owner's copy.

The most likely one at the moment is either a false machine at point of sale, or a false front or little camera at an ATM which picks up the details.

Many years ago...at work we had a bank branch on site....in the days when credit cards were processed in a rolling machine thingy.....and I was quite tooken aback when I saw dozens of credit card counterfoils disposed of in a 40 gallon oildrum waste bin..

It is possible to install a small gadget into the kind of card acceptance machine you often see in small shops , eateries , independent filling stations etc. This works by transmitting card details to a bluetooth reader nearby. No cameras involved.

https://hackaday.com/2018/04/08/cracking-a-bluetooth-credit-card/

The UK police have taken successful action against several people using such a technique. Unfortunately most of the UK banks deny that such a thing is possible.

One defence is to switch on bluetooth on yr phone and look for unfamiliar bluetooth devices within range. If shown move on or if a bill is due pay in cash.

I've had a credit card since I was 20 and, until recently, never had any issues.

Just before Christmas, my card details were used to try to buy an Emirates flight, luckily I had an alert and it was declined. Unfortunately a transaction had already gone through for a hotel booking in Manchester. CC company refunded this and I had a new card, they investigated but never got anywhere. Since then I have had a recurring transaction to Apple (Itunes) for around £15. Am now on my third 'new' card and ended up phoning Apple security dept. to see if they could help, as the transaction still goes out even with a different card. They have 'stopped' it but I'm still not convinced it's been sorted, will have to wait a couple of weeks to see if any other transactions go through... :-(

I have no idea how or where my card details were stolen.

Rollo

The camera I mentioned is a very tiny one fixed just underneath the board of an ATM machine, and directed at the "keyboard" where you punch in the numbers.

Every time someone uses the machine to get money, the camera photographs the transaction.

The criminals who installed in come along, remove the camera and have card details or bank accounts for who knows how many people.

It was a fairly common scam here about 2 years ago, especially on machines outside banks.

Maybe you've never heard of it, but it does exist. I'm not talking out of the back of my head!

one reason why I hunches my head over the keyboard like squinting.....

I'm getting e-mail messages from Barclays Bank on my mobile
say they have increased my over-draft by several hundred pounds.

I've never needed any overdraft for over 15 years. Must check.

David, it MAY be due to relaxed conditions due to the virus situation..


I have had similar messages.....