Credit Card theft

[Lizzard[MPE]]

its amazing to me someone can find out your debit card number and spend over $2,200 in online purchases without your actual debit card.

what else is amazing is that your bank wont refund the $270 in overdraft fees because it wasnt there fault.


and the fact that ecost.com apparently "caught the faulty charge" before it went completely through but the $890 that someone used to buy themselves a computer is still "on hold"/ AND... the company didnt contact my bank, to contact me.

what the f>:L is wrong with this world.

[TransformX]

There's this cute little thing called a lawyer...

[Jammrock]

After all, the computer has to be shipped somewhere.

[DGhost]

its amazing to me someone can find out your debit card number and spend over $2,200 in online purchases without your actual debit card.

what else is amazing is that your bank wont refund the $270 in overdraft fees because it wasnt there fault.


and the fact that ecost.com apparently "caught the faulty charge" before it went completely through but the $890 that someone used to buy themselves a computer is still "on hold"/ AND... the company didnt contact my bank, to contact me.

what the f>:L is wrong with this world.

banks suck. hard. I have a few horror stories from dealing with them.

If you can, do what TransformX is suggesting. find a lawyer dealing with Identity Theft and credit problems and see what they can do.

[ND66]

what else is amazing is that your bank wont refund the $270 in overdraft fees because it wasnt there fault.

Time for a new bank I would say, with a better Customer Service.

[schmosef]

submit your story to consumerist.com.

you'll likely get some good advice on how to approach the situation.

[Gurm]

If someone gets my debit card number and uses it... I get everything back. Go get a better bank!

[cjolley]

Lizz,
I've never heard of anyone being charged fees resulting from a theft of checks.
Are debit cards treated differently?
Is it a real bank?
If so talk to a bank officer, they can remove the charges, it's chump change to them.

Also, contact the police.
They might be able to find out from the seller who/where the the computer went.
Like Jammrock said, it has to have been sent somewhere.

[Dr Mordrid]

We do online purchases with gift cards, which work just like Visa/MC. We can drive 2 blocks to the bank and have one within 5 minutes. Even this little effort pretty much eliminates impulse buying plus our bank issues them for free. This plus PayPal for eBay purchases keeps our real card numbers offline.

[The PIT]

Debit cards theres no cover you don't get charged just lose your money.
Credit cards in theory your covered. Haven't tried it luckily as yet.
Overdraft banks won't refund so give em hell and change you bank.
Telling the Police is a complete waste of time in this country but Liz luckily isn't in this country so they may look into it.
In Theory never ever ever buy online with a debit card.

[Gurm]

Debit cards theres no cover you don't get charged just lose your money.
Credit cards in theory your covered. Haven't tried it luckily as yet.
Overdraft banks won't refund so give em hell and change you bank.
Telling the Police is a complete waste of time in this country but Liz luckily isn't in this country so they may look into it.
In Theory never ever ever buy online with a debit card.

Around here it really depends on your bank. Bank of America covers us 100% regardless of the type of card.

[Dr Mordrid]

Same here, but using gift cards keeps debit/credit numbers out of cyberspace.

[Brian Ellis]

Many banks will give (sell?) you a one-off usage credit card no. on request, if yiu have doubts. I've done many hundreds of transactions over the Internet but always with reputable companies with encoded sites. Touch wood (my head), no one has ever robbed or misused the data yet. I got a credit card with a CYP 500 ($1000) limit, especially for Internet use, so I KNOW that, no matter what goes wrong, my liability is limited and the thief will never be able to buy a 42" plasma or a 1 month holiday in Oz, and will get nicked if he tries to do so.

[Whirl-Secret]

Whoah... you trust a cypriot bank to get your money back if the card is cloned? Am not so sure myself.

[KvHagedorn]

Better to have a credit card than a debit card. Possession is still 90% of the law, and if someone charges up your credit card, at least you can dispute it with your cold hard cash still sitting in the bank to pay the rent/mortgage/grocery bill. Get some reviews of the banks before getting that card, too. Helevitia had a good find here in his credit card thread.. he got a CitiBank cash back card that gives you money back when you buy groceries or gas on it. I can confirm good experiences with both Citi and Bank of America, but Bank One sucked big time, and Discover-though they call dutifully if there is a suspect charge-has high interest rates.