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How'd they rob her?
Jo Ann O’Neill, who works at Broward Community College, has a morning routine. Get to work, sign on to the computer, go to Wachovia.com, take a sip of tea and call the fraud department.
Because almost every day lately, fraudulent charges made with her debit card are showing up.
Not her actual debit card. But with the information from her debit card that someone, somehow stole. The thief didn’t even bother to steal the actual card. She has no idea how this happened.
That got my attention because the same thing happened to me last summer.
While I was sitting home one evening, debit card in my purse, the thief was at an ATM at a 7-11 taking out my money. Conveniently, the 7-11 doesn’t have a camera on its machine that could perhaps lead the police to the thief. Conveniently, the store doesn’t own the machine, so why should it care?
Was it a card-reader inserted into the ATM that stole the info? Was it a tiny camera trained on the ATM that got her PIN number? I don’t think we’ll ever find out.
In O’Neill’s account, there were more than $1,000 in fraudulent charges in less than a week. Hundreds and hundreds of dollars spent to buy gas. And it continues. Which is why she ends up calling the bank almost daily.
“Wachovia couldn’t have been more helpful,” she said in an e-mail.
What you can take from this: Follow O’Neill’s advice and check your statements online daily. If anything looks unusual, call your bank, which will likely reimburse you for any losses.
Makes it hard to take a day off and just relax, doesn’t it?
photo: Bloomberg
Harriet Johnson Brackey, the personal finance writer for the Sun-Sentinel, has been an award-winning business...
Comments
Debit cards should be outlawed. Why not use a credit card, keep the money in an interest bearing account to earn more money, then pay off the card fully at the end of the month?? You could have a credit limit of $300.00 on the card and use it for smaller everyday uses such as coffe, lunches etc.
Posted by: Michael T Gray | April 17, 2008 1:26 PM
Debit cards should be outlawed. Why not use a credit card, keep the money in an interest bearing account to earn more money, then pay off the card fully at the end of the month?? You could have a credit limit of $300.00 on the card and use it for smaller everyday uses such as coffe, lunches etc.
Posted by: Michael T Gray | April 17, 2008 1:27 PM
What a surprise! The banks give out totally unsecured, unsafe debit products, and there is fraud.
Next thing you know, money left on the street will disappear.
These debit cards are a delusion.
Posted by: realist | April 20, 2008 11:42 PM
Credit cards should be adopted rather than the Debit cards due to more security reasons.
Posted by: Hotel key card printing | July 22, 2008 3:13 AM
although credit cards somehow provide more security, it doesn't make its owner less likely to be a victim of identity theft. Fraudsters nowadays are coming up with more and more ways of getting to your account.
Posted by: click4credit | November 24, 2008 12:05 PM