Among Friends

[dogsx3]

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@dogsx3 wrote:

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@sidsmom wrote:

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@dogsx3 wrote:

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@Carmie wrote:

Gas stations are a good place for thieves to place a skimming device over the cc slot.  Where I live it is a good career for some.

Before you place you card in the slot, check to see if there is a cover on the device over thencard reader.  I always check and pull on the trim work to be sure before I scan my card.

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Thanks...i just started going to my arco gas station here....pretty sure it is where it happened. I will start to check now. 

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@dogsx3 

Wouldn’t the merchant be listed next to the charge?

Was the erroneous charge at Arco? 

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No it was at a food for less store, i guess they sell gas ? That is what my banlk rep said, it was also in a city i  have never been about an hour and a half from me. Years ago i had it happen and there was a newspaper story about the arco i was using. I just started back at arco because of the price, but not going back again after this.

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I hope they have a camera to catch this jerk, 125.00 is a lot of gas. must have been a truck.

[sidsmom]

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@dogsx3 wrote:

....but it is still a hassle to change all my payments.

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Then the security breach could have been anywhere.

At the point of sale (Arco gas station w/ a skimmer) or any where

your account is exposed....like any of your payment recipients.

I echo many upthread.

I never use my debit card unless it’s at my bank’s inside ATM.

I always say, create a digital ‘moat’ around your checking/savings 

accounts. NO one touches my money except ME.

Set up online bill pay through your account (where the

Bank cuts a check & mails it to the payee). Or even the old fashion

write-a-check & send via mail is a 1000x better than directly from

the checking account. 

[gidgetgh]

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@dogsx3 wrote:

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@dogsx3 wrote:

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@sidsmom wrote:

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@dogsx3 wrote:

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@Carmie wrote:

Gas stations are a good place for thieves to place a skimming device over the cc slot.  Where I live it is a good career for some.

Before you place you card in the slot, check to see if there is a cover on the device over thencard reader.  I always check and pull on the trim work to be sure before I scan my card.

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Thanks...i just started going to my arco gas station here....pretty sure it is where it happened. I will start to check now. 

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@dogsx3 

Wouldn’t the merchant be listed next to the charge?

Was the erroneous charge at Arco? 

---

No it was at a food for less store, i guess they sell gas ? That is what my banlk rep said, it was also in a city i  have never been about an hour and a half from me. Years ago i had it happen and there was a newspaper story about the arco i was using. I just started back at arco because of the price, but not going back again after this.

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I hope they have a camera to catch this jerk, 125.00 is a lot of gas. must have been a truck.

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We had this happen several years ago, at a gas station with a credit card. $200. When I called Discover, I said “that’s a lot of gas”. The rep told me that they usually go in the store at the gas station and buy gift cards, not gas. 

[SeaMaiden]

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@sidsmom wrote:

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@dogsx3 wrote:

....but it is still a hassle to change all my payments.

---

Then the security breach could have been anywhere.

At the point of sale (Arco gas station w/ a skimmer) or any where

your account is exposed....like any of your payment recipients.

I echo many upthread.

I never use my debit card unless it’s at my bank’s inside ATM.

I always say, create a digital ‘moat’ around your checking/savings 

accounts. NO one touches my money except ME.

Set up online bill pay through your account (where the

Bank cuts a check & mails it to the payee). Or even the old fashion

write-a-check & send via mail is a 1000x better than directly from

the checking account. 

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@sidsmom   I agree 100% with what you say.  I pay with checks for all my bills except for two that go  on a credit card. The only direct draw from my checking account is for my retiree medical payment.  I was writing checks for quite a while.....but did not want to take the risk that the check would  lost in the mail and my coverage cancelled.... I do not like letting them have access to my account....just  I felt it was safer not to risk sending a check in the mail to them and risking losing medical coverage.

[sidsmom]

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@SeaMaiden wrote:

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@sidsmom wrote:

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@dogsx3 wrote:

....but it is still a hassle to change all my payments.

---

Then the security breach could have been anywhere.

At the point of sale (Arco gas station w/ a skimmer) or any where

your account is exposed....like any of your payment recipients.

I echo many upthread.

I never use my debit card unless it’s at my bank’s inside ATM.

I always say, create a digital ‘moat’ around your checking/savings 

accounts. NO one touches my money except ME.

Set up online bill pay through your account (where the

Bank cuts a check & mails it to the payee). Or even the old fashion

write-a-check & send via mail is a 1000x better than directly from

the checking account. 

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@sidsmom   I agree 100% with what you say.  I pay with checks for all my bills except for two that go  on a credit card. The only direct draw from my checking account is for my retiree medical payment.  I was writing checks for quite a while.....but did not want to take the risk that the check would  lost in the mail and my coverage cancelled.... I do not like letting them have access to my account....just  I felt it was safer not to risk sending a check in the mail to them and risking losing medical coverage.

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@SeaMaiden 

Does your financial institution offer online banking?

Could alleviate the check-stamp-post-office hassle on your end.....

Put the bank to work! Hee

🌼💛

[Anonymous032819]

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@dogsx3 wrote:

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@dogsx3 wrote:

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@sidsmom wrote:

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@dogsx3 wrote:

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@Carmie wrote:

Gas stations are a good place for thieves to place a skimming device over the cc slot.  Where I live it is a good career for some.

Before you place you card in the slot, check to see if there is a cover on the device over thencard reader.  I always check and pull on the trim work to be sure before I scan my card.

---

Thanks...i just started going to my arco gas station here....pretty sure it is where it happened. I will start to check now. 

---

@dogsx3 

Wouldn’t the merchant be listed next to the charge?

Was the erroneous charge at Arco? 

---

No it was at a food for less store, i guess they sell gas ? That is what my banlk rep said, it was also in a city i  have never been about an hour and a half from me. Years ago i had it happen and there was a newspaper story about the arco i was using. I just started back at arco because of the price, but not going back again after this.

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I hope they have a camera to catch this jerk, 125.00 is a lot of gas. must have been a truck.

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@dogsx3 

Odds are neither the place where the card was used, the bank, nor the credit card company (visa/mc) will go after the perp.

Why?

Because $125 is "small potatoes" and not worth their time or their money to find and prosecute.

It's a write off for them.

[roeroe1005]

I use cash to pay for gas.  I'm cheap, I don't want to pay the extra 10 cents per gallon!

I also have an alert on all credit cards, including any store cc.  If $1.01 or more is charged on any card, I get a text and e-mail.

[comilehi]

Me too.  Someone tried to buy a $500 gift card at a big discount store with my number.

The theft of any number could have happened anywhere, any time. LIke from hacks that happened years earlier via very big well known stores or wherever, and it took that much time for someone to get their hands on it (ie, selling them). They wait a long time to sell them, for good reason.

I have been developing software for 35+ years and I've been on the internet since 1982, long before the visual world wide web people know today. So I don't say these things lightly.

You cannot be too careful. Here is what I do - this is the price we pay for technology!

I check my bank account every morning like clockwork. Only via my home network and only via my PC and only via Chrome or Firefox.

I NEVER swipe any card at a gas pump. Don't think for a minute that eyeballing or "feeling" that reader will help you detect it. It will not. They are microscopic now, and they also use high-zoom cameras from a distance. It's shocking, but all true.

I NEVER use any card in a restaurant, or anywhere else the card could leave my sight. That is just as often the source as gas pumps. I only pay cash in restaurants, for example.

I NEVER use the debit card on my primary bank account. Stored it away. Got a second account to use for debit, and I transfer the money over weekly. Peace of mind far outweighs the inconvenience, and it forces me to look at my accounts at least once a week.

INTERNET IN GENERAL
I never shop or bank via a public WIFI. And NEVER, EVER access the internet via InternetExplorer or Microsoft Edge. They are crazy insecure.

IF YOU USE MOBILE APPS
I learned this when developing mobile apps for my employer, a large telecom company. It was a real shocker for me. Your most secure mobile apps are on Apple (iOS). When someone builds an app and submits it to Apple, Apple takes 2 WEEKS to run it through batteries of security tests to ensure it doesn't contain code that can hack your phone (or even other apps) for anything. Android is way different - you submit an app to Google and it's available for anyone to download THE NEXT DAY. They don't do what Apple does.

I never store anything in apps on any mobile device, like passwords or any kind of info that would cause me concern if hacked.

The only banking-related thing on a mobile device: If I HAD to scan a check to deposit it (rare but happens) I only use my ipad or iphone for that bank app because they are secure Apple/iOS... never my android tablet. Android exposes too many risks for my liking.

Finally - Read up on RFID technology and what an RFID protection sleeve actually does - and does not - do. RFID sleeves and wallets are not cure-alls, unfortunately. I don't use them at all.

But i do shred EVERYTHING. Once a week I shred, it's no big deal. You will never, ever find anything in my trash that tells you whose trash it was.
Anything you can opt out of for paper mail - DO IT. I don't know about your mailman, but mine is just awful. At least once a week I get mail from addresses not remotely like mine (he's a really lazy guy... he will THROW a package from the sidewalk to my front door to not walk 20 feet). This means OTHER PEOPLE are getting my mail. This has been going on for years. So, I've opted out of every paper bill or statement that I possibly can.

Your privacy is the key to your present and future security. The threats of tomorrow are things we haven't even thought of yet, particularly now that we're easily developing software bots, IOT (Internet Of Things) at home ourselves, and rapidly advancing AI; heck I develop apps and bots and IOT and AI software, so imagine what the bad guys are doing with that same technology and devoting all of their time to it for their evil purposes?

I probably forgot a couple of things but that's the gist of it. Writing it out took far more time than doing it ongoing :-).
hth...

[aroc3435]

@comilehi   Thank you lending such a thoughtful, thorough post--much food for thought and protective action.  And welcome to the boards!

[deeva]

People seem to have forgotten that when Equifax had a data breach in 2017, 143 million accounts were hacked. Our entire credit history and account numbers are out there for anyone to buy.