Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 12/8/2015 10:27 AM, John H. wrote:
On Tue, 8 Dec 2015 10:13:06 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 12/8/2015 10:03 AM, True North wrote:

Happened to me last year at this time. Someone was using my debit
card out in the western US.
At that time I was seldom using it except at ATMs but did buy gas
on the edge of town then the local news reported that a number of
similar victims had come to light around the same time. Took just
over a week for the bank to reimburse my $ 400 something dollars.


I've read that the card scanners used at gas pumps, ATM's and other
locations are replaced with some jerk's scanner that looks like it's
the
original. His collects all your card info.


A couple weeks before Christmas is *not* a good time for this to happen.

I tried, this morning, to go to my statement at the bank's site to
see if I could
figure out where this may have happened. But, everything and anything
to do with that
card has been removed from my account.

I was really surprised that the bank, Pentagon Federal, would have
caught that
charge. Perhaps their computers are programmed to compare usage times
and realized I
couldn't have used the card here and in California only a couple
hours later.


The banks and credit card companies have become pretty good at
tracking your spending habits and locations. Last year at about this
time I decided to drive to SC to spend Christmas with my son. When I
arrived at the hotel and tried to pay for the stay with a card, I got
a request to contact the issuer. Once they confirmed it was really
me, the payment was processed. I was told that it is a good idea to
call the issuers of debit and credit cards and let them know you will
be traveling and using the cards in locations they are not normally used.




You can do that on their websites now. I was declined a few years ago
for a $40 sweatshirt in Las Vegas after I had charged $150 for dinner in
the same town. They said I should notify them of my travel but it still
didn't make much sense.