On Tue, 08 Dec 2015 10:27:57 -0500, John H.
wrote:

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.

===

This kind of thing is happening more often as hackers and card
scammers get more adept. The banks and card companies spend millions
and millions on fraud detection and protection and still bad stuff
gets through. They catch a lot of it very quickly however, and if you
travel a lot, they'll catch you also.

We're on the flip side of fraud detection at least a couple of times a
year, even more if we're cruising in the Bahamas or Caribbean. If
you're depending on cards for funds it's important to have at least
two or three different accounts, and with different banks. We give
all of our card companies notice before we travel and still get
tripped up from time to time. It's a nuisance but always gets
resolved quickly after we call them up and reassure them that we
really did buy $3,000 worth of diesel in some out of the way place.