Becoming a Real Redneck Is As Easy As Stealing a Credit Card
Only thing is, you have to steal the credit card from someone stupid enough to not notice.
I've been up since 3:30 a.m., and decided to be productive and pay my bills. Which reminded me, what the hell is going on with the fraud on my credit card? So I called to find out.
What's going on with my credit card is this:
1. They now know that if there are ANY charges for weapons of any kind, it's not me and they should decline the charge. (Two different airsoft gun companies and one knife company make up over $2,000 of the disputed charges. I don't even know what an airsoft gun is.)
2. I have a new card that I activated today.
3. They will no longer be sending me those (horrible to use) blank checks made out to me. Yes, you can ask them to just stop sending them and they will. All I had to do was ask.
4. Visa believes that someone got my credit card number by using software that lifted it when I made an online purchase. The person then took the number and applied it to a fake credit card. They then used it both in person and over the phone.
5. Visa believes whoever stole my card number does NOT know my name, or my social security number. Thus, this has not affected my credit (per Visa, not per me).
6. As huge as this seems to me, in the world of identity theft, this is not awful and should be resolved before Halloween.
I've been up since 3:30 a.m., and decided to be productive and pay my bills. Which reminded me, what the hell is going on with the fraud on my credit card? So I called to find out.
What's going on with my credit card is this:
1. They now know that if there are ANY charges for weapons of any kind, it's not me and they should decline the charge. (Two different airsoft gun companies and one knife company make up over $2,000 of the disputed charges. I don't even know what an airsoft gun is.)
2. I have a new card that I activated today.
3. They will no longer be sending me those (horrible to use) blank checks made out to me. Yes, you can ask them to just stop sending them and they will. All I had to do was ask.
4. Visa believes that someone got my credit card number by using software that lifted it when I made an online purchase. The person then took the number and applied it to a fake credit card. They then used it both in person and over the phone.
5. Visa believes whoever stole my card number does NOT know my name, or my social security number. Thus, this has not affected my credit (per Visa, not per me).
6. As huge as this seems to me, in the world of identity theft, this is not awful and should be resolved before Halloween.
posted by Green at 8/01/2006 06:10:00 AM
5 Comments:
#6 sounds like the opening of a scary movie.
Reply to last Surgucal Strike post... In college (6yrs in a JC if you're interested) a friend told me "A Thousand comedians out of work, and yer crackin' wise!"
What a big pain...I can't imagine. You think something is safe and it's totally not.
I once had a guy call me, saying that I was on a list to enter a contest and receive free magazine subscriptions. He was very friendly and easy-going. He said he was a trainee and his supervisor was checking up on him and completing all the important parts of the registration process for now. If I stayed by the phone, the supervisor would call me to do this - and could I talk him up to his boss? Yeah, sure, I'll help you out.
Five minutes after hanging up, the phone rang. A man asked me how friendly, professional, informational, etc. the first guy was. I said he was really nice, the truth.
Then the supervisor said that the contest was open to everyone who subscribed to two or more of their magazines for the trial period. He asked me my interests and made suggestions. I picked two and he asked for my credit card number. WHOA.
I was a dumb 18-year-old college student, but I wasn't that stupid.
Me: Why do you need my credit card number for a "free" subscription?
Him: Didn't the first representative explain? Ugh, trainees, I'll have to talk to him about being more thorough.... We need a credit card to confirm your identity.
Me: NO. I won't give that information out.
Him: Then you won't receive the free subscription or be entered in this great contest.
Me: Don't bother entering me in the contest or sending the magazines.
Him: Nothing will be charged to the card unless you decide to continue the subscription after the trial period.
Me: I'm supposed to trust a total stranger?
Him: You give your credit card to the cashiers at stores, don't you? Do you know all of them?
Me: But I know the company and I went to them; they aren't some unknown company that called me out of the blue.
At this point, he got very nasty and I hung up on him.
Two years later, a girl called. It started the same way, very easy-going and chummy, but I couldn't quite figure out why it didn't feel right. Then she told me her "supervisor" would be calling in a few minutes - could I say some nice things about her? I wished her luck with her new job and hung up.
"Don't answer the phone for the next 20 minutes," I told Mom. Five minutes later the phone rang and rang and rang.
They *might* have been legit, but better safe than sorry.
Don't you love that you can call your credit card company, or your bank (in my case anyway) and find out what's up at 3:30 in the morning. I feel sorry for those people that have to work those hours, but I really like that we can do that.
Charlene
http://lifedramatic.blogspot.com
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