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Damn criminals!

Dargo

Dargo

Like a bad penny...
Last week my wife got a call from someone saying they were from Discover Card and wanted to go over our account info. I wasn't here, so she declined to talk with them about anything, figuring it was a scam since we only use our Discover card at Sams and, we haven't been there in a few months. Yesterday I received a letter in the mail from Discover asking me to call their "Security Loss Prevention Department". Hmm, strange...so I call them.

As it turns out, I moved to Maryland a month or so ago and took up skateboarding, porno, and became a big doner to some strange new "Alternative Church of God" there. :eek: Holy shit!!!

Fortunately I am not responsible for any of the charges and they killed the card. They called the "old" number on my account because my "new" phone number appeared to be a phone booth. The first call was a "courtesy call" because my account was late and, in 11 previous years, I'd never been late before. The lady on the phone asked me why I didn't notice that I had not received a monthly bill from Discover Card. That was easy enough; first off I don't have it marked on my calender when any specific credit card bill arrives in the mail. Secondly, I only use the card at Sams (it's all they take) and I hadn't been there in a couple of months. Okay, I passed all the test questions and they very politely bid me a good day and tell me that they will send me a new card right away.

Here is what bothers me though, and what confused them; how did someone get my card number? I have never registered the Discover card online anywhere, I've never bought anything online with it, I've never given the number out to any place while on a cell phone etc. Basically, I've never done anything with the card other than use it at Sams. Also, I am actually one of those odd people who run all junk mail through my shredder. Hell, I need a 220 volt model for some of the crap I get. So, if they had sent me anything in the mail with my number on it that wasn't a bill, it got shredded. The Discover lady seemed a bit concerned because I was the 3rd person she'd spoken with in one day who only used their Discover card at Sams, had never used the card online or at any other place (ever), and now I'd moved (according to their records). Apparently changing the address was an attempt to keep the card valid longer; assuming that the credit card company would keep the card valid longer for a person with good credit and, since I wouldn't see a bill with bogus charges on it, I wouldn't report the activity.

What do you guys think about this? Hell, I'd almost expect it with my business card since I travel all over with it and use it quite a bit since I don't carry much cash at all. Besides, I can reverse any BS charge that a hotel or rental car agency puts on my bill easy enough. But I only got the Discover card to use at Sams since they don't take anything else. Although the lady didn't say it, it sounds as if somone hacked in and got some credit card numbers from Discover or from Sams.
 
I would expect to hear something in the media soon about another lost laptop or data backup tape. This time by Walmart Corp.
 
Is your mail delivered securely or is it delivered to an open mail box. Often they just drive around rural areas and rifle through mailboxes. They may have realized that Discover was weak on their fraud practices so they just looked for Discover card statements.

Otherwise, it's a postal employee or Sam's employee.
 
PBinWA said:
Is your mail delivered securely or is it delivered to an open mail box. Often they just drive around rural areas and rifle through mailboxes. They may have realized that Discover was weak on their fraud practices so they just looked for Discover card statements.
Click to expand...
PB,

I too was considering that but Brent mentioned he hadn't used the card in months. Not sure about Discover but many credit card companies don't send out a monthly statement unless there's a balance on it.
 
PBinWA said:
Is your mail delivered securely or is it delivered to an open mail box. Often they just drive around rural areas and rifle through mailboxes. They may have realized that Discover was weak on their fraud practices so they just looked for Discover card statements.

Otherwise, it's a postal employee or Sam's employee.
Click to expand...

It's a long story how it came to be, but my mailbox is all the way back my driveway and sits between my house and my barn. Nobody would just happen to drive by my mailbox. Besides, there is the driveway alarm, security cameras, and German Shepherds to deal with. Anything is possible, but I doubt that anyone took mail from my mailbox.
 
There are lots of potential points of failure, so it's hard to pinpoint Sams or Discover. It does sound like something inside, though. Cleaning staff at Discover pick up a list of card numbers, names, birth dates and away they go. Too many possibilities.
 
Some time ago they had a thing on TV. When standing in line at the cash register people were using their cell phones cameras and taking pictures of your card while you were holding it to hand to the cash register person. Don't know if that is what happened, but could be. Next time your in line at the cash register keep your card upside down until you hand it to the clerk.


murph
 
Dargo said:
It's a long story how it came to be, but my mailbox is all the way back my driveway and sits between my house and my barn. Nobody would just happen to drive by my mailbox. Besides, there is the driveway alarm, security cameras, and German Shepherds to deal with. Anything is possible, but I doubt that anyone took mail from my mailbox.
Click to expand...

Now we know where Dargo went a couple months ago....he was selling off your identity for a little fun money!
 
Happened to me once. I bought camping gear at a Kmart in a rough neighborhood. In those days there was a carbon between the store's slip (where you sign) and the customer copy. The clerk asked if I wanted to take the carbon, then ignored my reply and tossed it in the wastebasket. I didn't recognise the significance of that until next month I discovered a $200 charge from the cowboy boot store across the street from Kmart.

I called, they were hooker style ladies snakeskin boots. I called Mastercard and got the charge reversed and forgot about it. Then months later the apparent streetwalker took the boots back for resoling and gave her real id. The store prosecuted, and called me to testify. Then the lady enlisted, made restitution to the boot store, and charges were dropped. True story.

I'm sure she or a collaborator had fished that carbon out of the wastebasket under Kmart's cash register.

I think today the card number never gets printed anywhere so yours has to be an inside job if it wasn't that 'photograph your card' trick.
 
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