My Guest Was a Victim of Identity Theft!

[Intrepid_Chef]

So I submitted a small show the day before Thanksgiving and one of the cards was declined. I called HO to try to re-enter the same card and it still came up bad.

So I called the guest on Black Friday to let her know it was declined, and to try to confirm the numbers as I was sure it was a data entry error on my part. She was shopping and asked me to call her back later.

When she returned my calls today she said somebody in Texas had hacked her card for $5,000! She has card protection and they are going to refund her money and go after the thieves.

She is going to pay me cash for the order, and nobody is in a huge hurry ...it's just a little frustrating that my order gets held up for this!

 

[wadesgirl]

I've actually had this a few times! It's crazy how frequent it does happen.

 

[Sheila]

That has to be super frustrating for her. I'm surprised it didn't interfere with her Black Friday shopping.

 

[Intrepid_Chef]

It is scary! She was surprised that they didn't tell her either. Fortunately, she got all her black Friday things with cash!

She went through a bigger hassle because a lot of the places she tried to call on Friday were closed. Good thing she got that credit protection!

Anybody know the deadlne for resolving shows to count for November sales?

 

[dannyzmom]

This happens on at least one of my shows every few months. it's quite common.

 

[NooraK]

FYI: Credit Protection does NOT protect you against fraud!!!Credit Protection is an insurance the credit card companies sell in the event you lose your job or become disabled etc. It is highly overpriced, and mostly profit.Federal law requires that credit card companies cannot hold you liable for fraudulent charges for more than $50. Visa and MasterCard (and I believe AMEX and probably Discover, too) require their member banks to adhere to a zero liability policy. That means that for charges made on a credit OR debit card, when using their networks, that are fraudulent, the consumer is NEVER responsible for the fraudulent charges. The bank has to prove that the charges were yours. It does happen surprisingly often. Just plain fraudulent charges aren't necessarily identity theft, though. Identity theft involves personal identifying information as well, such as date of birth, social security number etc. A perpetrator can just compromise your account number and make a charge without knowing those kinds of things. And some companies are better at recognizing the fraud then others.

 

[Intrepid_Chef]

Scary how common this is!NO that's not the kind of protection she has! They are going to pay her back for the loss and investigate it for her! She is very glad she got it! It was free for a year and then she decided to keep it and is very glad she did!The heartbreaking thing? The first thing she thought of when she saw the charges were from Texas was that she has in-laws there and she's visited them. I'm sure it's not related to them. I had a debit card compromised and the attempted charge came from out of the country. If you use a card online and don't check to be sure the server is secure, it can get hacked from anywhere!Oh and always alert your bank when you go out of town. She said the out of state charges should have been a red flag. They said, "Oh, we just thought you were on vacation!"

 

[NooraK]

There is also several companies out there that offer identity theft protection. This also is not a monitoring of the account and its charges. This type of protection is to watch for changes in your credit bureau (new accounts etc.) and often also offers help for when you do discover these kinds of things. That is true identity theft. As for charging activity on a card, each bank is going to do that on their own. It is to their benefit to do so, because that zero liability agreement makes them responsible for any fraud, and they want to take the smallest fraud losses possible. So I'd bet even if she didn't have that fraud protection, they would have given her the money back and "investigated" it anyway. I know, that's what I do for a living. When I was still on the front lines taking calls, after confirming fraud was the best time to sell that protection, because consumers don't understand the difference as well as we do. Don't get me wrong, I think the protection is still important to have, and being vigilant about your credit activity, but if you have fraud on your credit or debit card that's done through the Visa/MasterCard network, you won't be liable for it whether you have the protection or not.As for "investigating", they'll do as much as they can, but often that's not much. Again, it's to the benefit of the bank to do so, because they're the ones taking the losses, but a lot of times these kinds of things are done by fraud rings that are sophisticated, and know how to cover their tracks. The relatives in Texas could very well be pure coincidence, or it might not. There's really not a way to know. Some of these perpetrators use computer programs that just generate 16 digit numbers until they hit on one that's a valid credit card. There's no way you can prevent that from happening. In monitoring the cards, there's a fine line. Customers don't want fraud, but they also don't want their legitimate charges to be declined. And if she's had history in that area, and considering it's the biggest shopping day of the year, they might be a bit more lenient than at other times of the year. Bottom line, you're not responsible for fraud, whether you have ID theft protection or not.

 

[Sheila]

I had one of my cards blocked several years ago because it was "irregular" activity. I was freaking out in the store, talked to the company & got it straightened out. I hadn't used the card in a while & was on purchase #3 for the day. They thought that was weird. It was an inconvenience, but hey ... at least they had my back if it hadn't have been me! LOLMy sister lives in Alabama. She was in TX visiting & her hubby was up in New England somewhere at a school. He had just used his debit card there, so when she went to use her debit card linked to the same account, they declined her & blocked both cards ... thinking it was fraud. Another inconvenience, but she'd rather be inconvenienced like that than to be the victim of someone using her account fraudulently. I've been lucky. I've never been hit. Hubby on the other hand was a victim a few years back. They got him for a little over $500. He got it back, but it was a couple of days delay. And right now, anyone that used a credit card at the Chili's on Yokosuka Air Base in Japan is at risk. Their system was hacked and many of their customers have started having problems in the last few weeks. LUCKILY, hubby hasn't charged there recently. LOLNoora's right though, Identity Theft is much more detailed than fraudulent charges on someone's card. Identity Theft is when they have all your info and are representing themselves as you. The credit bureaus now have a system in place. If you get your wallet stolen, you can call one & they notify the other credit bureaus for you. You can also report your SS number stolen if you have evidence that it's being used by the criminal to obtain credit in your name. And in TX, if you can prove that someone else is using your driver's license to show as ID in a store to pass themselves off as you, then you can request a whole new Driver's License Number when you get your replacement DL. But they won't give you a new number unless there's evidence that someone's actually using the old card as their identification. If any of you ever have your wallet stolen or know someone who does ... make sure it's reported to the credit bureaus ASAP. Waiting just causes more problems to fix.

 

[NooraK]

I actually just had to cancel out my debit card on Thursday because of fraudulent internet charges. Good thing I wasn't planning on going Black Friday shopping

 

[Sheila]

You're not kidding girl! THAT would have put a damper in your plan!

 

[ShelbyMichalek]

A bunch of Tricare records were also recently stolen so if they are your medical insurance (military related) keep an eye out for a letter from them telling you to check your credit and call them.

 

[Sheila]

Great. Hadn't heard that yet.

 

[Rhonda-Roo]

You also have to be careful when you hand your card to a waiter/waitress when they have to take it out of your site to run it through. I had a friend experience that. That was several years ago & the thief ordered some baseball hats online & had them delivered to his address. lol And, recently my nephew went to a restaurant (buffet) & when he got his bank statement the restaurant charged $5 more than his bill. The reason... he had left the "tip" section blank and signed it. The waiter decided he deserved a $5 tip. If I leave cash for a tip, I put a line through the tip section on the receipt.. just in case.

 

[NooraK]

You're not kidding girl! THAT would have put a damper in your plan!

You've got that right! Luckily, with the debit cards, DH's card number is different, so his still works. And if worse comes to worst, I can use my PC account, and just transfer money over.

A bunch of Tricare records were also recently stolen so if they are your medical insurance (military related) keep an eye out for a letter from them telling you to check your credit and call them.

Not only your credit, but keep tabs on your medical information, like explanations of benefits. A friend of mine's relatives stole some of her and her kids' information, and used it to get medical treatment under her insurance.

You also have to be careful when you hand your card to a waiter/waitress when they have to take it out of your site to run it through. I had a friend experience that. That was several years ago & the thief ordered some baseball hats online & had them delivered to his address. lol

This does happen, but don't let it scare you from using your card. Remember that you're not liable for the fraud, and for this stuff it's usually quite easy for law enforcement to catch the crooks, since there's one place tying all the fraud together.

And, recently my nephew went to a restaurant (buffet) & when he got his bank statement the restaurant charged $5 more than his bill. The reason... he had left the "tip" section blank and signed it. The waiter decided he deserved a $5 tip. If I leave cash for a tip, I put a line through the tip section on the receipt.. just in case.

Yes, always put a line through the spot if you don't leave the tip on the card. As for the waiter, that's a pretty stupid thing to do, lose your job over $5 (I would hope he'd get fired for stealing from the customers).

 

[pampchefrhondab]

Even if you write the tip in, make sure you check your charges. They still have to key the amount in the computer. We had a waitress key in a $29 tip.

 

[Rhonda-Roo]

If someone got my card #, my biggest problem would be the time it takes them to credit the money back to me because I live payday to payday. But, even though there's not much money in my accounts, I monitor them like a hawk. lol Rhonda B from Northern Indiana... I'm Rhonda B from Southern Indiana. hehe

 

[Shawnna]

Last December someone used my cc and my husband's name to purchase something online from the apple store...640.00 When I called they kept insisting that my husband had bought phones...online. First of all, we can't use apple phones in our area, we have US Cellular. Second of all, my husband doesn't use the internet...he doesn't know how nor care to learn. He always has me look up stuff for him. It was really strange because it was a paypal charge. So, I first contacted them and they told me what was purchased and then I contacted my cc company. It took 3 months to get it credited back to my cc and I still cannot use that card for paypal. Never did figure out who bought the stuff or where it went to.

 

[Brenda.the.chef]

You also have to be careful when you hand your card to a waiter/waitress when they have to take it out of your site to run it through. I had a friend experience that. That was several years ago & the thief ordered some baseball hats online & had them delivered to his address. lol

And, recently my nephew went to a restaurant (buffet) & when he got his bank statement the restaurant charged $5 more than his bill. The reason... he had left the "tip" section blank and signed it. The waiter decided he deserved a $5 tip. If I leave cash for a tip, I put a line through the tip section on the receipt.. just in case.

I write "TIP LEFT ON TABLE" on my receipt. You only let that 'free' tip happen to you one time before you learn not to leave that line blank.

 

[Brenda.the.chef]

Scary how common this is!

NO that's not the kind of protection she has! They are going to pay her back for the loss and investigate it for her! She is very glad she got it! It was free for a year and then she decided to keep it and is very glad she did!

The heartbreaking thing? The first thing she thought of when she saw the charges were from Texas was that she has in-laws there and she's visited them. I'm sure it's not related to them. I had a debit card compromised and the attempted charge came from out of the country. If you use a card online and don't check to be sure the server is secure, it can get hacked from anywhere!

Oh and always alert your bank when you go out of town. She said the out of state charges should have been a red flag. They said, "Oh, we just thought you were on vacation!"

There is someone here in my office that bought a big screen tv on black Friday at Best Buy. The next day, her bank called to let her know that her card had been compromised. There was a small purchase (a test purchase for thieves) in Oklahoma and then her purchases went global in moments. Purchases in Africa, northern California and Australia in amounts close to $50,000... yes, that much! WHO has credit cards with 6 figure limits?

 

[NooraK]

There is someone here in my office that bought a big screen tv on black Friday at Best Buy. The next day, her bank called to let her know that her card had been compromised. There was a small purchase (a test purchase for thieves) in Oklahoma and then her purchases went global in moments. Purchases in Africa, northern California and Australia in amounts close to $50,000... yes, that much! WHO has credit cards with 6 figure limits?

I've seen bigger...

 

[Sheila]

Yup. Especially if they own a small business.

 

[Sheila]

Last December someone used my cc and my husband's name to purchase something online from the apple store...640.00 When I called they kept insisting that my husband had bought phones...online. First of all, we can't use apple phones in our area, we have US Cellular. Second of all, my husband doesn't use the internet...he doesn't know how nor care to learn. He always has me look up stuff for him. It was really strange because it was a paypal charge. So, I first contacted them and they told me what was purchased and then I contacted my cc company. It took 3 months to get it credited back to my cc and I still cannot use that card for paypal. Never did figure out who bought the stuff or where it went to.

That bites girl. Seems like PayPal would have been able to pull up the shipping address & have their investigators follow up on that amount.

 

[Intrepid_Chef]

Well, not too surprisingly (Monday was the first legal working day since she discovered this) she has not contacted me to arrange payment. Since she did promise me cash I am going to take the VERY unusual step of paying it on my TPC debit with the understanding that if she doesn't pay, she doesn't get her products, and then ship them back if she doesn't pay up. The reason being is that at least one of my guests bought gifts that she must ship to her family.If I must ship them back because she doesn't pay (I loathe the thought of this option) then will my host have to give up the free products?

 

[Sheila]

No clue girl. I think HO is lenient unless they are seeing a pattern of abuse (like consultants adding extra orders on a regular basis to boost the show sales & then making returns). Even if you call HO & ask 3 people, you'll probably get 3 answers. LOL They could let it slide and they might ask you/host to repay the difference if this sale boosted the host to a new level and/or ask for that part of your commission back. If the guest wants the items, and you are willing to pay for them up front due to her extenuating circumstances, I say go for it. If you thought she was just plain unreliable I'd say RUN!

 

[NooraK]

Well, not too surprisingly (Monday was the first legal working day since she discovered this) she has not contacted me to arrange payment. Since she did promise me cash I am going to take the VERY unusual step of paying it on my TPC debit with the understanding that if she doesn't pay, she doesn't get her products, and then ship them back if she doesn't pay up. The reason being is that at least one of my guests bought gifts that she must ship to her family.

If I must ship them back because she doesn't pay (I loathe the thought of this option) then will my host have to give up the free products?

No. A host's benefits and your commission is not affected by a return, unless it is the entire show, or the entire order. I do believe, however, that HO is now enforcing the rule that they do not refund shipping, even if the entire order is returned, so you might be out $4.75+tax.

 

[Intrepid_Chef]

OK thanks. I just did it and am on hold with HO to confirm. I don't expect them to pick up any time soon and I expect my cel phone to drop the shaky connection before they have a chance.

She did says these items are Christmas gifts and she doesn't want to cancel the order ... I was just not willing to wait another day when I saw that the show I submitted on Monday is already picked and this one was submitted last Wednesday!

 

[Sheila]

You should be able to refresh the hold screen & see that it was accepted.