So I go to check my bank balance online today and see an ATM withdrawal in Hollywood CA for $200 over the weekend. I haven't been to Hollywood in years, but I did do some online shopping over the last week with some new vendors. I called the bank and disputed the charge and canceled the card so I should be OK.

I've had issues before with people using my card without my knowing, people making fake checks from my account, etc, but this time it looks like some criminal actually made a fake debit card with my account info and was able to withdraw $200 out of an ATM in a different state. WTF?

Anyone else have this happen? Btw, I suspect the vendor was through Amazon.

never use debit cards online. ever.

every single person I know that has, has gotten ripped off at somet point.

Yep.

Never, ever use Debit cards PERIOD.

You have almost NO protection. Carry cash instead.

If you want to use a card, use a CREDIT card and pay it off every month. You then have the upper hand, as they DON'T have your money first.

I stopped debit cards years ago to save that sort of aggravation. Someone got a hold of a credit card number of mine 10 years ago. The bank credited me back the money. I had to file a police report. It was several thousand dollars so debit cards make me paranoid.

My bank - SunTrust - sent out Debit (Mastercard) cards to replace our regular ATM cards.
Went to the branch and told them no way - we only wanted plain vanilla ATM cards.
They said tough - I said tough for you then - I will close our personal and business accounts.
They relented - said in "special" circumstances they will waive the rules and allow customers to keep their plain vanilla ATM cards.

I have a pay as you go debit card that I use for anything online. I put just enough on it to purchase something.

unreal beechdriver... it is funny how there is always an exception to the policy.

Got a phone call a couple of days ago from my bank.

Did you make a 8.73 Euro purchase, for a Eurail pass ?

I said WTF?

She said - How about 6.00 and change for a ticket at a bus station in Spain.

Double WTF?

Not me, Fraudulent as hell, I said.

She said she killed the card and would send me another one.

Have no clue as to how that card number was picked up. It pretty much has standard usage that is constant. Hard to identify a possible point that the number leaked.

BTW - because I am aware of debit card lack of consumer protection - I have never had one. If the bank sends them, I cut them up, call them tell them not to send any more debit cards.

I asked why the low amounts and odd charges were tried, she said they will make a trial run with a couple of low amounts. Then, if the charges make it thru - they will make a physical card with those numbers and go for a lot more.

How did someone withdraw from your ATM w/o a pin number?

@wakeupcall, most debit cards have two initiations; they can be either used with a PIN for an immediate bank withdrawal of account funds at point-of-purchase, or they can be signed-for like a credit card and it takes a bit longer for the money in your bank account to be moved for the payment.

A stolen debit card which is used by signed-for-payment will take several days to be processed through the system. Using a PIN is an immediate account withdrawal, and of course knowledge of the card PIN is necessary. Signature debits (using the debit as a credit card) often do not require ID, and it is very easy for thieves to use a purloined debit card in this way.

I just canceled my debit care after reading this thread. The gal at my bank claimed 20 times that a debit card had all the protection of a credit card.

The conversation was something like:

She: Your debit card had all the protections of a credit card!

Me: Please cancel this card and issue me an ATM-only card.

She: But why do you want to do this?

Me: A debit card has NONE of the protections of a credit card for cash advances.

She: I've been a banker of 11 years and I have a debit card and I never had any problems.

Me: That's nice. Can you cancel the card, please?

She: I still don't understand why you want to do this.

Me: Because a debit card has NONE of the protections of a credit card for cash advances and I don't want to rely upon the bank or the bank's security department to detect any unauthorized charges.

She: But your debit card had all the protections of a credit card!

Me: So, you've canceled the card, right?

She: Yes, but I still don't understand why you want to cancel your card.

Me: Do we have anything else to talk about?

She: No..

Me: Merry Christmas, bye!

Imagine my surprise when i logged into my online checking to find a balance of almost 0. I usually keep enough in checking for purchases and the rest in savings. Somehow someone charged $2700 to a company in Italy. No idea how. Hadnt been to italy in over a year. Luckily the bank credited me and did its own investigation. If i hadnt checked my account randomly i would have been in for a surprise at my next ATM visit

From Gammas post I see an xtranormal video on debit cards.

Yeah I never had a debit card. I never saw the need or purpose for it. Paying off your balances with credit cards you at least get a 30 day float compared to debit cards - not much interest but better then paying right away.

A few years ago I had a friend pay a parking ticket with a debit card. Her whole bank account was cleaned out. She got the money back but it took some time. **** that.

The only time I've had a problem with a debit card I went to the branch office I banked at, explained the situation (totally ****ed up charge from an ISP), and was IMMEDIATELY credited back several hundred dollars and the overdraft charges.

Not saying everybody would get the same treatment, but it was simplicity itself to get the charge reversed.

Methinks the debit cards are getting cancelled.

Quote:

How did someone withdraw from your ATM w/o a pin number?

Careful using "pay at the pump": http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27085818/ns/....

Get rid of the debit card period. And watch the charges on your credit card around the holidays. Sometimes it's a bunch of small charges and then a big one follows. Last year I had that happen and then a Microsoft store purchase for around $800 bucks. CC company took about 2 months to settle it. The first person at the CC company wanted to know what was purchased and told me I should call them. I was like what the hell are you talking about!!!

Two or three years ago I had plane tickets bought in Norway, for about $2000.

Then there were the gas charges in NJ on days that I wasn't in NJ.

But the first time I had CC charges that were not mine was some Russian porno site. It had the word sex in the middle of the CC charge and my wife didn't believe me at first. It was one of those recurring monthly charges.

Have a Merry Christmas everyone, and Karl thanks for the great job here in 2010!!!

Wow, glad I read this thread...!

A few years ago somebody tried to use my debit card to buy an expensive laptop computer online or by phone. It was somebody I knew, and apparently they'd memorized my card number; it was never missing from my possession or misplaced or anything.

Two safeguards. The computer store contacted me through the account info to see if I'd ordered the merchandise, since the ship-to address was different. I hadn't, so they didn't accept the charge. Also my bank won't let high-dollar items go through without calling me first.

few tips :

Never handover your credit or debit cards @ Gas pump operator or waiters ! These can be easily photographed before the cards returns back to you. Every one has a camera on their phones now :(

Be extremely careful with publicly accessible ATM, there are cameras available in the market which can take crisp pictures or movies of cards and your hand movements at the ATM keyboard from 200 to 500 meters.

If you have card(s) with RFID or embedded chip, there are remote/wireless scanners available which can scan the card in your wallet from about 1 feel distance.

Never withdraw from unfamiliar ATM places.

Never ever speak your card# on the phone in any place ! There are recording devices so rampant they can easily register your card#.

Trade said

"If you have card(s) with RFID or embedded chip, there are remote/wireless scanners available which can scan the card in your wallet from about 1 feel distance. "

A few seconds in the microwave will fix that.

So with 10 seconds with a Dremel.

just more info for people here;

what they usually do is "Test" the card.. with something like 50-200$.. just to see if you notice the money gone.

If nothing happens and the card isn't cancelled after the "test", that's when they'll hit it for as much money as they can get.

Most banks will eventually give you your money back, but sometimes it can take some time and in the meantime, the money is gone.

Credit cards are rarely attacked in this way.. plus even if it is, the money never actually leaves your account.

Bottom line.. don't use debit cards. If you have to, don't ever use it online or in shady looking stores. FOB people who run stores sometimes will ship numbers back to their family in their home country.

There is a PIN hack also that allows cash withdrawals with your card and without using the PIN.

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/cambrid....

Only own three cards a bank Debt, Visa and an AMEX. The debt has never been in a non issuing banks ATM. I pay cash or write a check for pretty much everything.
The Visa is exclusively my online charge card. I buy all my gas with cash only. One card makes it easy to watch for any fraud that may pop up. So far I have never had any fraud or identity theft, knock on wood.