richard

Happened twice in the past six months. One an atm card and one a credit card. Making me hate to pay with plastic on a trip. The atm card was at a real bank atm. Any tips on preventing this?

Doc Savage

I pay cash for gas these days, and don't use my card in any other unattended machines. I try to avoid other places that are swipe and not chip.

I avoid using cards in third world countries except in high end hotels or car rentals when I have to.

rubesl

ATM - make sure nothing looks "funny" or loose where you insert your card in the bank ATM (also, NEVER use a non-bank ATM, like the kind some convenience stores have). When I enter my PIN I always hold my hand or something else over the PIN pad so crooks who installed a camera to also get your PIN can't see my entry. Also, my ATM card is an ATM Only card - it has no Visa or Mastercard logo and cannot be used for purchases at stores (it only works at an ATM) - any bank will give you one for the asking, but the ones they just normally issue are combo ATM/purchase cards that can be used in stores to drain your bank account.

Redhead

Yep I have an ATM only card too

Tchiowa

Happened to me twice in my life. First time was an AMEX. They called me and wanted to know if I had purchased a sofa in Atlanta (I live in California) They tracked it down to a hotel where I had stayed near Disneyworld in Orlando. An employee had copied the data. They caught the guy when he got cocky (meaning "acted like an idiot") and bought some stuff on line and had it shipped to his apartment. AMEX protected me and it didn't cost a dime.

Second time, Chase called and wanted to verify that I was buy jewelry in Jakarta. I had been in Indonesia the month before. Still not sure where it was copied or skimmed. Chase protected me and kept me whole.

I've had 3 other events where the CC company contacted me saying there had been a breach (once with Target, the other 2 in their own servers) and were cancelling and replacing all my cards.

I've never lost a dime to these guys but it's come close. How do you stop it? Not sure that you can. Just make sure you have cards that protect you.

The_Bouncer

This has only ever happened to me in the western world. I have used cards in many less wealthy countries, with no issue at all.

USA: $700 spent at a drugstore in LA. Card almost certainly skimmed at ATM in Boston South Station.

USA: $500+ spent on cloned card at K Mart in New York, and bizarrely $4.95 at Burger King. No idea how or where the card was cloned.

Australia: card number used for $2k worth of phone sex and porn sites. Probably the guy staying in my dad's house.

UK: contacted by bank - police found card details at a "point of compromise". No idea how. Nothing spent.

I have never had a problem being reimbursed by the banks, and have just accepted now that this is a hazard of the modern world.

The_Bouncer

This. And have back-up cards and cash. You can't stop it. If you use credit cards, as most of us do, it's going to happen.

SpannerSpinner

Once so far, just a few days ago. Flew to SYD on Thursday evening, went to check out of my hotel on Friday morning and my card was blocked. Paid with the backup AMEX card and called the bank, the fraud detection team had put a block on my card due to someone buying GBP50 of clothing at an online store in the UK. They cancelled my card on the spot and I should have the replacement in the mail tomorrow.

No idea how they got the card details, only possibility I can think of was me emailing a photo & statement to a camera hire outfit to meet their ID requirements, but they wouldn't have got the CVV number from that photo.

Just glad I had the no-fees AMEX card as a backup and an ATM card with me, otherwise it would have been a major drama instead of an inconvenience.

Haven't been any where other than NZ & Australia since November, so I don't think we can blame this one on third world countries.

shuigao

Meanwhile, someone charged us$5k to my card for some sort of California Tax Payment (ref: "CA FRANCHISE TAX BOARD ..."), and no fraud warning triggered at all. I only found out about it after looking at my statement.

I'm in Singapore, the card is issued by Citibank Singapore. You'd think the bank would have flagged this as obvious fraud, but no cigar.

invisible

I am in Singapore as well and eager to listen what was the resolution of your case, after hearing number of horror stories how local banks have cardholders responsible for charges from lost/stolen/skimmed cards.

Like the story when guy gave his DBS card to wife: card was lost or stolen, then someone bought $15K TV set and DBS tells them they need to pay. Another story was what skimmed card from SC or OCBC in Indonesia with $5000 withdrawal and bank also tells that it is their problem.

I personally have not had case with cards, but my wife's checking account was compromised when we've been living in California. Someone got her account and routing numbers and printed checks to pay at Walmart and pay for cable (!). Bank promptly returned everything back to the account.

schmoove

Only happened once and it happened before I got a chance to use the card so I have no clue how they got the number.

grenuy

This happened to me once when I was in NYC, we used my card for the boat trip tour out to the Status of Liberty and my husband said it was weird that the guy put the machine under his desk while it was processing. It wasn't until we were in Nantucket a couple days later that my bank called me (from the UK) to ask if I was trying to charge $458.00 at a Pharmacy in NJ.

My BF and her husband were in South Africa a few years ago on business trip, he had just started a job with the New York Times, and between the time they checked out of their hotel and then landed at JFK someone had put $30,000 worth of charges on his company Amex. Needless to say his editor was a bit confused !

BuildingMyBento

Surprised to see you use that term. Anyway, don't see any country being immune to these issues...save maybe for the DPRK.

matrixwalker2012

Happened to me last week in Burbank. I guess Citibank got suspicious that a $300 even purchase was run up at Victoria's Secret and a few other charges such as Forever 21, Barh Body Works, etc

With tax, how often does the combination of merchandise come out to exactly an even multiple of $100 and as a guy, why would I go shopping at Victoria's Secret?

Anyways, doesn't matter, the bank blocked the card and I should get a replacement in a few days. All these merchants refuse to adopt to Chip technology, maybe they'll start doing that now after they get hosed by Citi.

jeff191

I've never had any issues travelling internationally with skimming. Only one scare in Panama where we tried to withdraw money from an ATM that looked functional but it kept erroring out when we tried to use it. Combine that with a loose card slot and we were very worried. The one right next to it worked fine. For the next few weeks, we checked that bank account very closely and no issues so maybe we were just being paranoid.

I have had problems quite a bit travelling domestically though. In a previous job, I travelled through small towns frequently and used my cards at small gas stations and restaurants. I had one year where my cards were compromised 3 times and the time frame was often shortly after a work trip. But the charges were all over the world so I assume the numbers were immediately sold, I think I received a call from AMEX once about whether I was having a $700 euro dinner in Paris which unfortunately I was not.

Once I left that job, I've only had one instance of a card number being stolen and I think it was my parking garage which was the only place that card was used at the time. Someone tried to buy several iPhones through Sprint. They allowed the first one but not the next 2 and of course credited me for all of it once it was discovered.