Credit Card Fraud
Tags: Internet General
I actually don't know if this is a technical or Internet-related story at all, but I just got off the phone with my credit card company's fraud department. They called to confirm an iTunes purchase of 1 song for $1 about a half hour ago. I don't use iTunes (that will be another blog post - I have a great alternative) so no, I didn't buy a song. It wouldn't be too out of line to think that I could have bought one though. So how did they know it wasn't me? My guess is that the purchase came from an IP address that wasn't anywhere around here, maybe even from a foreign country. I don't know how else they would know but I'm glad they did. As for where the card got stolen, who knows? Could have been a restaurant, could have been an Internet purchase - there's no way to know.
Once the bank realized I had not made the purchase they immediately cancelled my card and issued me a new one which should be here on Tuesday. While I pay off my balance every month, we're used to using credit cards for everything so it's kind of weird to be without, although I think I have another open account kicking around that we could use in the interim (of course I'm blogging about this instead of looking for the cards - I have my priorities straight, right?)
One important point - I was immediately suspicious of the call. But they never asked for my card number or any identifying information, which of course I would have refused to give. After the call I immediately called the bank back to confirm that the first call wasn't some kind of scam.
I actually don't know if this is a technical or Internet-related story at all, but I just got off the phone with my credit card company's fraud department. They called to confirm an iTunes purchase of 1 song for $1 about a half hour ago. I don't use iTunes (that will be another blog post - I have a great alternative) so no, I didn't buy a song. It wouldn't be too out of line to think that I could have bought one though. So how did they know it wasn't me? My guess is that the purchase came from an IP address that wasn't anywhere around here, maybe even from a foreign country. I don't know how else they would know but I'm glad they did. As for where the card got stolen, who knows? Could have been a restaurant, could have been an Internet purchase - there's no way to know.
Once the bank realized I had not made the purchase they immediately cancelled my card and issued me a new one which should be here on Tuesday. While I pay off my balance every month, we're used to using credit cards for everything so it's kind of weird to be without, although I think I have another open account kicking around that we could use in the interim (of course I'm blogging about this instead of looking for the cards - I have my priorities straight, right?)
One important point - I was immediately suspicious of the call. But they never asked for my card number or any identifying information, which of course I would have refused to give. After the call I immediately called the bank back to confirm that the first call wasn't some kind of scam.
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
Comments
Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy At 12:30:29 PM On 11/03/2008 | - Website - |
Posted by Bill Greenberg At 12:35:38 PM On 11/03/2008 | - Website - |
Posted by Don At 01:06:04 PM On 12/23/2008 | - Website - |