More Fraud

I have been [ripped off][1] again.

Apparently my debit card has been skimmed and the info used to attempt purchases across America and Nigeria. The bank noticed the activity immediately and stopped my card (last time, it was up to me to notice).

Unfortunately they stopped the card without telling me ……. I started having problems with payments failing, visited my branch to see what was going on with this (and several other problems) spent a frustrating half-hour waiting in a queue, got no resolution from them …… called the bank’s main office and began to hear that they could not deal with any of my issues because my account had been security flagged.

I finally got through to somebody useful in the security department and got everything quickly sorted out.

When this happened last time, I assumed my card details had been stolen online and had changed some of my purchasing behaviour accordingly, but what was interesting this time was that they told me that whoever stole my card info, had had access to the physical card itself, i.e. a modified ATM, an employee of a local shop or restaurant etc.

Not at all what I expected.

[1]: {% post_url 2007-09-01-ripped-off %}