Not Again!

The advice is always, check your bank accounts and credit cards regularly to protect against identity theft and credit card theft. I do that regularly, though not daily. We have online access to all our accounts and it is really easy to look at the transactions. I did that last night and found a charge for $100 on the credit card that I didn't recognize. I asked John and he hadn't made a purchase from that company. He said no.  So this morning, I called the merchant. We hadn't bought anything from them, but somebody else had--on our credit card. I wasn't happy with the advice the customer service representative there gave me. Call the bank and cancel the card, then report it to the police.

A couple of years ago, we received a call from the fraud division of our bank, asking if we had bought something in a Houston Walmart the day before. We were in Arizona and hadn't been in Houston for several years. When I told them no, we were told our credit card number had been stolen and used. They would be sending us a new card right away. That is a real problem for us. Since we get 1% cash back on all purchases, we pay most of our bills by automatic debit to our credit card, rather than our checking account. It was real hassle to notify all those businesses of the new card number. It turned out that a local grocery chain had been hacked and many card numbers were stolen--even the Maricopa County Sheriff had his card number stolen. Now I have to do it again.

Today, I called the bank to report the theft of our credit card number. We will receive a new card on Friday. Then my work begins. Next, I called the Pinal County Sheriff to report the theft. A very nice deputy called back and took the report. He will contact the merchant and see if he can find who made the charge.

All I can say, other than "DARN" is, be sure to check your credit card regularly. The sooner you catch any problem, the less trouble you will have protecting your funds.