Strange... Hacked :/

[jseah]

I only have 2 banks accounts, both with debit check cards and one actual credit card I use for online. About once a year I "lose" them so they need to be reissued. I had one of mine get compromised in the Home Depot (I assume) hack, it took about 4 months and I had a fraudulent charge.

I don't know about others, but Chase lets you set text alerts for any charge made at a limit you set. Mine is set for $1 (default is $50), so I get a text for any charge to that card, typically within seconds of using it. Wells Fargo also does it, but through emails. The text from Chase is how I found the fraud charges earlier this year. The scammers are smart, the fraud charge I found was for $49.99, I'm sure it is no coincidence that it was just under the default limit. I'm sure they know most people won't adjust it.

The main card that I use was compromised in the Target hack, and then compromised again in the Home Depot hack. The first time in the Target hack, they waited 6 months before they attempted to use the number. They rang up over $800 in charges before it triggered the fraud alert. I was issued a new card with a new number and then with the Home Depot hack, it was about 2 or 3 months before they attempted to use. The fraud alert triggered immediately because they were trying to purchase several hundred dollars worth of gift cards. So I had to get that same card replaced again.

 

[Buster282]

No worries Kin.. all qualified sleuths at ECF are on your case! We will apprehend the culprit!

 

[Traijan]

Came here to point this out. Recently had a nightmare of a time (took about a full month) to get back $1.5k that was drained from my debit card. It was really lame because I got paid (direct deposit) and moments later got 3 emails, a phone call, and a text that my account was compromised. Obviously they knew the charges were fraudulent, and they were made in stores in the UK. Clearly not me.

Despite all these OBVIOUS signs of fraud (you'd have to be a real mastermind to fly to England and then back to NJ in the same day) they needed to "investigate my claim" which inevitably took a full month (2 pay cycles..) The money literally just got back to my account ($1570) today. I'm thinking of draining my savings/checkings account and keeping my money in a shoebox. It'd be safer that way.

It's pretty much what I do now with the majority of my money. Well, I keep it in a safe secured in concrete in the floor hidden away but still just a glorified shoebox. LOL

I took out 5k one day thinking that I was going to buy a second hand car for a friend, but we didn't find one, so on the way home that night I deposted 4500.00 of it in the Banks ATM machine. The next day I got a call from my bank telling me that I had not deposited anything in the ATM and that they would be reversing the money out of my account. I drove down 50 miles to the branch where I deposited it and told them to suck eggs and they need to investigate where the money went as I did indeed put 4500 into the envelope and put it into the ATM.

Well, long story short, they called me about 7 days later and said that they "found" the missing deposit. The branch manager confided in me that it was 2 employees that checked in the ATM deposits that had taken it and they had (somehow) caught them out. So they gave me back the money.

I drove down to the branch, withdrew all my money, and stopped at a lock shop on the way home and ordered up a in floor safe that they installed for me a couple days later.

I guess you could say that I no longer trust banks.

 

[R2sojr]

Did you get to keep the package?...lol

 

[AndriaD]

Thanks for the replies. Fortunately, the credit card company is being very trusting and is investigating as well as refunding all of the fraudulent charges. Also, I'm very lucky that they shut the card down after about $400 worth of various charges. This person went crazy, they went on a shopping spree.

This reminds me of that movie 'Identity Thief' with Jason Bateman...

This is the first I've heard of a gov't hack... any idea where i can find more info about it?

Andria

 

[AndriaD]

Came here to point this out. Recently had a nightmare of a time (took about a full month) to get back $1.5k that was drained from my debit card. It was really lame because I got paid (direct deposit) and moments later got 3 emails, a phone call, and a text that my account was compromised. Obviously they knew the charges were fraudulent, and they were made in stores in the UK. Clearly not me.

Despite all these OBVIOUS signs of fraud (you'd have to be a real mastermind to fly to England and then back to NJ in the same day) they needed to "investigate my claim" which inevitably took a full month (2 pay cycles..) The money literally just got back to my account ($1570) today. I'm thinking of draining my savings/checkings account and keeping my money in a shoebox. It'd be safer that way.

That is so weird. I found a fraudulent transaction in my online listing for our bank acct; called the bank right away, they took down the info but said that till it cleared 'pending" status there was nothing they could do, till it posted; it posted about 48 hrs later so i called the bank again, went down the next day to sign some papers and get them notarized, pertinent to the investigation, and they put the money back in my acct the very next day.

Andria

 

[WillyZee]

the hacker clicked the box "do you want to ship to the same billing address" ... serves the goofus right.

hope you get it sorted out.

 

[nyiddle]

That is so weird. I found a fraudulent transaction in my online listing for our bank acct; called the bank right away, they took down the info but said that till it cleared 'pending" status there was nothing they could do, till it posted; it posted about 48 hrs later so i called the bank again, went down the next day to sign some papers and get them notarized, pertinent to the investigation, and they put the money back in my acct the very next day.

Andria

I don't know if mine ever posted, it may have stayed in processing for the entire time. But that's an absurdly long time for it to be processing/pending, usually transactions are only in that state over the weekend or for a day or two/whatever. It was a bit of a nuisance but I had friends willing to buy me drinks for the weekend(s), heh.

 

[Cullin Kin]

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/07/1...kers-got-data-of-millions.html?referrer=&_r=0

 

[jseah]

This is the first I've heard of a gov't hack... any idea where i can find more info about it?

Andria

Hackers broke into the federal government's computers. They basically got all the name, address, social security numbers, and even fingerprints for every federal employee plus anyone who had their background checked for a security clearance or applied for a federal government job within the last 15 years. For the people who filed for security clearances, the hackers even got the PII (personally identifiable information) for their relatives and friends as well, since that information is also included in the background check. Supposedly over 21 million people are affected.

This is potentially more damaging than a data hack of a retailer. If someone like Target or Home Depot gets hacked, the only information stolen is related to the credit/debit card that was used to make the purchase. The information stolen from the government allows the person with that data to apply for new credit cards in the affected people's names.

The federal government is placing the blame on Chinese hackers.

 

[jseah]

To illustrate how damaging this information is, imagine you are a federal employee. So they now have your name, date of birth, address, social security number, driver's license number. If your paycheck is direct deposited, then they have your bank account info as well. If you're married with kids, then because you have submitted your family's information for health insurance purposes, they also have the names, social security numbers and dates of birth for your spouse and all your kids as well. They also know who's your primary care physician or dentist. And if you needed a background check done for your government job, you would have disclosed your extended family's information as well. So they have the names, phone numbers and addresses for your parents, brothers and sisters. You would have also disclosed information on your friends as character references so they would have the names, addresses and phone numbers for your friends as well.

I'm surprised no one has sued to government yet. This information is like the holy grail for the identity thief. With the information they have, they can basically become you.

 

[Cullin Kin]

This is the first I've heard of a gov't hack... any idea where i can find more info about it?

Andria

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/07/1...kers-got-data-of-millions.html?referrer=&_r=0

 

[Spencer87]

Had the CC problem, Well similar. About 6 months ago.. Got a charge for a flight to New York. That was the only thing. Just a flight to New York. I didnt go to New York. They took it off while they investigated it . never heard about it after that

 

[AndriaD]

Dang, that's terrible. Any idea if any VA records could have been involved? My husband's med care is thru them, and our mortgage was a VA mortgage.

Andria

 

[jseah]

Dang, that's terrible. Any idea if any VA records could have been involved? My husband's med care is thru them, and our mortgage was a VA mortgage.

Andria

I don't believe so. It was the OPM (Office of Personnel Management) that got hacked. So if you are active duty military, or retired but collecting a military pension or even a retired government employee receiving a federal pension, then you're affected.

 

[AndriaD]

I don't believe so. It was the OPM (Office of Personnel Management) that got hacked. So if you are active duty military, or retired but collecting a military pension or even a retired government employee receiving a federal pension, then you're affected.

Ok; he's not Retired, he just got out after 2 tours. All his records are with the VA, so I can breathe a bit easier, maybe; and definitely keep my eyes on our online transaction details.

Andria

 

[jseah]

Dang, that's terrible. Any idea if any VA records could have been involved? My husband's med care is thru them, and our mortgage was a VA mortgage.

Andria

However, one article I read said that back in 2006, the personal information on 26.5 million active duty and retired military personnel was stolen from a VA laptop.

 

[AndriaD]

However, one article I read said that back in 2006, the personal information on 26.5 million active duty and retired military personnel was stolen from a VA laptop.

He got out about '84 or '85, somewhere around there -- we met in '86, so I'm not entirely clear on every detail.

Andria

 

[jseah]

What I read was that the government isn't necessarily as worried about the financial loss. What really concerns them is that the identity of American intelligence agents abroad could be disclosed since their information would be contained in the stolen data since they received federal paychecks.

 

[jseah]

He got out about '84 or '85, somewhere around there -- we met in '86, so I'm not entirely clear on every detail.

Andria

The theft was almost 10 years ago, so if he hasn't been affected yet, the odds are that's he's ok.