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Cracker Gains Access to 2.2 Million Credit Cards
Doctor Sbaitso writes "CNN reports that a hacker bypassed the security system of a company that processes credit card transactions and gained access to approximately 2.2 million Visa and MasterCard credit cards. Fortunately, none of them seem to have been used fraudulently."
Unfortunately, I hold one of those 2.2 million cards. I was thoroughly frustrated when my card was declined Friday, Saturday then again on Sunday. What was even odder is that I could take my bank-issued card to the ATM and withdraw $100 and get a balance statement that showed positive numbers. Finally got the "scoop" from my bank today. They gave me a different story though, said MC alone had 7 million cards compromised. Ended up having to call the "fraud" department at MC, verify my vital information and have my cards re-issued. They also took the time to verify all transactions in the last 4 days to make sure none were fraudulent. On a side note, they did try calling me, but my number had been changed.
Yep.
My dad lost his card visiting relatives about 100 miles away in Virginia and didn't even realize it. When he got home he got a call from the credit card company, who said their software flagged a $600 purchase made at Home Depot in Virginia which didn't fit his profile, and asked whether he had made it. Sure enough, he checked his wallet and his card was gone. He realized he had left it sitting on top of an ATM or something. He did not have to pay for the Home Depot purchase.
I was impressed with how well all that worked.