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What Can Be Done About Security of Debit Cards?
JumpDrive writes "I have been the victim of (Visa) debit card theft. I do not know where they stole or got the number, but it was used one day on the other side of the country and the next day it was used in Europe until they cleaned out my account. I had been monitoring my account online and immediately went to the bank and filed a claim. I was told at that time it would be 3 to 5 weeks for them to investigate the claim before they could return my money. Recently I tried to make a purchase with a debit card and was told that they couldn't use the card since it wasn't a Visa or MasterCard check card; this led to a discussion of why I no longer have a Visa or MasterCard check card. Which then led to the question of 'What can be done about it?' Currently I have a separate account for debit usage for my personal safety. But I also think that those producing these check cards should be required to advertise the hazards of having one of these cards (not in small print and maybe required in advertisement of these cards, similar to what is required with pharmaceutical drugs on television) and/or that if a debit or check card is issued a separate account should be required for its use, and users informed of the issues of placing all of their money in the same account that their debit card has access to. What other precautionary measures should be required or taken?"
Shop around for a bank that actually values you as a customer. I believe Bank of America will give you your money back within 24 hours. I'm not a fan of theirs but at least they do that for you. I personally use US Bank.
Work Safe Porn
One day I found that my bank account had been cleaned out. There were a massive number of $50 charges from one vendor -- essentially they kept charging $50 until they got a decline. The charges had occurred after 11:00 PM and before 5:00 AM local time, which made me think that time zones were involved.
I called the bank immediately and reported it, had the card frozen but by that time there was only about $20 left.
I did some research from the transaction information -- the company had an address in California that appeared to be fake, an 800 number that was disconnected, and the domain was owned by a different company in Korea.
I printed all this out, took it to the credit union. They had me fill out some forms, and gave me access to some money (I was pretty much broke) while they worked on it.
Within 3 days all my money was returned to me. It's possible that the credit union fronted me the cash while they worked with the authorities -- they never said. But as far as I was concerned, the event was over in less than a week.
Maybe it makes a difference which bank you use. Or maybe it's the difference between a bank and a credit union. I dunno.
I never did figure out how they got my numbers.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
I saw a news show recently reporting that lots of crooks have been breaking in to stores to steal the hard drives out of the cash registers. Lots of the registers store your debit/credit card information unencrypted and criminals can recover and use tit. One more reason I always use cash for minor purchases.
One thing to watch out for is being fobbed off by banks. Standard law for credit or debit cards is the onus is upon the seller to prove that you made the purchase not upon you to prove you didn't. If your bank wants to take a few weeks to resolve it immediately complain to your regulatory authority, the bank can take a few weeks to resolve it with the seller, not with you. Once you have made the formal claim for a stop payment it should be resolved in a couple of days, if your bank does not support you in this, it is time to change banks.
The reality the person who used your credit or debit cards details, did not steal from you, the seller with the assistance of the credit or debit card company stole from you, they should be required by law to prove that charge in fact did occur, that they were defrauded and that they attempted to defraud you in error.
The lie being spread by mass media, to suit their advertisers the credit card companies and the merchants is a lie, that the money was stolen from your by the thief that used the card details. Your money was stolen by the merchant who claimed you made the purchase, once you have made the complaint, the police should pursue the merchant who by law should prove they did not just attempt to defraud you, that someone defrauded the merchant has absolutely nothing to do with you and at no time should be considered your problem.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
I work at a gas station part time. We just got a new computer system and I was appalled to see that when we printed off the numbers for the day, the credit/debit card numbers for each transaction are listed with the name on the card and expiration date. Although we do hold on to them for 7 years and then they are sent to the main office for another 8, it seems pretty damn sloppy to me.
Interestingly enough, your post highlights a potential risk in the way Slashdot shortens the square bracket preview of long URLs. Example of what I mean
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