Be very cautious:frowning_face:
Postby Gail Wins ? Thu Mar 12, 2015 4:25 am
:beg: BE VERY, VERY CAUTIOUS :beg:
I’ve just in the last few days realized that some of the check out card readers that you pay by plastic no longer
require that you enter your pin # . Didn’t catch it at first but when I questioned clerk she said that some of the newer readers do not ask for pin. I called my credit union and they said it was true. Don’t know if or what could be done but it scares me that, should I lose or card is stolen , what could happen before it could be stopped!!!
At least, verify that fraud protection is in place!!! Posts: 75
Joined: Tue Jul 23, 2013 9:32 pm
Location: Ft Mill SC
E-mail Gail Wins
You could just run it as credit anytime. That usually requires a signature, but anyone who found your debit card could just use it as credit before, so nothing has really changed.
tigerfin; you’re right about the credit card aspect , but what has happened recently there is absolutely no verification of the card
user , no pin , no signature , no questions from the clerks as to ID ,
zip code , nada,nada,nada!!! to me it is very scary!!!
I got a credit card through my bank for this very reason. I am not a credit card guy, but at least if someone gets your credit card it will not mess up your checking account. I do not use my debit card anywhere any longer. By keeping it through the bank I can just go in electronically once a month and move money from another account to the card to pay it off. I’ve already had my credit card number stolen twice and it was easy to dispute and clear up quickly and I did not have to worry about any checks bouncing or real money being taken from my checking account.
You are no longer held liable for those charges. Almost all banks and credit card companies will absorb the unauthorized charges in some manner or put them back on the point of purchase.
With that in place, no need for signatures or debt pins at gas stations, Fast food, etc. If the purchase is above a predetermined amount the machine will make you enter your pin or sign.
With online banking people are more in touch with their accounts. They don’t wait 30 days for a paper statement to find unauthorized charges. I have had my cards replaced on several occasions by either the banks or by me seeing something. In all cases it was one or two purchases before it was caught.
Most banks/companies also have systems that alert them of suspect activity.
What you should be concerned with is entering your pin. Most registers have cameras and some under paid security monkey watching your every move.
They have a timestamp of the transaction
They can access the transaction and get your card number
And if you don’t cover your hand when you type your pin, they have your pin.
Always cover your hand when you type in your pin or better, run as credit and sign if needed.
Hopefully you have either a good bank or credit union, or good credit monitoring system so in the case something happens you will be notified quickly. I recently made a large purchase using my credit card. I’ll bet it wasnt 10 minutes later I received a call from our credit monitoring service asking if I hade purchased something for $$$$ and XXXX store. Besides that my wife watches our credit like a hawk always looking for double charges and theft.
And remember no one takes better care of you than you.
A wise man once said “Do as I say not as I do” Good advice when I tell you that.
When my wife and I were in Italy, we used our debit card to withdraw from an ATM. Apparently, scammers are fitting ATMs with devices that look exactly like a part of the card slot, but scan your card when you put it in the ATM, and then capture your pin with a small camera. They don’t always get the sequence of the 4 digits right, so while we were on the flight back we received a fraud notification that someone has entered the wrong pin 3 times and then successfully withdrew $500 from 4 different banks before they shut them down.
It’s a progression. As fast as we advance security, criminals will find ways to get around it. In reality a 4 digit pin number isn’t going to really help you much, so banks just write those fraudulent charges off now as a loss.
These guys nailed it… You aren’t liable for any unauthorized charges. Credit\Debit cards are much safer than carrying around cash with you.
That being said, you should have AT LEAST 2 checking accounts with separate debit cards, and you should have AT LEAST 1 credit card. I can’t tell you how many times fraud detection has kicked in and blocked my card, either because 1) there really was fraudulent activity, or 2) the system was too sensitive and blocked a valid charge. Especially when I go out of the country. I usually forget to tell my bank that I am travelling. What sucks more than having someone use your card unauthorized is not being able to use your card when you need it!!! That’s why I have a few backups. Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.
As a matter of fact, when I am on vacation, I typically put at least 1-2 cards in the hotel safe and carry the rest on me. That way if I get robbed, etc, I have something else to fall back on.
Do what AndyP said. I work with banking and fraud software systems. Get a credit card, use it, pay it off every month, no fees. You should NEVER use a Debit Card for ANYTHING except getting cash out of your bank. Credit Cards are much more protective across the board. You can limit the amount of cash anyone including yourself can withdraw using a Debit Card in any one 24 hour period. Get one credit card and use it, take advantage of the points, pay it off each month… your credit improves, too. Debit card issuers do NOT protect Debit Cards anywhere NEAR what Credit Card protect (there may be some exceptions but not many).
With most credit cards you can specify the level of security you want on the card. We have ours set to the highest level.
I was on the road to Arkansas for a duck hunt, stopped in Mississippi to put gas in the tow vehicle, literally 15 minutes later my wife calls me to tell me the Credit card fraud department had called and wanted to know if the charges were legit.
Actually, you should in all cases be choosing “credit” or “cancel” when it asked for your PIN anyways (that will result in your bank card being treated as a credit transaction). As friogatto pointed out, you should be far more worried about entering your PIN in a public place. Unless you are using an ATM, you should never use a PIN-based transaction at a store.
You are correct however that rules have just changed and when using a credit transaction, the limit the requires a signature is now $50 if I understand correctly.
Luckily, the US credit card industry will soon require "chip and pin technology that helps greatly reduce fraud: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chip_and_PIN). For now, the best thing that you can do to protect yourself is to check your credit and bank statements frequently, and if possible use new technologies like ApplePay (or other similar NFC/smartphone technologies). Although many avoid such technology because of a lack of understanding, it’s actually a great step in the right direction that nearly eliminates current point-of-sale vulnerabilities that exist with magnetic stripe cards that we all use.
Do what AndyP said. I work with banking and fraud software systems. Get a credit card, use it, pay it off every month, no fees. You should NEVER use a Debit Card for ANYTHING except getting cash out of your bank. Credit Cards are much more protective across the board. You can limit the amount of cash anyone including yourself can withdraw using a Debit Card in any one 24 hour period. Get one credit card and use it, take advantage of the points, pay it off each month… your credit improves, too. Debit card issuers do NOT protect Debit Cards anywhere NEAR what Credit Card protect (there may be some exceptions but not many).
I know that this is NOT true for Wachovia\Wells Fargo. I use debit cards almost exclusively and they get declined by fraudulent activity way more than my credit cards. I use my CC if my debit card get's declined (try to use a Wells Fargo card at some of the clubs in Miami)!!!
Most people shouldn’t use credit cards at all. Because, eventually they will use them, and then at some point their debt will creep up. So, same philosophical concept… Someone stole your money… The only difference is, is that with a credit card, you stole money from your future self and cannot claim fraudulent activity on it.
Again, my debit card has been comprised MANY times and I’ve ALWAYS recovered 100% of the charges, easily, no questions asked. As a matter of fact, there was a guy on this website “WoundedWarrior” auctioning off Black Bart lure packages a few years ago. I ordered $600 worth of them. Once I realized that he was a fraud, I called my bank and told them what happened. Money was credited back in the blink of an eye even though I WAS THE ONE who made the charges.
Further more, most debit cards have daily spending limits on them, whereas a lot of
Again, my debit card has been comprised MANY times and I’ve ALWAYS recovered 100% of the charges, easily, no questions asked. As a matter of fact, there was a guy on this website “WoundedWarrior” auctioning off Black Bart lure packages a few years ago. I ordered $600 worth of them. Once I realized that he was a fraud, I called my bank and told them what happened. Money was credited back in the blink of an eye even though I WAS THE ONE who made the charges.
Thanks for the painful reminder. I hope that guy is face down in a ditch somewhere…
Do not tell fish stories where the people know you; but particularly, don’t tell them where they know the fish.
