Electronic Picpocketing??

[SassyLady]

My debit card was cloned recently and used to purchase gas several times in the LA/Burbank area...no telling what else they might have used it for if I hadn't been checking my bank account religiously online. I was dumbfounded because I hadn't lost it ... it was still in my wallet.

Has this ever happened to anyone else? Has anyone heard of someone being able to walk past you and scan your credit card, passport, or driver's license info while they are in your pocket, wallet or purse? And then have it cloned? Never heard of it ....

And then I was watching NCIS last week and it showed a young lady out shopping and scanning for credit card info using some type of wifi device (which transmitted the info to a remote location) how easily it is to do. Did some research and found this website that says they make protective sleeves and wallets.

Any feedback? Anyone else use these?

http://www.dat-e-baseonline.com/fron...8C6C726E7F7878


here's an article about electronic pickpocketing:

Electronic pickpocketing puts your credit cards at risk



St. Petersburg, Florida - If you had any doubt that someone could steal your credit card numbers by simply walking past you, a few minutes with Walt Augustinowicz will probably chance your mind.
"Wow that is crazy. It kind of makes me nervous," said Reina Monsour after watching one of Augustinowicz's demonstrations.
"Technology is getting scarier and scarier," added Ivan Marik after watching another demonstration.
By simply using a credit card scanner attached to a battery pack, Augustinowicz shows how easy it is to grab sensitive information from an unsuspecting person.
"If I just get kind of close to (a person's) back pocket or purse, where ever their wallet is, I can read their credit card numbers, expiration date, actually the whole tracking data," Augustinowicz said.

http://www.wtsp.com/news/topstories/...storyid=158493

[chloe]

My debit card was cloned recently and used to purchase gas several times in the LA/Burbank area...no telling what else they might have used it for if I hadn't been checking my bank account religiously online. I was dumbfounded because I hadn't lost it ... it was still in my wallet.

Has this ever happened to anyone else? Has anyone heard of someone being able to walk past you and scan your credit card, passport, or driver's license info while they are in your pocket, wallet or purse? And then have it cloned? Never heard of it ....

And then I was watching NCIS last week and it showed a young lady out shopping and scanning for credit card info using some type of wifi device (which transmitted the info to a remote location) how easily it is to do. Did some research and found this website that says they make protective sleeves and wallets.

Any feedback? Anyone else use these?

http://www.dat-e-baseonline.com/fron...8C6C726E7F7878


here's an article about electronic pickpocketing:

I am sure in this kind of economy people are clever in hacking and stealing bank info online, and have scams to get it offline too. That sucks that someone got at ya. I hope your bank took care of things and it doesn't turn into a big nightmare.

[fj1200]

Do you have one of those that you can just tap to pay or does it need to be swiped? If it's the swipee kind that would make me nervous.

[Mr. P]

I've heard of a device that's attached to ATMs that collects the card info while someone watches for your pin. I've also heard that new cards have a chip that scans. Instead of swiping the card you just wave it by the sensor. That card is easily captured by crooks, my guess is that's what the girl you mentioned in the mail was doing, fishing for those chips.

[Kathianne]

My debit card was cloned recently and used to purchase gas several times in the LA/Burbank area...no telling what else they might have used it for if I hadn't been checking my bank account religiously online. I was dumbfounded because I hadn't lost it ... it was still in my wallet.

Has this ever happened to anyone else? Has anyone heard of someone being able to walk past you and scan your credit card, passport, or driver's license info while they are in your pocket, wallet or purse? And then have it cloned? Never heard of it ....

And then I was watching NCIS last week and it showed a young lady out shopping and scanning for credit card info using some type of wifi device (which transmitted the info to a remote location) how easily it is to do. Did some research and found this website that says they make protective sleeves and wallets.

Any feedback? Anyone else use these?

http://www.dat-e-baseonline.com/fron...8C6C726E7F7878


here's an article about electronic pickpocketing:

I'm sorry, that's horrible. We leaned about 6 months ago that someone had stolen my 24 year old son's SSN number and has been filing taxes on it since 2004. Two years ago after filing his taxes, the feds sent him a notice to send hard copies of all W-2's and the 1040EZ. He did, then he got a notice that his account was under investigation, they'd get back to him.

His refund was like $80, he let it go. The next year, repeat. This past year he'd graduated and was working more, so refund was closer to $800. Same thing, but decided to push and see what was going on. That's when he found out. Someone at IRS asked him if he was in New York? Nope, never been. Oh, well that's where your income tax form is from and you owe $8500. Huh?

Still trying to get this resolved, a police report and several other federal papers later, no refund and no removal of debt.

The police told him it was probably an illegal that bought the SSN from some list. One credit card, never used was also opened. Needless to say, that was closed.

[SassyLady]

Do you have one of those that you can just tap to pay or does it need to be swiped? If it's the swipee kind that would make me nervous.

My card is the kind that you have to swipe. What worries me is my driver's license, military ID, passport .... I have all of them in my purse at some time or another. That's why I'm looking into the protective sleeves and/or wallet. Not just because of the ones I have now, but from what the research says, almost all our cards and ID will have these chips soon.

I'm almost to the point where I want to go back to paying cash or writing a check for everything......and isn't that interesting ... some places don't even keep the check and deposit it ... they just swipe into a machine and then hand it back to you.

Imagine having a chip in your hand that your employer runs under a scanner and it deposits into a virtual account somewhere and then you have to run your hand under another scanner to determine how much to take out of that account. Spooky, huh? That's what it feels like when you have direct deposit from your employer and then use debit cards for everything.

[SassyLady]

I've heard of a device that's attached to ATMs that collects the card info while someone watches for your pin. I've also heard that new cards have a chip that scans. Instead of swiping the card you just wave it by the sensor. That card is easily captured by crooks, my guess is that's what the girl you mentioned in the mail was doing, fishing for those chips.

My bank did tell me that they have to check their ATM's 2-3 times a day to make sure no one has put one of those devices in it. So many people think the ATM at their bank is safe, but she told me it no safer than at a gas station.

The minute I called the bank to report it, and filled out the necessary paperwork, the bank became the victim....so I won't even know if they find the individuals or not .... I'm now officially not a victim. However, every autopay I had attached to that debit/credit card will not get paid. So I have to contact those companies and give them new card number. What a mess.

I was in a mall the weekend before that happened and I also used the card at a restaurant and so it could have been a scanner at the mall, or the waitress scanned it when she took it to run the charge. The interesting thing is that someone over 700 miles away was using it...it wasn't used in the area where it could have been stolen.

[SassyLady]

I'm sorry, that's horrible. We leaned about 6 months ago that someone had stolen my 24 year old son's SSN number and has been filing taxes on it since 2004. Two years ago after filing his taxes, the feds sent him a notice to send hard copies of all W-2's and the 1040EZ. He did, then he got a notice that his account was under investigation, they'd get back to him.

His refund was like $80, he let it go. The next year, repeat. This past year he'd graduated and was working more, so refund was closer to $800. Same thing, but decided to push and see what was going on. That's when he found out. Someone at IRS asked him if he was in New York? Nope, never been. Oh, well that's where your income tax form is from and you owe $8500. Huh?

Still trying to get this resolved, a police report and several other federal papers later, no refund and no removal of debt.

The police told him it was probably an illegal that bought the SSN from some list. One credit card, never used was also opened. Needless to say, that was closed.

Yes, this happened to a good friend of ours. Got a notice from the IRS that he hadn't reported all his income and had assessed penalties and interest. He hired a tax attorney to get it all ironed out. He was military at the time and had to prove that he wasn't working in the agricultural industry. The most frustrating thing is that they were only concerned with the fact that his social security number showed X amount of earnings ... they weren't even concerned that the name on one of those W-2's wasn't his.

[Kathianne]

Yes, this happened to a good friend of ours. Got a notice from the IRS that he hadn't reported all his income and had assessed penalties and interest. He hired a tax attorney to get it all ironed out. He was military at the time and had to prove that he wasn't working in the agricultural industry. The most frustrating thing is that they were only concerned with the fact that his social security number showed X amount of earnings ... they weren't even concerned that the name on one of those W-2's wasn't his.

That is the most frustrating point. They KNOW that when this NY person began filing on the number, Derek was in high school-certainly not making over $30k per year. The following four years, he was in college, again making less than $5k per year. It will get straitened out, but for now he's got a huge mess to work with.

The police officer said that there's a real possibility if they could find that name in NY, they could find the person. However, his IRS filings are private.

[Pagan]

Yeah, I was in Caracas Venezuela a few years ago and had my CC cloned. Major PiA which took months to recoup the charges. Which is why I also don't use MC and stick with Visa. "If" your card is compromised Visa is on top of it and recouping any unauthorized charges which may have slipped by is much quicker and easier.

[Mr. P]

Yeah, I was in Caracas Venezuela a few years ago and had my CC cloned. Major PiA which took months to recoup the charges. Which is why I also don't use MC and stick with Visa. "If" your card is compromised Visa is on top of it and recouping any unauthorized charges which may have slipped by is much quicker and easier.

Discover is like that too. They build a profile on you and if charges come in outside the profile they immediately shut down the card. I had this happen to me. Someone got my # somehow and started making long distance phone calls with it. It was shut down in one day and a new card issued. Pretty impressive.

[NightTrain]

MKP, have you ever used your card online? I'd think the odds are much greater that your card was compromised due to spyware on your computer that phones home to mama with your card info. I can walk you through the steps of identifying and cleaning any spyware you may have on your machine with free software.

Another thing, too, is that shady customer service people have been busted many times by taking your info off your card when you hand it to them (common while at a restaurant and just handing your card with the bill to the waiter). I don't hand my card over to anyone - I'll carry it myself and swipe it.

My card is monitored closely. I remember about 2 years ago, I bought my future ex-wife a $800 earring / necklace piece at the local jewelers, and was walking in the front door 15 minutes after swiping my card. The phone was ringing when I walked in the door, and it was my credit union, asking me if I had just bought $800 worth of jewelry. I was impressed with the fast response and thanked them for their vigilance.

Apparently someone at the credit union said, "Hey, this prick never buys jewelry - it can't be him! Shut it down!"

On the other hand, I used to have an American Express card back in 2000. I flew my kids, wife and I to Seattle, rented a Chevy Astro van and we took off from Seattle to Tucson to El Paso to Houston to Murray Kentucky to Rice Lake, Wisconsin to Boise, Idaho and back to Seattle. The van rental and ALL of the gas were put on that card (7800 hard miles worth) and not a word from AMEX. Even scarier, not one person taking that card during that trip asked me for my ID.

[SassyLady]

I don't think it was from an online purchase ... hadn't done any in months. I truly do believe it was the waitress at the restaurant.

I rarely get out and shop...but had been with girlfriend window-shopping all day and then we went to dinner. I used my credit cards for any shopping I did, but used the debit card for dinner. I had not used it at an ATM either. I gave the bank all the info about when I thought it happened and they have their fraud team working on it.....but, the sad thing is that it was only a total of $130 dollars so I doubt they'll be too worried about tracking down who did it. They did say that the cameras at the gas stations would be looked at during the time the card was used to see if they can get a photo or license.

As for security on my computer ... I have so much security that I can't even open a link to the internet from my email. And, it scans all the time for spyware ... I think I have Malwarebytes, Spybot, CC Cleaner and AVG. Do I need anything else?

[Mr. P]

I don't think it was from an online purchase ... hadn't done any in months. I truly do believe it was the waitress at the restaurant.

I rarely get out and shop...but had been with girlfriend window-shopping all day and then we went to dinner. I used my credit cards for any shopping I did, but used the debit card for dinner. I had not used it at an ATM either. I gave the bank all the info about when I thought it happened and they have their fraud team working on it.....but, the sad thing is that it was only a total of $130 dollars so I doubt they'll be too worried about tracking down who did it. They did say that the cameras at the gas stations would be looked at during the time the card was used to see if they can get a photo or license.

As for security on my computer ... I have so much security that I can't even open a link to the internet from my email. And, it scans all the time for spyware ... I think I have Malwarebytes, Spybot, CC Cleaner and AVG. Do I need anything else?

Just a firewall if you don't have one..the one in windows ain't worth a chit IMO. I use Zonealarm...it's good and it's free.

[NightTrain]

Spybot and AVG are the ones to have, you're good to go. Good girl!

ZoneAlarm quit playing nicely with AVG a while back and I stopped using it, it was mandatory to have that on all my machines for a decade or so til the big software clash.

Both software companies were branching into each other's little pond, so I suspect the clashing was deliberate.

The Win7 firewall seems up to snuff and I don't bother with ZA anymore.