Every day when I get to work I do the same things. Sign on to my computer, get coffee, check email, look at facebook, look at my checking account...you know the necessities!!!!! Well on Monday morning as I am looking at my checking acct it seems that I made a purchase at the Britannica Store online for $179.15.....yep I purchased a set of brand new encyclopedias. So I sit at my desk thinking...hum...I know that I drank a lot this weekend but I sure don't recall making a purchase with my debit card for $179.15...................because I DID NOT!!!!!!
So, it seems that someone has stolen my debit card number...wow....and you try to purchase books......wow!!!!! So, I call the Britannica store because luckily there was an 800 number and found out that thankfully the transaction was flagged and was not posted on their end. I, then call CHASE and thankfully it was also flagged on their end and my debit card had a hold on it.......which would be the reason why my card was declined Sunday at the movies but Justin's card went through...same acct!!!!! They...hold on.....the man with the first name of ELPO that was from God knows where and could not speak English continues to explain to me that everything is fine and any charges that are incurred with be returned back to me but they cannot refund my money until the transaction is no longer pending.......okay no big deal right....well it is now WEDNESDAY and the transaction is still pending and their is now a hold on my entire account.
I decide to walk down to the bank and talk to a person that is right in front of me and speaks English....and might I add was very very nice. Well it seems that the idiot tried to make 2 more purchases of books.....$93 and $189....but thankfully my acct was flagged and they did not go through...woo hoo....I guess!!!! But I still have to wait for the stupid thing to go through until I can use my acct but I did get a new shiny debit card....which I needed....mine was broke in half with tape keeping it together which I thought was the reason that maybe it declined at the movies and Justin's worked.
Long story short, she gave me a few tips that I wanted to pass along.
1. Never use debit unless it is at an ATM.
2. Always use credit. CHASE actually has a rewards program and every time you use CREDIT you will receive points that add up to free stuff!!!
3. If you pay anything online never save your info to the website...txu, water bill, car insurance, etc...which I pay everything online and have all my info saved to their websites....OOPS!
4. Use bill pay through your bank.
5 My own tip....scratch off the 3 digit security code on the back of your card....of course memorize it first.
6. Of course make sure that your computer has good anti spy ware....DUH!
Anyways, this is something that I thought would never happen to me. The funny thing is that if I had someones credit/debit card I would not be buying books.....what a NERD!!!!
Yuck. What a mess! Don't you wish the thief would have picked someone else!?! This happened to me once. Someone ordered some dirty movies with my debit card. When I called the company to find out what the charge was, they gave me the address to where the "goods" were sent.
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