Saturday, June 07, 2008

Scum! SCUM!!!

So. Hubby and I have been talking about buying bikes. (By the way does anybody have a recommendation on what type of bike to get?) We decided that we would go look at some tonight, do some window shopping and comparisons. So he tells me to get a one of our store credit cards out, just in case that store has something that we like. Well I went to get it and couldn't find it. We looked in a couple of different places that we keep our credit cards, we looked in our wallets and could not find it. So, hubs decides to just look online just to be certain that there was no recent activity. Guess what. There was $1,700.00 worth of charges!!! What?! So we immediately called the credit card company to report the card stolen. The rep. that I talked to said that a charge was actually going through as we talked. She added up all of the charges and came up with $2,500!!! Are you kidding me? It makes me so mad that there are people that do this sort of thing. Yes I know that it happens all of the time and no, I am not going to say that I never thought it would happen to me because I have thought about it. That is why we do not carry all of our credit cards in our wallets. We only carry the one that we are using.
The thing of it is that it was not just one or two charges, it is a lot of little charges at a lot of different stores over the past month. The first charge showed up on May 17. It makes me wonder that there are that many stores and non of them checked I.D. It makes me angry that this person is just running around the area, yes it is local, (they have used the card in many of the surrounding cities) using my card. It angers me that nobody is checking I.D.'s, it angers me that some stores do not even require you to sign if the charge is less than a certain amount.
We filled out a report with the local law enforcement. We are working with the credit card company, but I have little faith that this person will be caught. We are not going to be held responsible for any of the charges, which I am thankful for, but I am just so angry that this person can rip off a company and not get caught. Maybe the credit card company will take it a little more serious than I suspect they will, who knows. Scum, scum I tell you.
Just make sure that you write CHECK I.D. on the back of all your cards!!!

6 comments:

Jennifer said...

Goodness. I'm so glad you caught this before it went any further. How awful.

Tonya said...

OMG!!! Catie! My sister had her purse stolen some years ago and when all was said and done, they charged over $5000.00! She is still dealing with the after effects and it was over 10 years ago!!

Sarah said...

I'm so sorry to hear this Catie. This same exact thing happened to me a few years back. I was so angry too. They had been using it in the area too. The sad thing is, I now write see ID on the back and still nothing happens. They just don't even look at the cards anymore. And if they do, they don't look long enough to see a name on your ID. I had someone ask for it the other day and I don't think I had my wallet all the way open before she said okay thanks. It's really sad that it's so much easier to get away with things like this. I'm glad the credit card company is working with you.

Kim said...

Catie, This is so annoying for you! I hear you! I had my wallet stolen once, but knew it in 30 seconds, but they had my Social Security Card. Fast forward almost six years later it would still be hard for instant credit based upon identity flags I had placed on my credit for all three unions. I have great credit and did not want someone mucking it up!
The reality is people are lazy by not checking IDs. It's really horrible. I am glad though that you will not be held responsible.

Christie O. said...

i'm so sorry! we went through this too last year. it was AWFUL! i'm so sorry this happened to you. i know how violating this feels. xo

Anonymous said...

has it happened to everyone?
just happened to me two weeks ago except the card was still in my wallet and the numbers had apparently been copied and were being used all over the state.

Amex managed to catch them.