Someone, somehow, got my debit card number.

[xanis]

A few minutes ago I went to LiveNation to buy my ticket for the Incubus concert this summer in Philly ($58 after "ticket fees", but I digress). Imagine my surprise when I got a message saying that my purchase was declined. I went and checked out my account online and didn't see any unauthorized purchases, and I had more than enough money in my account to cover the cost of the ticket.

Well apparently, I had a hold put on my card due to a bunch of unauthorized charges. The CS rep I spoke with went through all of the charges with me to see if I had actually made any of them. I didn't make a single one. I don't remember all of them, but a few were for fairly large sums of money... $1K, $500, etc. As luck would have it, all the purchase attempts were made trying to run it through as credit, and adding the fact that I didn't ever have enough money in my account to make any of those purchases, all of them were declined except for a $20 and $50 charge.

Thankfully, Wachovia has some of the best customer service I've EVER experienced, hands down. I spoke to two reps who were both extremely polite and helpful. After only 15 minutes total on the phone, I have a stop on my old card, a new card arriving Wednesday, and the $70 in charges that actually went through will be put back in my account by the end of the week. Basically, Wachovia customer service pwns... hard.

--

Cliffs:

- someone got my debit card # and tried to make about $3K worth of purchases
- none of the charges went through because I'm poor and I can't run things as credit
- :thumbsdown: for the douchebag that stole my card #
- :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: for Wachovia's customer service


/blog.anandtech.com

 

[Newbian]

No wonder I couldn't purchase that tv when I ran it through. :|

 

[Red Squirrel]

Wow that's scary. It's happened to my mom's CC a few times. They just randomize numbers/names and hope for the best. They probably know more about how the system works so there's probably a certain logic to the randomization.

 

[marvdmartian]

Good to hear your bank took care of you so well.

I had similar service from Citibank, which is probably why I keep them as my primary banking company. M&T bank (my previous primary) basically said I was screwed for about a week, which is why I was thankful to have money stashed in another account.

Nowadays, I've learned to never use the debit card online. I stick with my credit card, which gives me better protection AND doesn't tie up my bank account if someone puts fraudulent charges on it. 🙂

 

[xanis]

Originally posted by: marvdmartian
Good to hear your bank took care of you so well.

I had similar service from Citibank, which is probably why I keep them as my primary banking company. M&T bank (my previous primary) basically said I was screwed for about a week, which is why I was thankful to have money stashed in another account.

Nowadays, I've learned to never use the debit card online. I stick with my credit card, which gives me better protection AND doesn't tie up my bank account if someone puts fraudulent charges on it. 🙂

Yeah, I'm going to stop with the online purchases for a while. I might get a credit card for emergencies, who knows. Luckily I have enough cash at my house that I can afford to wait until Wednesday for my new card.