I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

Ok guys, not like we can prevent this crap but please check your bank accounts regularly. Some vile human beings in Miami Fla tapped into our account via ATM withdrawals to the tune of $800 yesterday and this morning. We are in Tx, our cards are not out of our possession and we haven't been to Fla for nearly a decade.



Our bank is on it and will replenish the money while doing their investigation but this really makes you mad and it feels like a personal violation too. Have no idea how it occurred but its probably one of those digital hacks.



Happened once before years ago but we knew it was connected to a restaurant employee because that's the only place the card had been used in weeks.



Arrrgggggghhhhhh.

I got a phone call from my bank a year or so ago.  They had picked up on a tiny charge on my debit card as suspicious.  He said what the scammers do is try random numbers with small charges and if it goes through then they know they have a valid card number and start spending.  The bank recognized what was going on, blocked it, froze my debit card and then called me.  Bless them!

Yorkie ... have a wonderful trip!

Love the cloud formations ... top hat, flying saucers and a fluffy pancake. 

Yep, I check my accounts every single day. Some people think I am a little over-the-top with careful, but it pays off. Someone used one of my cards to order an electric skillet from WalMart and have it delivered to an address in WV (the credit card company contacted the local police). Someone else used another of my cards to charge a contribution to "End the Silence." I cancelled both cards and got new ones with new numbers. I have wondered if at least one of them wasn't copied by a doctor's billing service since I usually pay my co-pays and co-insurance with a credit card. I caught them both right away exactly because I check the accounts every day. Paranoia pays off sometimes!



I also look carefully at the ATMs I use -- and if the slot where you put your card sticks out, I try to give it a tug or a wiggle to see if it moves, because thieves put "skimmers" on legitimate ATMs to capture your card and PIN numbers.



Thieves will always find a way to steal ... Sad that they don't put that ingenuity to work doing something good for the world.



L

I only ever take cash out at the supermarket checkout - extrememly rarely use ATM's

What a cute kitten, Alexandria! I'm highly allergic to cats-I can't hardly be in the same room even-but I love to look at them.

Mary

Kitty obviously thought it was a BREAD bowl, as she was kneading the bottom of the bowl with her front feet. LOL. And a very pretty girl, too.

My Barney is half Russian blue and he has a very little white throat tab and his eyes are pale green - I know they look gold here - not bright green but otherwise classic shape and colour. He is very tall with long tail that curves at the end. His mother was a good sport. A breeder was very sad he had been neutured as they said he would have been great to use to bred with. His brother and sister had the green eyes. British blues have very flat faces.

I must start writing our Christmas letter.

Big hugs

Chickadee - thanks for the warning - I would have never thought of that. 

HL - do you check your accounts online.  I thought I was being "careful" when I got the monthly statement by checking each charge - never thought to keep a "daily" check....ah, well...strange world....

thanks again for the warning...

Alexandria - I use a slightly complicated method. I upload the picture to www.tinypic.com then I copy the image url. This is shown under the heading of 'Ímage code for Forums and message boards'

it looks sort of like this:

[IMG]http://i50.tinypic.com/o6bdx4.jpg[/IMG]

I then choose the picture symbol on the BCO posting box and paste it in the image url field.

I then remove the IMG tags ([IMG] and [/IMG]) from each end. Click outside of the field where I pasted the url and the size sets. Then click insert.

YEAH!! Thanks, Suzie.  Anyway, my beautiful and sweet Tonk, Xiao Mao.

Achoo...I'm allergic to cats That is to the protein in the saliva which is what makes us sneeze, itch.

Great News!  I'm doing a Happy Dance while singing "Yeah, Me!" - Bone Density test results after 5 1/2 years on Armidex are NORMAL - yeah!  After the news coming out of San Antonio ( my doc was quoted in New York Times article!) I'm planning on continuing: now, time to keep an eye on (pardon the almost pun) growing cataracts, cholesterol, d-r-r-r-r-y-y-y skin, memory loss.  What?  Oh, yeah, memory loss.

So happy for Yorkie - going to India...drooling....not jealous, well, not really, but remembering with LOVE my time there....Happy Frangiapani smelling at dusk...yummy, yummy, yummy...and of course, jasmine.

Chevyboy, your nightmare is always a nagging concern in the back of our heads. I forgot about those card reader things. Have seen them on a TV news show. What baffles me is they had to have gotten the PIN number through some digital means because these were ATM withdrawals. I think that TV show also mentioned these thieves positioning themselves so them can video you pin entry and figure it out later.



Like trying to plug all the holes on a dike stopping these guys.

Chickadee.... there are ways where they can put a little "reader" on the ATM machines, and they they remove it after they read a lot of cards.

Cooing at the sweet litties!

Chick - sorry about what happened to you - happened to me about three years ago. To add insult to injury, my bank cancelled my card but did not inform me. I hate banks.