How many people have been the victim of someone using their debit/credit card? It is not fun! I was going through my work day and happened to glance down at my personal phone (yes I have two phones – yes it is annoying).
I looked at an email alert that I received from the identity theft protection provider which stated, “A match to your monitored email address was found online along with a password. While this information doesn’t necessarily mean you are a victim of identity theft, your account information may be at risk, as well as any accounts where the same credentials were used.”
I thought, “Great – now I have to change my password and who knows what else they may have access to right?” At any rate, back to the story. So I decided I would check the banking app, just to see if there was anything going on there. Once I opened it, the balance in the checking account said ZERO! I was shocked! I scrolled further down and the overdraft protection kicked in as well. Since there was no money, the bank automatically engaged the overdraft protection plan.
In a little bit of a panic, I asked my wife about the charges; not to my surprise, she didn’t know anything about them. I called the bank and needed to go through a questionnaire to determine if what I was telling was the truth. We were the victims of debit card fraud.
Now, they canceled the card and told us that the pending charges would go away, but there is still a weird feeling that enters your mind and body when someone slimy decides to try and steal your hard-earned money. Also, they will rectify the overdraft because the other charges were clearly fraudulent.
My wife will be able to stop by one of the local banks and pick up a new debit card to replace the one that has been canceled and once we do that, we will shred the other card. Somewhat of a headache, but really only a minor inconvenience caught early.
*If you don’t pay attention, people doing shady things will go undetected. If the card sticks out of the card reader a little too far, there is something fishy going on as well.
**Stay on high alert when using your debit/credit cards. Look at your card – if it has (3) lines on it, that means that it can be used over wifi signals and it makes it easier for someone to steal the card information. Also, if you lose your card, call right away and cancel. You can also cancel the card in your banking app.
***Get Identity Theft Protection – today.
Madsen Financial Coaching 