Credit card number stolen! How do I protect others?
I was the person on the other end of the phone today, notifying about 40 bank customers that their debit card had been “compromised”. We get regular alerts from Visa’s fraud department to close cards when: 1. And audit of a merchant database shows viruses or security leaks. 2. Visa is able to narrow down multiple reports of fraudulent charges to find a common denominator of merchants who were visited. Given that all cards that used that merchant may have had their numbers stolen, we’ll be asked to close those cards too, even if there is no sign of fraud yet. Some of these alerts will say that Visa knows exactly what happened, but not all of them. If they can’t always find the culprit, I don’t think you’ll have much chance. The best advice I can give is to always have a back-up cc account so that if you can still make purchases if your account has to be closed or gets maxed out. And if you have a debit card, never, ever, ever use it on the internet. It’s much worse to have your checking
As a precaution, if a credit card company calls for any reason, don’t give personal information by phone that they already should have. Particularly, don’t provide the three-digit CVV (card verification value) on the back of your card, or any other data that could be used by thieves who might only have your credit card number, name and phone number. Unfortunately, thieves can and do impersonate credit card companies to get this information. If you receive a call claiming that your card has been misused, be sure the company rep is giving *you* information. If you have any doubts about the veracity of the call, phone your credit card company after hanging up to re-check what you’ve been told, and view your account online as well.
There’s a simple algorithm to generate valid credit card numbers, usually used by web developers to ensure that a credit card number entered into the order form is valid. This has been used in the past for fraud. There’s a reason you’re asked for the mailing address, although if the company is lazy they don’t actually use it for verification, and also I imagine part of the reason why the CC companies implemented the 3 digit verification code to check that you actually have the card.
It was early in the morning, the CC rep had a strong accent, and it was such a weird situation overall that I asked them to verify my card number – which they did. They didn’t ask me for any personal information other than to verify my mailing address for the fraud paperwork. Last time someone claiming to be my card issuer called me on the phone I would not even give them my billing address (which can, of course, be useful in engaging in fraud by people who already have the credit card number). I said I would call them back at the number printed on my card and the rep agreed that this was a good idea. Don’t give out information to people who call you on the phone, strange accent or not. Always call your card issuer at a number you already have for them. Do not trust the number that you are told to call.
