A few days ago I was listening to a tech expert on the radio talking about electronic scams. One of the points he made was to check your bank details regularly – at least once a week. At the time I didn’t know how prophetic his advice would be.
Last night I received a text message from my bank (which I thought may have been in itself a scam) asking me to confirm whether a $3000 charge on my credit card was genuine. Their security system has flagged it as a spurious transaction. Rather than call the number in the text message, I looked up the bank’s phone number on their website and called. Even though it was after hours, I was transferred to a customer service person and confirmed that this amount was not genuine
On checking my banking details I also discovered five extra charges to my credit card of around $600 each that had been made over the last few days and were still pending. Having registered these disputed claims with the bank, their fraud department is now investigating and I should have the money returned within the next two weeks.
I urge all my friends to follow the advice of the man on the radio and check your accounts regularly. I have no idea how my card was compromised. God might know, but I don’t! The bank is now has cancelled my account and is issuing a new credit card to me
EXPERTS ADVISE
Check you bank details regularly.
Report lost cards or suspect activity promptly
Avoid phishing scams – don’t give your details to those you don’t know
Only shop on secure websites
Don’t do any banking on public Wi-Fi networks
Avoid giving your credit card details over email or text message
Sorry you are going through this scare.
We are glad you have avoided any loses.
Fortunately, the old banker in me has always made me check our accounts regularly.
I had a PayPal account a couple of years ago. I don’t have one now. I lost $600 to a scammer who managed to work his way through that hole. I changed to another method of paying regular deductions (Insurance, Netflix etc.) and changed my Credit Card. Changing the Credit Card is a pain, but it had to be done. My Bank refunded half the stolen money after some rather heated discussion.