Debit card theft. Norwegian Sky

[triptolemus]

I wonder if it's a state requirement? We had to do it here. It could have been the amount too ... they got $2,500 from us. Thankfully, we got it all back, but did have to contact the police for them to investigate, and prove to the bank, etc.

 

Yeah... could be either of those, I suppose.

[SissasMomE]

I have been a fraud victim too many times to count. I feel your frustration. I don't think it is the cabin steward. I don't find it a coincidence this happened while you were on vacation. In south Florida there are too many scams that target vacationers when they are away since they likely will not be monitoring their bank accounts on vacation.

Did you use any card while in Miami? If so, that tells you all you need to know. They just found skimming devices on 5% of all gas pumps here in south Florida. The common vacation ATM's near hotels are famous for skimming devices.

I am a fraud expert since I have had just about every fraud pulled on me...Hey I live in Miami.

There is a silver lining and good news. Your bank will refund all the charges and get you a new ATM card with new pin immediately. Good thing you caught it early. They do tests with small amounts like the Fandango to see if the pin or card number works. Then they hit you with big amounts.

All I can say is......Welcome to Miami :eek:

 

We don't even use ours anymore ... home or away. Everything goes on the Amex, and then we just pay it from there. That's one nightmare I don't want to go thru again!

[tarheelmjfan]

 

I've been very successful dealing directly with my bank on fraudulent transactions in the past. Has happened to me a couple of times. I never bother contacting the vendor. To them, the transactions appear perfectly legitimate. Deal directly with your bank.

 

This has been our experience as well. Wells Fargo couldn't be any easier to deal with. We've had fraudulent charges a few times throughout the years. Our most recent breach was from a trip we took to Charleston in January. We even had a $3,200+ tv charged to our account a few years ago. In each incident, we just called the bank. They asked a few questions, but that's it. They've always dealt with it within a couple days. We get a follow-up call with an update & the money is returned. No problems whatsoever. I'm always surprised, when I read the Debit card warnings. We wouldn't hesitate to use ours anywhere.

[Sestar]

Not a problem. Make sure you file the police report. Edited - I'm sure your bank told you this already ;-)

 

Not neccessary. Police report is not required. If the size of loses is big. The bank will suggest you to file a police report. Depends on the size of the fraud (losses), some banks will just refund you the money right away if the amount is small. When dispute is filed with bank, we will do a charge back to the merchants as fraud and issue you a conditions credit. Merchants will need to supply proof of transactions. If online, normally they dont have proof. So they are only looking for name match, etc.

 

Fraud happens very easy nowadays. Best practice, review your account on daily basis. :)

Edited April 29, 2015 by Sestar

[tarps14]

FIN is Papua New Guinea

 

Actually, where Hotwire is concerned, FIN means "final". It's not a country code of any kind.

[vicocala]

Actually, where Hotwire is concerned, FIN means "final". It's not a country code of any kind.

 

Cool, just responding to what the airport code is, if that was what it was. :)

[klingoncruiser]

Sadly, these can occur anywhere, any time. We had our card used in Alaska. It was tracked back to our server at a restaurant. We had it happen about 3 months ago, only way we could figure it, someone at our local grocery store or an online place DW shops got breached. It really is hard to tell sometime just where it started. Often, they wait several days before using it. :rolleyes:

 

This just getting all to common now a days.

[tarps14]

Cool, just responding to what the airport code is, if that was what it was. :)

 

No worries. Things like that intrigue me (of course the DH would call it "keeps me up at night worrying", not intrigue :o).

Edited April 29, 2015 by tarps14

[luvtheships]

This is why every single purchase I make from groceries to gas to dunkin donuts is made with a credit card!!! Or if under say $10 I will use cash and of course cash for nail salon tips etc. but that's it!!!

 

The only use in my opinion for a debit card is to get cash at an enclosed secure banking center.... Not at a random no name ATM

 

For those that say they want to not have credit card bills..... Well then what you do every couple of days when you go to your online accounts just to make sure everything is ok..... Is you make a payment!!!

 

When Using a debit card online... In a store...at the movies...gas station. Etc is essentially giving that establishment and their workers access to your personal checking account!!

 

Had you used a credit card you would not be out a penny but using a debit card you are out your own money until it can be corrected

 

 

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[CasinoCruzGirl]

That hasn't been my experience... just sayin' -- I've dealt with this at least three times that I can remember, each to the tune of several hundred dollars. Never did the police report thing... but again, that's just MY experience.

 

We didn't file a report either the bank asked us if we did and when we said no they asked us if we would be willing to prosecute. Hell yeah we would

 

Geri

Edited April 29, 2015 by FootballParent

[luvtheships]

Did you use the debit card in question at an ATM within a few days prior to the cruise?

 

That is probably the likely source if the problem

 

Skimmers on ATMs and the bad guys know you will be on a ship for awhile and won't be able to easily call the bank or check your accts

 

 

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[luvtheships]

Not neccessary. Police report is not required. If the size of loses is big. The bank will suggest you to file a police report. Depends on the size of the fraud (losses), some banks will just refund you the money right away if the amount is small. When dispute is filed with bank, we will do a charge back to the merchants as fraud and issue you a conditions credit. Merchants will need to supply proof of transactions. If online, normally they dont have proof. So they are only looking for name match, etc.

 

Fraud happens very easy nowadays. Best practice, review your account on daily basis. :)

 

I review all my accounts every morning over coffee.

 

 

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[CasinoCruzGirl]

This has been our experience as well. Wells Fargo couldn't be any easier to deal with. We've had fraudulent charges a few times throughout the years. Our most recent breach was from a trip we took to Charleston in January. We even had a $3,200+ tv charged to our account a few years ago. In each incident, we just called the bank. They asked a few questions, but that's it. They've always dealt with it within a couple days. We get a follow-up call with an update & the money is returned. No problems whatsoever. I'm always surprised, when I read the Debit card warnings. We wouldn't hesitate to use ours anywhere.

 

That's the same bank we use and they were great the fee times it has happened to us

[Diver2014]

I have been a fraud victim too many times to count. I feel your frustration. I don't think it is the cabin steward. I don't find it a coincidence this happened while you were on vacation. In south Florida there are too many scams that target vacationers when they are away since they likely will not be monitoring their bank accounts on vacation.

Did you use any card while in Miami? If so, that tells you all you need to know. They just found skimming devices on 5% of all gas pumps here in south Florida. The common vacation ATM's near hotels are famous for skimming devices.

I am a fraud expert since I have had just about every fraud pulled on me...Hey I live in Miami.

There is a silver lining and good news. Your bank will refund all the charges and get you a new ATM card with new pin immediately. Good thing you caught it early. They do tests with small amounts like the Fandango to see if the pin or card number works. Then they hit you with big amounts.

All I can say is......Welcome to Miami :eek:

 

Um...I've lived in Miami for 20 years now and my DH has lived here all his life and we've never had a problem with debit/credit/gas or any other cards. I don't think it's a 'Miami' thing....either that or we've just been plain lucky.

[Samstress]

First off; I am sorry that the OP has experienced this. But what I don't understand is why there aren't more security measures in place when it

comes to these cards. In Canada we need to provide a 'pin' number when we

are using any of our cards; debit or credit. Which makes it almost impossible

for this type of situation to occur.

Does anyone know why this type of security measure hasn't been implemented

in other countries?

[hawkeyetlse]

In Canada we need to provide a 'pin' number when we

are using any of our cards; debit or credit. Which makes it almost impossible

for this type of situation to occur.

The fraudulent purchases are generally made on-line, or over the telephone. Do they ask for your PIN when you buy something on-line or over the phone in Canada?

[triptolemus]

Does anyone know why this type of security measure hasn't been implemented

in other countries?

 

Because retailers, credit card companies, and banks do not want to spend the large amount of cash necessary to replace the decades old mag-stripe technology and the related infrastructure it takes to implement smart/chipped credit cards.

 

But they are being forced to fix it with liability shifting. Neat term for "upgrade your ****"...

 

http://blogs.wsj.com/corporate-intelligence/2014/02/06/october-2015-the-end-of-the-swipe-and-sign-credit-card/

[triptolemus]

The fraudulent purchases are generally made on-line, or over the telephone. Do they ask for your PIN when you buy something on-line or over the phone in Canada?

 

The fraudulent purchases are typically made online, yes, but the methods by which the victim's data is gathered is very much associated with the the old school technology... mag-stripe swipe (skimmers), the old imprint machines, even a restaurant server with a camera phone.

[Samstress]

The fraudulent purchases are generally made on-line, or over the telephone. Do they ask for your PIN when you buy something on-line or over the phone in Canada?

 

Nope...I use Paypal. Which is secure and guaranteed.

Edited April 29, 2015 by Samstress

[bambione]

Since I work in a bank and handle fraud on daily basis. I tell you what I know.

 

Call or go to your bank. Tell them your card has been compromised. You have pending unauthorized charges. Let the bank works for you. They will dispute it with hotwire and fandago.

 

Just because the transactions showed up after our cruise doesn't mean it happens during our cruise. It is a possiblity though.

 

Did you use your debit card recently before the cruise? If you did, your card might be compromised at the stores that you make purchases from. Thieft will take your info. Some sell them to other people, that why some fraud charges are from overseas.

 

Normally, they will just charge something small hoping that you didn't notice it. Then bigger and bigger until the card is denied.

 

You can call hotwire if you want. They can track down the booking via your card #. BUT, i highly recommended you to let your bank do it.

 

Good luck.

 

I also worked at a bank, just recently retired after 30 years. I agree with everything this person says. Again, your bank will do everything, even though it's a debit card. Someone could have gotten ahold of your card number months ago, I highly doubt it's the room attendant. 99% likely you will never know how your card got compromised.

[hawkeyetlse]

Nope...I use Paypal. Which is secure and guaranteed.

And not accepted by all vendors. But the point is, you are not the one making the purchase. If someone swipes your card data (e.g. by simply looking at your card), they can use it to buy stuff. Sadly, this situation is far from impossible, even in Canada.

[Samstress]

And not accepted by all vendors. But the point is, you are not the one making the purchase. If someone swipes your card data (e.g. by simply looking at your card), they can use it to buy stuff. Sadly, this situation is far from impossible, even in Canada.

 

I didn't mean to imply that we (Canadians) were better (which we are clearly not in many areas...but that's a whole different topic). I was just amazed that there were not more secure measures in place when related to debit/credit cards. I suspect that it's probably more cost effective to reimburse where necessary than to revamp the system in the United States.

Edited April 30, 2015 by Samstress

[hawkeyetlse]

I suspect that it's probably more cost effective to reimburse where necessary than to revamp the system in the United States.

But my point is that it's not just the system in the United States that needs revamping. As long as credit cards have have your account information visibly printed right there on the physical object, and as long as having this information allows just anyone to make remote payments, credit card fraud is child's play. The chip and PIN system that you described is effective at preventing fraudulent face-to-face transactions, but it does nothing to stop card not present transactions, which is how most petty credit card fraud is achieved. Believe me, we have had chip and PIN bank cards in France longer than Canada (longer than anywhere else, actually ;)), but just last month I had to have one card cancelled and replaced because unauthorized internet payments appeared in my account.

[cb at sea]

Debit cards SUCK.....NEVER use them outside of your local area...use a credit card (which has protection), or cash.

Lesson learned.

[Foxycourt95]

I had my debit card stolen from work and so did a few other people and we were able to find out who it was because they ordered shoes from Just Fab which they had to input there name and address since they used Hotwire they would have most likely used there name and address so you can have that tracked.