I have recently had my credit/debit card number stolen and used online. Between May 27-31st over $1000.00 of charges were made. I was alerted to this by a letter from my bank saying that I was .32 cents overdrawn. I got all the places online that were charged and the bank told me that there was nothing they could do to help get the money back.
I have gotten back around $300.00 but the big problem is zynga.com, they say that any fraud will be refunded in 10 days on the website. I was told by a rep. to send over the bank statement with the charges and I did that on Wed. of last week, and still have'nt heard from them. Does anyone have any ideas on what to do? Any help will be greatly appreciated!
By tawana from Leesville, LA
I used to work for a bank and the quickest way to get your money back is to get it from the companies like you are doing. In the event that doesn't work you should be able to dispute the charges on your card. I would talk to a manager or desk person if it comes to that, sometimes the tellers aren't knowledgable enough about what needs to be done.
The most important thing is to file a complaint with the police dept. They probably won't be able to catch the criminal, but you will need the report for your bank and any creditors involved. Photocopy EVERYTHING and send it to all the creditors along with the police report. The same thing happened to me and I was at the bank everyday until they "got with the program" and cleared my account. Everyone will drag their feet, but you hang in there and be persistent! It took me 6 months to get any real satisfaction. Goodluck.
Our son's debit number was stolen and his bank, Wachovia, refunded everything after they were notified, but told him he had to file a police report. They caught the culprit. It was someone he knew and he was caught on video.
I know exactly how you feel! One day last week, I called and spoke to a rep. at the bank. I noticed some charges that just didn't seem right. The rep. told me that, there were several charges on my acct. that seemed fishy. She gave me the 800 number off of one of the charges, so I called it. I knew something wasn't right when they answered the phone (they didn't give business name- were very vague). I told the woman what I was calling for and asked her what kind of company she works for. She refused to tell me, but said she'd check the charges. She came back on the line and said, she worked for a company that billed customers for internet porn sites=0 I about died!
I told her, there's no one in our home that would've done anything like that and I expect them to reimburse me for the charges. She then asked me for my credit card number. All I could do was laugh, then, I said, "You have GOT to be kidding me! Why would I give you my credit card number when I think your company is the one who stole it?!" She said, they don't do stuff like that. She then said they'd reimburse me for the charges. That was last week. We are well into the END of THIS week, and I have yet to be "reimbursed."
Instead, I went to my bank, met with a cust. serv. rep. and we- together- filed a report for fraud. In all, it took about 40 mins. My bank's headquarters is now aware of the situation and of the charges I'm disputing. My account had to be blocked for a little over a week, the bank issued me a new card and I will be waiting, about, a week or so more to be reimbursed ALL of the charges... over $400, in all!
I asked the bank rep. what I could do to ensure this doesn't happen again, and she said, "I know it sounds drastic, but... if I were you, I would NEVER use my card online or over the telephone again." She then mentioned that, whenever you do use your card (whether it be at a restaurant or a store), be sure to ask for a receipt that you can sign, PROVING the charge and that it's legit. This way, they can't just say, "Oh, she owes us $58.00," when the bill was only for $15. It is sad that there are thieves out there who make a career out of ripping people off! No more ordering online for me;(
The first thing I would do is change banks. This has happened to my husband and my joint account, and just recently happened to my daughter. We all bank at Charter Bank (in Ohio), (Citizens Bank in PA), and we went in to the bank and filed an afadavit, and the bank took care of everything else, including putting the stolen money back into our accounts.
Shopping online isn't the problem. Shopping online with a debit card is what you must never do. Use a credit card, preferably one that offers disposable account numbers (Citibank and Discover do this). With a credit card, the money isn't being stolen directly out of your bank account; it's being stolen from the credit card issuing bank. Not only is the law more in your favor with a credit card; it's amazing how much more interested the bank will be in helping you with fraudulent charges when it's their money that's been stolen rather than yours. And with disposable numbers, the odds of anything bad happening at all go way down.
Somewhere online I saw an article that says that it's better to go to the bank or your financial institution or the card issuer rather than the merchant where the fraudulent charge was made, because it's possible the fraud is coming from within the merchant's company.
Update! First off Thank You all for the support I appreciate it. I have gotten back 409.00 so far, yay! I am still waiting for zynga.com though, the charge for them was 465.00 alone to Mafia Wars..lol. I have to laugh cause I would cry otherwise. My bank has refunded nsf fees, so I'm just waiting for zynga.
I see you are from Leesville. So am I! Have you been to the police dept? You definitely need to make a report. Was the card actually stolen or was it just used online? It may have been someone using it that you paid for something online. That always bothers me to put my info in cause you never know who is on the receiving end!
I know I just about fell out when I found out that 3 of the charges were made to porn, the same people were vague in description of charges. I just got ahold of Zynga.com again, they said that they have lost the bank statement, so I had to resend.
If your credit card number was stolen to buy Zynga internet games, first of file a report with the FTC (Ferderal Trade Commission) at 1-877-438-4338 then file a complaint with the IC3 (Internet Crimes Commission) at ic3.gov. Hope this helps.
Someone has been using my cards my credit cards my debit cards also I'm seeing a lot of activity overseas they're using it for Comcast Infinity Verizon
Cant you just have the bank or police find out the name of the person whos account the bills are being paid to ? For instance Im sure the bad guy had their real name for their internet and cell phone. If not that cant the bank or police find the IP address that the bad guy used to purchase the online items or pay their bills ? Sorry this is happened to you Im sure it will all work out !!
It's something that is called VPN, using fake name, etc, using a virtual machine. No way that they will catch the criminal.
How was he caught on video? The same thing happened to me so Im curious
Playstation is the worst not only did they deny and refuse to open my fraud complaint for $800, they didnt send a single notification during the heist, and they allowed the thief to reset my password after I locked the account. They wouldn't answer my questions why the refund was denied and the crooks at chime Bank have said their inquiry will take 3 months i may hear back by new year. That was my rent money. I am sick of paying all these taxes, being a veteran, and getting hosed on every deal. They have 90 days to pay back stolen funds. That cost me my h ok me and job, I don't have 90 days to pay anything without having it repossessed. This country has become awful
Hi! This is Danielle Serino from the NBC affiliate in Cleveland. I am doing a story about stolen debit cards. Is anyone on here from the Cleveland area? If so, could you email me at dserino@wkyc.com or call at 216-508-6551? Thank you!
We have members from all over the world but it's unlikely that anyone will see your comment as the original post is over 10 years old.
I would submit a new question to the site, asking for people in the Cleaveland area.
