Credit Card Fraud - MAKE SURE YOU CHECK YOUR STATEMENTS WHEN YOU RETURN HOME

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Originally Posted by Flipadelphia26

To be clear. I wasn't accusing g - link. Just saying that's where the charge was made.

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Credit card theft is rampant, thanks to Organized Retail Crime. Targets issue was their single stage firewall and the ability for the hacks to navigate thru their CCTV system as the gateway. Flips story sucks as he and his buddy didn't even use their cards in the same place.

Curious Flip, have you thought about it happening at the hotel? Even in a safe you and your buddy could have been compromised. And just so I am clear, I am not accusing the hotel itself of anything. With the crowd that Dream weekend attracts from all over the island it could have been a guest staying there.

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Originally Posted by InnaDiRed

Greg. I think buying a sleeve is a great idea. Don't wait til your trip. Do it now. You can get skimmed in any mall in any country. It only makes a difference if your card has a microchip, however. If no chip.. No need.

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Agreed!

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Originally Posted by booger

Credit card theft is rampant, thanks to Organized Retail Crime. Targets issue was their single stage firewall and the ability for the hacks to navigate thru their CCTV system as the gateway. Flips story sucks as he and his buddy didn't even use their cards in the same place.

Curious Flip, have you thought about it happening at the hotel? Even in a safe you and your buddy could have been compromised. And just so I am clear, I am not accusing the hotel itself of anything. With the crowd that Dream weekend attracts from all over the island it could have been a guest staying there.

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No. Security was very tight at the hotel. They were even hassling us to see our wrist bands and we were pretty.much the only Caucasians there that week.

I sleep with my wallet between my mattress and box spring. His was in the safe.

Got the charges reversed. So that's cool. The lady said someone used a physical card to make the purchase. Meaning someone made a copy of my cards magnetic strip. Crazy stuff. Glad It's sorted out.

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Originally Posted by Flipadelphia26

Got the charges reversed. So that's cool. The lady said someone used a physical card to make the purchase. Meaning someone made a copy of my cards magnetic strip. Crazy stuff. Glad It's sorted out.

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Great to hear Flip. The burden of proof is on the merchant, and obviously they could not produce a picture of a ginger making the purchase or a signed slip to validate that it was you.

And for those who might be curious with what card to go with, American Express is by far the best card to have as a customer when dealing with bogus charges. When I see an American Express chargeback I kiss that money goodbye. Sadly, American Express is not well received in a lot of locales.

Glad you were able to get this resolved, Flip. This is some crazy stuff. I think I'm going to order one of those sleeves that Accompong posted a link to.

As an aside, I have only been a victim of CC fraud once. This was about 15 years ago and the thief took a decidedly low-tech approach - he stole some blank balance transfer checks from my trash can. Since then, I have diligently checked my statements/transactions at least once a month.

Last winter while in Jamaica for more than 5 months a $25.xx charge was made to The Gap somewhere in the US, I saw the charge when it was 'pending'. I hadn't ordered anything online in a long time and not a Gap customer, hadn't been to that state. My bank said it looked like the transaction was in kind of a held status by the merchant, as if on the merchant's software had already detected as a questionable transaction.

In Flip's situation, it could be someone has hacked into the company's merchant account (and maybe bank account). And possibly just a coincidence that the merchant was Jamaican, as the lift could have happened anywhere along your trip or even before you left home.

Thiefing people find ways around the systems. Last year we tried to sell something on Craigslist. I knew right off the interested party was going to be a scam. The strangest thing was they used the Fedex Account of a large local manufacturer in our state to send a poorly-rendered fake check from a different company. I called that manufacturer who groaned and said yes they knew this was going on and they hadn't been able to figure out how to get to the bottom of it. Local police were NOT interested in investigating. I have a relative in the FBI and they said the amount was too small (and it was more than $4,000).

Thanks for the tip on the RFID-blocking credit card SLEEVES. I knew about the wallets but don't want anything bulky. Those sleeves look perfect, plus they have passport-size sleeves too. THANK YOU!

Also interesting about the tip to poke a hole in the card, but I think unless you are breaking a line of circuitry (if you only punch through the plastic), it won't interrupt the coding.

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Originally Posted by booger

Credit card theft is rampant, thanks to Organized Retail Crime. Targets issue was their single stage firewall and the ability for the hacks to navigate thru their CCTV system as the gateway. Flips story sucks as he and his buddy didn't even use their cards in the same place.

Curious Flip, have you thought about it happening at the hotel? Even in a safe you and your buddy could have been compromised. And just so I am clear, I am not accusing the hotel itself of anything. With the crowd that Dream weekend attracts from all over the island it could have been a guest staying there.

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Originally Posted by booger

Great to hear Flip. The burden of proof is on the merchant, and obviously they could not produce a picture of a ginger making the purchase or a signed slip to validate that it was you.

And for those who might be curious with what card to go with, American Express is by far the best card to have as a customer when dealing with bogus charges. When I see an American Express chargeback I kiss that money goodbye. Sadly, American Express is not well received in a lot of locales.

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I'm with you on something happening at the hotel.

My credit card numbers get stolen frequently. I use them all the time and that is just part of the deal. Since the cardholder is not responsible for fraudulent charges I don't get too worked up about it. The worst thing that can happen is when a debit card gets stolen since those transactions are directly tied to a checking account. If the bank doesn't catch it, the money leaves you account and actually needs to come back to reverse the charge. With a credit card it is on your credit account which is not tied to your actual cash.

I have had no problems with Visa on 'regular' credit cards and 'Signature' cards. They all reverse the charges in a few days.

Chip and pin is coming to the US soon as merchants and card providers are getting hammered with fraudulent charges.

Scotia bank in Jamaica is installing chip reding cards in Jamaica, I was surprised to see they are even ahead of the Americans.

Between jamaica and canada. You guys have about 10% of the cards to replace. I guess once the fraud exceeds the cost of switching. We will switch.