Monday, March 12, 2007

And the hits just keep on comin'!

Or, "I Heart New York."

My intention this morning was to write a quick post, apologizing for my recent absence from the blogosphere - real life gets in the way sometimes.

But then, real life got in the way again.

I just got off the phone with my bank. Apparently, my Visa check/debit card has been "compromised" and someone has been making charges against it up in New York City. I will give the miscreant credit, though - he's being environmentally friendly, using my bank account to buy MTA cards for the subway. Good goin' with the public transportation, thief!

My card has been deactivated and a fraud claim opened. Arrrrg. I hope I brought enough cash from home for lunch today. Now, I have to wait for a new card to arrive, as well as scour my bank statement since the 4th of this month (when the criminal spending spree began, apparently) and complete an affidavit to take to the bank, so I can get my money back. This timing on this is lousy... then again, is there such a thing as a good time to get ripped off?

I will say this, those Donald Trump Visa check card commercials are right - they are damn speedy in taking action when fraud occurs, and they want me to have my moolah back asap. Still, it'll take a couple of weeks, as the affidavit for my signature is just being mailed out today.

Because of some other events this past week, I'd been pondering getting a Visa gift card to use online and in places where you might lose sight of your card during payment transactions. I think this has pushed me from ponder mode to action.

Once before I was the victim of credit card theft, during my time in Moscow. I got a phone call from the bank that issued my Visa card (and the dude was *very* excited to be calling the Soviet Union) to let me know that someone had stolen my new Visa card from the mail (probably while it was being transferred to the State Department to be forwarded to the Moscow pouch) and took it on a spree in the DC area. I got to see copies of all the charges - almost $4K at higher end stores. God bless Lord & Taylor at White Flint Mall. Apparently, they thought something was a little hinky and made a call. They asked the woman using my card how she liked Russia (since my billing address was at the American Embassy in Moscow) and her reply was something to the effect of "What do I know about Russia?"

Busted!

Ah well. My debit card is now in about thirty pieces. I'm glad I went to the drug store yesterday. No one likes to take checks anymore...

5 comments:

Chuck said...

When I got my last credit card in the mail, the envelope had been opened but the credit card was still inside (and unactivated.) Not sure what that was all about.

One time when my wallet got stolen they caught the kids who did it when they (unsuccessfully) attempted to use the credit card to buy gas with. It was fun seeing them in handcuffs at the police station when I went to make my statement there.

Sudiegirl said...

I think the Visa Gift Card is a great idea until everything is all sorted out.

Good call!

paulnojustpaul said...

Aww that just plain sucks! I feel your pain, dear friend, having been through something similar about this time last year - think I told you all about that when we last skyped?

[insert big reassuring 'everything will work out' hug here.]

Anonymous said...

Just got a new credit/debit card, with a notice that the info on my old one MIGHT have been compromised. Hmmm. At least it's the account with the least money in it:) BTDT already with identify theft, years ago, at White Flint mall, actually (low end pretzels for me, thanks). Glad it'll get worked out quickly.

Anonymous said...

I tell you: you need to write a memoir. So much stuff happens to you.

If someone is due for good luck - it's you. Buy Powerball tonight.

;)