A Year In Mill Valley

Credit Card Fraud

I was paying bills online tonight, and went to pay my credit card bill— usually a quick and, except for the amount, painless experience. Tonight though I was greeted with this screen. I called them right away to see what the problem was. They said a store had had their credit card database stolen. I asked for the name of the store…they said they couldn’t tell me because it was still under investigation.

Now that I think about it I should have insisted because if it was an online store I need to know if I’ve used that login and password anywhere else that might be obvious. I’m calling them back right now.

What a pain in the ass.

12:30 AM: called Citibank and asked which store had been compromised. They wouldn’t tell me…two different people said they didn’t have the information and I’d have to call MasterCard (1-800-826-2181) to find out. I called Mastercard. The guy there said he couldn’t see anything about my account and I’d have to talk to Citibank. I asked to speak with a supervisor. He said there were only four people on the floor and there was no supervisor. Aaarrrggghhh.

1 comment

1 Comment so far

  1. Margaret November 10th, 2007 9:51 am

    Don’t feel bad. They did the same thing to me. Only I was in the hospital when it happened in September 2007. They sent me a new card while I was in the hospital, but I didn’t realize it for 10 days. Now I am cancelling magazine subscriptions, four book clubs and I’m getting calls for extended car warranties, setting up my own home business, etc., that the people say I signed up for on the internet. The thief also bought itunes with my card. And Itunes won’t tell you if there is an account in your name without you suing them. So I called Citibank. They couldn’t (or wouldn’t?) tell me how my account was compromised, only that MasterCard informed them it was. I think they should tell us what merchant’s security is so lax so we don’t buy there anymore. But all they do is fine the merchant $5000. It obvious the person who got the card number only benefitted by the itunes. Everything else they did was sent to my home address. Nice, huh? I’m still waiting for the magazine subscriptions to stop.

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