Saturday, January 19, 2013

What’s in Your Wallet?

I rarely use my credit card...I rely on my debit card for most purchases.   Down south it isn’t always that easy.  There are a lot of places where our Canadian Debit card won’t work…Starbucks for one!  My husband is always telling me that it would be easier to just use Visa…AND now our Bank is offering WestJet Miles for Visa Purchases…like in FREE Airline Tickets!

On Thursday I dropped the mutts off at the groomer and headed off to JoAnn’s in pursuit of ‘THE RULER’…which they didn’t have but I did manage to buy a couple of 40% off books and other misc. things…and I used my Visa Card for the FIRST time.  And then when I picked up the mutts I used it for the SECOND time.  I have also used it twice on-line to make purchases in the past two weeks.

Friday morning I went to JoAnn’s online store and tried to order ‘THE Ruler’ and I came to a screeching HALT…my Visa had been suspended!!  WHAT THE?

YUP, you guessed it…Visa FRAUD!!  How can this be?  My card is practically a virgin!!   She had been suspended due to QUESTIONABLE PURCHASES!!   LIKE WHAT??   They didn’t like the books I bought?? 

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How could they NOT like these books?  They are fantastic!!

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Nope…that wasn’t it…How about a techie device bought in Philadelphia and airline tickets on Lufthansa and Swiss Air?  Ummmm….NO…definitely NOT me!

Because of these questionable purchases, they had shut me down…and I had barely got started!!  That card has never seen friction!! 

The Visa Operator was very nice…said she would be sending out a new card that very day…BUT will it reach me in time for the Road to California Quilt Show on Thursday?  My fingers are crossed…

After all was said and done, hubby said, “It’s a good thing you tried to order that ruler because you caught it early!”  My answer…  “Well maybe I should order something everyday…that way, if it ever happens again, I will catch it REALLY early!”  …:0)

Good news…the ruler has been ordered using Hubby’s Visa (whew…they didn’t shut us both down!) and at half price! 

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All’s well, that ends well…

Maybe you should put your credit card ‘to the test’?!  Just sayin’…

Have a SAFE Saturday and Happy Quilting!~P

28 comments:

  1. So funny and SO scary! Have fun with that new card!

    Cheery wave!
    Bev

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  2. That is scary, wonder how they got it.
    I am careful when I order online and usually try to go through amazon since I have their card and that keeps me even more protected. When my card got stolen, the guy bought gas and that was it and it was covered, so was really relieved about that.

    Debbie

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  3. Ugh! I just went through this with my debit card (which also carries the Visa logo, too, so I can use it for "credit" purchases). Someone tried to charge .92 somewhere in Georgia (I live in IL!) The lady on the phone told me that I could get a "temporary" ATM card from at my bank. Little did I know, they could actually print me a brand new card right at the bank and I wouldn't have had to wait at all!

    This is a hassle to have happen, for sure!

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  5. The title of this post had me from the Get-go. LOL

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  6. Oh, Paulette. You are so funny. Even in face of adversity, you manage to find humor. I also had my visa card frozen even though there were no charges on the card that were not from me. How VISA determined my card had been compromised is a mystery to me, but I did get a new card in a few days. Another number to memorize! (I have a thing for numbers.... names not so much)

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  7. Bet it was the same guy who tried to use my card to shop in Hong Kong and London! LOL I'm glad you caught it early, too.

    Woohoo - a new ruler coming soon.

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  8. I have had 2 different cards hacked through paypal, so paypal isn't as safe as they claim to be. I have had my debit card put on hold while traveling by motorcycle because of too many gas station pit stops for gas. I just take 5 minutes call them, tell them all the stations I stopped at, how much I bought, and that I will be making a reverse trip in a few days, so then they unlock my card and I am good to go again. It might be a hassle, but at the same time I am grateful for the fraud teams that keep an eye on things. As for Sally's situation with the .92 they do that to test it to see if it is goin to work or not, then they go berserk with big screen TV's, tools high dollar items once they know it works. Most of the time that happens on a Saturday or Sunday with the debit cards, because they will have their shopping spree before you can contact your bank on Monday morning. A lot of the chinese restaurants in town were skimming debit cards here in town too, then selling the info online somewhere and they would make a new card with your info, and shop more than 1000 miles away.

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  9. Glad you were able to get your ruler, but very annoying about your credit card. I've read that you shouldn't use your debit card at gas stations because of skimming, using your credit card is safer. I use my credit card for on-line purchases and try to use cash elsewhere, but it's so much easier to use the debit card. Sure hope you get your new card in time for the Road to California, you certainly wouldn't want to be restricted on the road.

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  10. This post had me laughing Paulette! I love your solution for the issue - shopping every day!

    In the US, replacement cards come blazing fast. The last time this happened to me, I called it in on Friday and the card was here on Monday. I hope you get yours in time for RtC!

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  11. I doubt it's an actual product that was questionable. Usually something like this happens because there is a change in your spending - in this case you suddenly started using a card that you normally didn't use and you then used it several times in a short space of time - that sets off flags at most card issuers.
    Sure it's annoying but at the same time it's good that these things get picked up.
    I'm surprised that they're sending you a new card though - usually a few security questions and you're good to carry on shopping.

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  12. I like your glass half full outlook Paulette!!
    Too bad you aren't flying off to an exotic location on Swiss air or Lufthansa! lol

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  13. Good thing they do keep an eye on our spending habits, it happened to me with my MC, someone trying to use it for a very... expensive guitar, thousands. I also tried to buy it on line from Joann's but out of stock so will try somewhere here in Canada maybe.

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  14. Hi Paulette,

    I just went through a similar episode with both my Visa card and my MasterCard credit cards. Both were due t be renewed shortly and I still have no clue how they were compromised as the MasterCard is rarely out of my house and used online. Although I did use it while waiting for my Visa card to be replaced.

    Mine started with a very small charge for online poker...hello I don't gamble even in Las Vegas. It took a bit to straighten things out with online purchases but everyone was great.

    Looks like you been made a target by some online posters. At one point I was getting three or more posts a day for over a month. What a pain they are. Good luck getting rid of them

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  15. A million husbands nationwide, are going to be hearing "Paulette said..."

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  16. Thats the best justification for spending money on quilting I ever heard! We should sew that into a quilt for the next generation!
    Love the Lintott's books, got a different one for Christmas and looking forward to seeing what you master next with free motion quilting.

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  17. You tell such great stories; not that the story was a good one though. When that happens it is a giant pain. Just so you know, Starbucks will honour the Cdn. SB card in the US, thankfully as my husband had fully charged one for me at Christmas. It made our pitstops so much easier on the road trip I just did through the American midwest with my son. Son was in a hurry to reach his destination so I missed all the quilt shops along the way. But I marked them on my map for the next time.

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  18. Oh , I've had this happen to me., but they didn't authorize the payments so no money left my account. Pleased that the visa people keep an eye out for this kind of thing.

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  19. Hubby and I just returned from a funeral last week to have a message from Visa asking if I had just spent $1200 on designer clothes. I said not unless Wal-mart just started selling them. Anyway credit card fraud so my card was cancelled and they are sending me a new one. What a pain.

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  20. Had the same thing happen just last month. I don't carry a lot of credit on that card so they were only able to make three purchases of $950 before they got stopped. Scary, but then Mastercard reversed everything.


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  21. Interesting topic that has struck a cord. Sally, check into the $.71 purchase fraudulently. That is is how these thieves work. They start with a small fraudulent amount and hope you don't notice it. I've had purchases from the Carribean Islands, only I've not been there and I only make one purchase for jewelry from a Florida site.

    So watch! Its really scary when suddenly you owe thousands of dollars of purchases that you didn't buy.
    Carli

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  22. It just isn't safe to online shop anymore these days. I got hit the other day on my Mastercard after I bought something on Amazon. This is the third time that Mastercard has been hit. I have a debit card that is not linked to any of my bank accounts and I only transfer enough into it when I want to buy something. They would only get $100 if they hacked it. The bank told me to do that. And my husband has one too, he got hit with identity fraud after just one purchase in Vancouver a few years ago, and he had to do the whole police report and fraud reporting. Ugh.

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  23. Wow, sure sorry to hear about your troubles with your credit card. Those are really scary thing when they happen. You had a good point with Rick, he should make sure you make at least one purchase every day just as a form of "quality control". If you can't but things at 1/2 off, then you can always buy twice as much, right?

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  24. "buy" not but...you knew that.

    Also, you might want to delete the annonymous comments that seem to have slipped in here on you. Wouldn't want your blog readers to be lured to any bad places.

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  25. Well as you know, same thing happened to me last week. The good news is that I got my new card 2 days later.

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  26. That's scary isn't it but all is well! Dang thugs who don't have anything better to do!

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  27. This happened to us our first year on the road. We think our information got hacked when I used the free park Wi-Fi to make a purchase. Now we only use our own Mi-Fi for any financial transactions. So far, so good!

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  28. I'm so sorry to hear this.
    It must have thrown you for a loop!

    Good thinking/planning to travel with separate cards/accts.
    Else wise you could be in a world of hurt
    Especially being 'on the road'
    HUGS

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