Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Identify

Fraud! Recently, I tried to check my credit card account online, to see if certain things had been billed properly and estimate how much my next bill will be. And I was denied access. Then I started getting emails from the company, saying there had been suspicious activity on my account. Again, I tried to access the records online, in order to review these actions for myself. Still no luck. So I called them up last night and after a lengthy verification process, had them tell me about the suspicious activity. They said it was a number of cash advances over the past few days. I've never used the cash advance on my credit card, so that seems a mite off.

So, I'm not responsible for those transactions, and they've deactivated the card. A new one is on the way, so all is well. I just can't figure out how this happened - I don't use my credit card that often, and I try to be careful about where I use it, especially online. Any advice out there on how to avoid this problem in the future?

We finally got a little rain yesterday, but not much. We're experiencing a near-drought here right now. Normal rain for March is 3.56", and we've received something like 0.07". My lawn has a lot of dead grass. This weekend I've scheduled for spring cleaning, so I may go ahead and turn the hose on the lawn for a while. Maybe the previous tenants left a sprinkler lying around somewhere. Hopefully I'll find more interesting things in the shrubbery around the house. So far I've found shattered glass and pottery, puzzle pieces, two action figure torsos, thumbtacks, batteries, nuts & bolts, three balls, a plastic tree stump, three garden gnomes, and a mailbox.

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Though I don't use cash advances either (if I need cash I go the ATM - simple), I thought the advances have to be done with a physical card (as opposed to over the phone or internet with just the card number). So sounds like something more sophisticated...

Shred your bills before recycling, and those balance transfer checks they send every so often. Not much else you can do that you're not already doing, I guess.

kelly said...

Oddly enough, that happened to me last month. I only use my credit card when on travel with work - I too am very careful with that and never use cash advances. Whoever got my info had a grand ol' time. Luckely, I don't have to pay for any of it, I got a new card and now I have a flag up on my information so the credit companies know to do more of a personal check on large purchases. I am sorry it happened to you. However, I am glad you caught it early as well!

THE MIND IS NOT A VESSEL TO BE FILLED BUT A FIRE TO BE KINDLED