Another Reason to 'Cash and Carry'

Wired.com posted an article about a credit card cloning scheme in the DC area.
(Click here for Wired article)

I guess this is becoming more prevalent in these dire economic times. Apparently, some local waiters/waitresses were scanning customer credit cards through a cloning device, and using the information to duplicate card account and information. In turn, the duplicates were used to make bogus purchases – which some people no doubt saw on their monthly credit card statements.

I have to admit, my husband and I were victims of this kind of scheme. A little over a year ago, my husband saw a few odd charges on our credit card. The charged amounts were small enough not to cause alarm at first, but the location of the charges didn’t add up. Someone most likely duplicated our credit card at a restaurant, and trumped up about $700 worth of charges locally, within a 2 month period. There was $40 at a gas station in Arlington, $70 at Hechts/Macy’s in Tyson’s Corner….and the red flag that we noticed immediately, $300 at a CVS in Springfield. Our culprit obviously chose Virginia as the spending ground – and was very smart to do smaller charges so as not to raise immediate suspicion.

In the end, the bank reimbursed us and did an investigation on our account. Be sure to always check your bank statements. Not just the charge amount, but the location of the charge. We go to gas stations, Macy’s and CVS – but NOT in Virginia!

And also think about taking cash to restaurants (vs. using credit cards). Nothing worse than having to do a fraud report with the bank or your credit card company. The entire process to get your money back is extremely tedious.