Grrrr....compromised Amex card

[wurm]

Last week I received my usual email from Amex that my statement was ready to be viewed online, so I did. I use this card just for my business expenses and there are usually maybe three or four transactions a month. Same this month, except one of the charges was from autotrader.com for $44. Well, no one in my family has bought, sold or looked at a car in the last couple of years, so I knew it wasn't mine.

To make a long story short (doubtful), I called Amex and explained. They're going to hunt it down and told me to just ignore it, as I'm not liable. They also suggested I could call autotrader.com and see what they say. I hung up and got busy with other things. Fast forward to today, when I decided I'd call autotrader. So I go back online to my Amex account to get the phone number off the statement and sumbitch, there was another hit under my "recent transactions"- two days after the first one, again from autotrader.com and again for $44. Back on the phone with Amex, and they'll void that one as well and follow up and cancel my card and send me a new one. Then a phone call to autotrader. The guy I spoke with was very apologetic and supportive and said they would credit the amount right away, then helped me try to work out how the number could have been compromised. He could only tell me that it was an online transaction. The person had my name and address and evidently the security number as well as the Amex card number.

This sucks because as I said I use this card fairly rarely and only for business expenses. If I buy anything online I'm very aware of using only secure sites. The only other thing I can think of is the one time a couple of months ago when I took somebody to lunch and I actually handed the card to the waiter in the restaurant. That's the only time I can remember it being out of my possession. I wonder if the waitperson worked a little funny stuff.

Anyway, end of rant. Just a reminder to keep a close watch on all your statements. I'm anal that way, which is the only reason I noticed it.

[testcase]

How would that waiter get the security number and all the other information? :dunno:

[C(-)ris]

Security number is on the back of the card...duh. The address....a simple google of the name on the front of the card would suffice if Wurm isn't unlisted.

[mikebw]

C(-)ris wrote:
Security number is on the back of the card...

Actually on the front for AMEX.

[ztirffritz]

Why this doesn't happen more frequently I'm not sure. You put people in low paying jobs, then hand them credit cards with the name, signature, and they're supposed to check ID, which has the address. All the info they need is right there. If you have a good memory, your set. Otherwise just copy it down and run with it. More than likely you can get away with one or two purchases. If you live in an appartment you just ship it to a neighbors house. If they drop it off, you grab it and go. If the neighbor actually receives the package then it becomes their problem. The temptation is great. When I worked in a restaurant I always wondered why no one did this. I still don't know why. Although I did read about a guy who worked in a fancy restaurant in NY and stole info for Steven Speilberg, Bill Gates and probably others,. So long as he kept the charges small enough and infrequent enough he got away with a LOT of fraud, like millions.

[Michael]

wurm wrote:
The only other thing I can think of is the one time a couple of months ago when I took somebody to lunch and I actually handed the card to the waiter in the restaurant. That's the only time I can remember it being out of my possession. I wonder if the waitperson worked a little funny stuff.

Maybe like this: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/10..._skimming/

I've completely stopped using credit cards in restaurants. I just don't hand them to people who go out of my sight. It stinks, but there you go...

[Stephanie]

wurm wrote:
The only other thing I can think of is the one time a couple of months ago when I took somebody to lunch and I actually handed the card to the waiter in the restaurant. That's the only time I can remember it being out of my possession. I wonder if the waitperson worked a little funny stuff.

That is quite plausible. About 7 yrs ago, months after a trip to Las Vegas, I suddenly noticed 2 charges to a sub sandwich shop in Las Vegas on my Discover card. The dates for the charges were dates when I was home in NM. In fact, on the dates of the sandwich charges, there were other legitimate charges that clearly showed I was in NM. I called Discover and they said "but there are signatures on the receipts for the sandwiches." They agreed to send me a copy of the signature and it was clearly not mine. When I told Discover that, they immediately canceled that card and issued me a new one.

Like you, I NEVER had the card out of my possession; however, while in Las Vegas, I did use my card at a number of restaurants. I have no doubt that's what happened with mine.

Also, while not completely the same issue, but fraudulent nonetheless, on New Year's Eve this past year, we dined at the restaurant in our hotel and charged the bill to our room. The next day at check out, our bill was substantially higher. Before agreeing to the charges, I reviewed them with the hotel front desk staff. We found that the waiter had apparently NOT been happy with his tip and he had changed our bill to make a higher tip for himself (and forged my signature). We were able to get the excess amounts taken off, but I was still furious.

There appear to be lots of ways to cheat people...