I'm so upset...

[Dsnygirl]

... and I can't do anything to fix what's wrong until after 7am!!

The short version is that someone is fraudulently using my bankcard and making purchases... I saw a purchase 2 days ago I didn't recognize, called the store and put them on alert that I didn't recognize it. Called the bank, and they couldn't do anything yet, as the charge was still "pending". Sort-of forgot about it, as it was a small amount, and I wondered if maybe my DH had purchased something, although it was for The Gap, and he never goes there. Yesterday, I go online to check, and there's another purchase through an online subscription service - again, something I don't recognize, and is obvious it wasn't us. I call the vendor and he recognizes that whoever used it didn't have the correct mailing address - and the e-mail address he asked about wasn't ours, or even close. Again, I call the bank - but they're unable to do anything because again, the charge is pending. (And so is The Gap, too, at this point.) I should have closed the card last night - but I wanted to have a chance to change automatic payments that come off of it before I did it, and that can't happen until business opens today. And I figure we're okay - why would someone risk doing it again?? Well, they did - tonight, I checked after midnight to see if the pending charges had cleared - they hadn't yet - and there was another one, for eharmony.com - and now it's a wopping amount of money this person spent for this website!! So now I'm mad, I'm panicked - and my bank's call center is closed, and there's no way for me to access eharmony from work to make them aware this charge wasn't mine. So, I'm stuck waiting until after 7am to talk to my bank, and until after I get home from work to contact eharmony. I'm so mad at myself for not freezing the card yesterday - I'm sure it'll get resolved, but I'm not someone who sits easily waiting for it to happen.

Sigh.

Just had to vent... has anyone else been through this recently??

And hey - if anyone is up out there, could someone go to eharmony.com's website and see if there is a customer service number you could PM me?? (The website is blocked here at work... :() That way, maybe I could call before tomorrow if they have a 24hr. call center?? Thanks!!

[ChipnDaleGal]

I can imagine how frustrated and angry you must be Blythe. I am so sorry this is happening to you and I hope you can get it all taken care of quickly once your bank opens. I just tried poking around on the eharmony site for you and could not find any phone numbers to call. :(

[sassafras]

Most banks and credit unions have fraud departments, so they should spot the unauthorized purchases, especially the ones with the wrong address. I work for a credit union and spend most of my day dealing with debit and atm cards. If the address listed wtih the card system doesn't match the address given by the person using your card online that should alert them and they will be contacting you! Also, if they are doing several purchases originating from another area of the country that will alert them.Usually unless those addresses are the same, the purchase cannot be completed. With that said, I would still contact your financial institution first thing this morning. They will probably shut down your bank card and issue you a new one. Also, if it has a Master Card symbol on it, it should have zero liability. Hope all works out for you!

[ElenitaB]

Blythe, I tried also and they only have e-mail links.

I'm so sorry that you're going through this! You're already documented this with your bank, so as the previous poster as said, you're good. I can't imagine what you're going through.

How ironic though — real honest communication this person is trying to establish on eHarmony... using a stolen credit card! :rolleyes:

[disneydeb]

I have no experience (recently) but here is a hug from a friend:hug: and a wish that it be resolved quickly and to your satisfaction.

[kakn7294]

Sorry I can't help you but I hope you can get everything resolved quickly today! :pixie: for you!

[merlinmagic4]

Sorry about this, Blythe! It is so annoying to go through that. I had two charges to match.com show up on my online statement one time. We were all in the hospital with my son when the charges originated (lucky for my husband - LOL). There were two credits for the same amounts right after it. I don't know if they were denied or what happened. I contacted my credit union and they gave me a new card. My mother also had it happen to the tune of thousands of dollars on one of her cards. She was not responsible for any of it. I hope you get it all worked out. I'm sure you'd rather go home and sleep than deal with this!!

[faline]

I'm sorry, Blythe! Hopefully, you're in the process of getting this sorted out right now!

[RedSoxFan]

Blythe: Sorry to hear this has happened to you. I hope you get it all resolved today. We've had it happen to us -- but our credit card company caught it and issued us new cards.

[SBETigg]

How terribly frustrating and upsetting for you! I would be concerned at the reaction of your bank, too. It seems they should be a lot more proactive in this situation and I would see how they handle it from here then consider changing banks depending on their service at this point. There's no way they should have let the card stay open and vulnerable to more charges after you alerted them to this situation.

[Caroleh]

Oh, Blythe, how terrible. :hug: Hopefully, you can get it resolved quickly. Could you cancel your bankcard and just get a new number? I was afraid one night that card was compromised, went to the bank the next day and canceled the old card and got a new one.

[offwego]

How awful! At the holidays in particular since you have so much to do already & so many companies run short staffed.

Hopefully it will be fixed soon.

[mudpuppysmom]

This very thing happened to us last year right before DS and I left for Disney. There were two small charges at places of business that even the state police could not track down!!

When I originally found the charges -- I'm pretty on our bank account and keep a pretty tight leash on expenditures. I questioned DH if he had bought something for work and was reimbursed with his paycheck.....sometimes the guys will do this if they HAVE to. Plus, it was a tile place and he's a plumber, so I really thought this might be the case, but it was not.

I found this on a Saturday morning and when I called our banks security line they IMMEDIATELY froze the account!! Now, I'm not one to carry cash.....I am a debit person (if some person robbed me, they'd pay me!!). So here we were on a weekend no less with no cash!! It was 1 pm and the bank closed at 2 pm. I called the bank manager and she told us to get in there if we wanted to access some of our funds.

Anyway, they froze our account, would not let us open a new account and we were leaving for Disney in about 10 days. I told the bank manager my DH had been a customer of theirs for over 20 years and if they wanted to keep our business we needed to get a new account opened and also have debit cards issued. She called the main office and got it done for us in two days.

The trooper who investigated our case told me that usually what happens is these people who do this crime usually do two small transactions before they do a very large one and then it's a free for all.......we were lucky to have caught it on the first transaction!

Good luck!!

[Dsnygirl]

Thank you, everyone, for all your kind words and support... I talked w/ my bank this morning, and on their end, they say they can't do anything until the charges are actually submitted by these companies for payment... then we can file a fraud claim. One company has already acknowledged that the information they have in front of them doesn't match my information, and said they would cancel the transaction - we'll see if they do. But eHarmony is being very difficult - they keep saying they can't do anything about the charges, that my bank has to do the "refund" once the claim is filed, and even though I just got off the phone with a supervisor there, he held his ground and acted like I was just asking for my money back. So -- I guess I'm in the middle of a waiting game... I believe my bank will be able to prove it wasn't me, I just hate the fact that while I wait for it to get figured out, I'm out a couple of hundred dollars and I wasn't the one who caused the problem. :mad: Sigh... not how I wanted to start my Monday, and I'm not a good "waiter" in situations like this -- I like things handled right away. :( Hopefully, the charges will post in the next day and I can get the claim filed, and all will be well. (And any helpful pixie dust would be appreciated!!)

Thanks again for all your comments and help -- you guys are awesome, as usual!! :thumbsup:

[MsMin]

sending :pixie: for you and your acct.
I had someone get my # and charged $1600 @ Macy's (8-$200 gift certificates) in New Jersey. My bank reversed the charges on Macy's and said they would just be out of the money b/c they thought it was an inside job b/c the person didn't have the card. They refunded everything.
Then this year I've had a lot of trouble b/c I'm not always too careful. I lost my card and I canceled it. I have two different accts. and was very specific about the card and they sent me a new one. Later I find out they canceled the wrong card and the lost card is still active and the new card was for the other acct and I'm using the acct that has a very limited amount and the lost card was still active. Needless to say I was overdrawn and couldn't figure out why the other acct didn't work. Luckily they record all conversations and they corrected it and I was out of nothing.
After this mess, I busy working before leaving for Disney last Oct. and I work in the inner city and I'm in a higher crime district and I, in my haste, stop for gas and throw my card in my pocket only to discover I must have dropped it at one of the high schools. With one phone call I cancel the card.. they hot key the card and not the acct. so my auto debits continue to go through but the card is replaced and any risk is stopped. Unfortunately I didn't have this card before going to WDW but I did have two accts.
The back can freeze the card but not the acct. and issue a new one quickly. I could have run down to the bank and picked up a temp card but didn't have time. I would cancel that card immediately if you haven't already.

[SBETigg]

Blythe, don't wait. Be more proactive on your own behalf. If they took the money out of your account, then they have the information they need to proceed with investigating this. Call back and insist on it. Speak with a supervisor. If you're complacent and willing to accept what they say, they will let you wait who knows how long. I know it's stressful and a big hassle, but I don't think your bank is treating you right on this. They should have at least flagged the account and issued you a new card by now. Did they do that? I'm worried for you to face new charges that are not yours.

[mickey&missy]

Blythe, I'm so sorry this happened! It's just terrible. Sending you lots of :hug: and :pixie:, I hope everything gets resolved quickly!

[BriarRose0708]

Lots of :pixie::pixie::pixie: for you Blythe! I hope this can be sorted out soon.

[tinkerbell04]

Good luck with this terrible situation. But I agree with Sherri, please be proactive and keep calling on your own behalf. You have to be an advocate for yourself:mickey:

[dlpmikki]

Good luck with this situation. I don't quite understand why the bank say the charges are still pending if you can actually see the details - if you can see them, surely the bank can to. I agree with the others, you need to keep on at the bank to get them to stop the card and the payments. Get it to them in writing as well to confirm any phone conversations.

[thrillme]

You can cancel the card. If payments are coming out of your account they should continue without any problem. The bank might just call you and ask if they're "legit" if purchased with the card.

EHarmony is being a bit difficult. You'll get your money back but...I know if I received such a call as a BUSINESS...I'd contact the "victim's" bank to see if there is a conflict with "who signed up" on the account and provide the name of the individual to the bank and FBI in hopes of them being caught.

[Dsnygirl]

Blythe, don't wait. Be more proactive on your own behalf. If they took the money out of your account, then they have the information they need to proceed with investigating this. Call back and insist on it. Speak with a supervisor. If you're complacent and willing to accept what they say, they will let you wait who knows how long. I know it's stressful and a big hassle, but I don't think your bank is treating you right on this. They should have at least flagged the account and issued you a new card by now. Did they do that? I'm worried for you to face new charges that are not yours.
Thanks for the note -- I did cancel the card early this morning, and the bank immediately started the process of issuing me a new one. I did speak with a supervisor at eHarmony, and he was just another "puppet" repeatedly stating the same thing over and over - "we do not do refunds or charge backs - your bank will have to file a claim and we will not dispute it - but we can't give you the money back unless your bank claims it was fraud..." He was like a recording, and I got nowhere. I actually asked him to look at the charge and at least tell me where it originated from... he said he couldn't, that that information would only be given if they were subpoenaed!! I am wondering if this is their stance b/c so many customers are unhappy with their service and try to get their money back... when I researched eHarmony last night at work by Googling them (I couldn't access their website from my work computers), I found a lot of "rip off report" type information about them regarding people not being happy with the service and not being able to get their money back. So, this must be a policy they have in place because of it - doesn't help me out at all!! My bank did say that when the charge fully posts to my account, they will then file the claim and investigate it - they don't doubt me at all, and I'm fairly confident I'll see the charges reversed - I just hate the waiting game while nobody loses their money but me!! :(


Good luck with this situation. I don't quite understand why the bank say the charges are still pending if you can actually see the details - if you can see them, surely the bank can to. I agree with the others, you need to keep on at the bank to get them to stop the card and the payments. Get it to them in writing as well to confirm any phone conversations.
Hi Mikki! I guess what happens is that on my end, I see the transaction as a "pending" transaction - meaning the charge has been put through electronically to my bank, but my bank hasn't actually received the real receipt/paperwork associated with the charge, so it's not "officially" on my account yet. Once they receive the information from the merchant, the transaction posts as a fully paid transaction. I don't agree with this policy at all - once the money leaves my account, I feel that it is a paid transaction!! But apparently, this is standard practice here. :ack: So - I just have to wait and see if the charges actually post, or if they're the result of a mistake the vendor realizes and fixes and thus they then "disappear" from my account and the $$ is put back. If not, then I file a claim against the charge and get a "temporary" credit back to my account until the "real" credit can be issued once the claim is resolved! My bank says they deal with this "all the time"... great!! :confused:


EHarmony is being a bit difficult. You'll get your money back but...I know if I received such a call as a BUSINESS...I'd contact the "victim's" bank to see if there is a conflict with "who signed up" on the account and provide the name of the individual to the bank and FBI in hopes of them being caught.
You're right... you'd think they'd care that someone was fraudulently accessing their website with someone else's information!! But, like I said above - they've got a bad reputation for giving money back to unhappy customers - so to them, I'm probably trying to pull my own scam!! Luckily, I have enough proof that it wasn't us... I just hate having to prove myself against a dishonest person!


Thanks again, everyone for all your help - I greatly appreciate it, and it sure helps to be able to vent and hear from other folks who've been through something like this, as well. I guess it's all just a part of the crazy tech world we live in - but I can tell you, I'll be a lot more careful in the future!! (And the sad thing, I though I already was!! :()

[Beast_fanatic]

Blythe, sorry to hear you're having all this trouble! Glad to hear that you've got the card canceled now, and I hope it all gets straightened out quickly!

[Jeff G]

That is quite the way to start off the work week:mad:. The good news is you caught this quick enough and the culprit was not able to drain the account balance. The time this happened to me once the transaction cleared the bank I filed the complaint and had the money back in my account within 24 hours and the bank took over from there.

Hopefully everything goes smooth for you, good luck!

[BelleandtheBeast]

I wish you the best in this situation. It is good to hear that the card is finally canceled. We have had our card information stolen before and it took a lot of phone calls and waiting, so I understand your problem. Just hand in there and don't let them forget about you. :mickey::mickey::thumbsup:

[SBETigg]

Blythe, thanks for the update. I'm relieved for you to have it under control and new cards coming to you. What an awful thing to have happen right around the holidays. I hope it gets resolved quickly for you.

[faline]

Blythe: Glad to hear you're getting things in order. Sorry you need to go through the experience at all!

[Dsnygirl]

Hi guys - here's an update!! The largest of the charges cleared this morning, so I called my bank and filed a claim... they were great and are putting the money back into our account tonight, and "tracking" the other charge to see what happens. If and when it clears, they will automatically deal with that one, too. So - it looks like things will be fine... I'm just hoping they find whoever did it and the proof is easy to see that it wasn't us.

So - thanks again for all the kind thoughts and pixie dust - it's greatly appreciated!! :thumbsup:

[Caroleh]

That's great news, Blythe!!!!

[cal5755]

That stinks... and so close to the Holidays!! I hope it all works out in the end... i do agree though.. dont wait! Keep calling until it is resolved!
Good Luck!