Yes I have had my credit card info spoofed and now use an rfid wallet and keep my purse hanging in the front of my body with my arm holding it there. No fun to sort out the mess. Most likely the spoofing is a common crime and very easy to do with small tech toys to steal digital info.
8/10 times its when you physically hand your card to someone, and they generally just use a little swiper plugged into their phone that you can get for a couple bucks on amazon.
When you hand your card to someone and they walk away with it or it drops out of view, thats generally when it happens. There is no good way of stopping it other than paying with cash, or a card you can load specific amounts onto at a time.
The rest of the time its usually something like a skimmer, a plastic face plate that sits on top of the actual credit card reader and looks just like it. Its not uncommon at like a gas station, atm, or anywhere else where the card readers are not being watched by humans.
So you can stop holding your purse in an uncomfortable way, just start paying at restaurants in cash, and jiggle/pull on the face plate of the gas meter when you are filling up, and you should be more or less immune to in person credit card theft (unless its strong arm robbery).
Used to happen a lot more. I'm almost certain that certain spots around town have skimmers on the card readers. Stopped happening around the same time I stopped going into corner stores.
Nothing charged locally, but my coast central debit card got hit with the big $900 fraud charge last year, for some type of site/app that is like Western Union, but specifically for sending money between select African countries. It was a doozy.
Absolutely, never use a debit card. Risk the bank's money instead of your own.
Also, set all your card transaction alerts to anything >$0 and install the banking apps on your phone so you can quickly lock down cards.
Mobile payment apps are actually even safer than credit cards, because your card # is never provided to the merchant.
Setting card notifications is so vital! There have been a few times where I was able to catch a fraudulent charge thanks to being notified. It made it way easier to start the fraud process (mainly because I was able to lock the card and report the charge less than 10 minutes after the fraud charge happened.
Absolutely. It also helps mitigate the "this isn't real money" mentally with credit cards. You get notifications every time you swipe it, plus every time you're charged for that Hulu subscription you haven't used in five months. A great way to audit recurring charges, especially for those who don't actual do this monthly when you pay the bill (which should also be done).
I don’t know what your case is, but I’ve never had issues disputing charges in my credit cards. The most effective way I’ve found is to go on to the card website, lock the card, and report the specific transaction(s) as fraud. The charge then is temporary taken off while the dispute case is open. Eventually, you’ll get a letter saying the charge was reversed because the merchants can’t provide physical proof you made the purchase.
Just some info because people seem to be falling for "scam" RFID protection wallet.
Yes it is **possible** for someone to steal your credit card through your wallet, and yes those RDIF protection wallets **DO** protect the cards... but nobody is stealing your card through the air.
But what they leave out is that the RFID in a credit card are a specific protocol that has a very limited read range, this is why when you try to use the tap on your card you have to try over and over again, anyone trying to steal it through your pocket or purse would have the same challenge. (There are other extremely high tech attacks people work on to defeat these chips, but the people capable of pulling those off have a masters in computer security or an equivalent knowledge base, and they would not be risking jail time stealing cards in humboldt)
On top of the technical challenges of stealing the info, using it is going to be a bigger challenge. The only reason the chip in your card can be so small is that its a passive chip, it cannot be re-written, you would have to use a smart card with a re-writable chip, which will look nothing like a credit card and any store you try to use it at would be immediately suspicious. the info that is taken from the RFID is not the info you would need to use the card online, it doesnt pass the CVV which is required for any online purchases, and it doesnt pass the required data for the magstrip to be duplicated. The only way to use that info would be to ALSO have a physical look at the cards CVV.
There are 2 main ways people are getting your card info.
1. Card skimmers, little plastic faceplates that sit right on top of the card reader. There are a few different types, but all of them will steal your card number, CVV, and most damaging it will steal your PIN. Pull on and wiggle the plastic trim of card readers that are not well monitored, you probably will never find one, but you might.
2. Physically giving people your card, this is what is happening 9/10 times. When its time to pay and you hand over your card and they walk away from you with the card out of view, they can just scan it on one of those phone dongle card readers that cost a few bucks on amazon, and or take a quick photo of both sides of the card, and thats all the info they will ever need to be able to use it online, or if they have a card writer they can dup it and use it locally.
The worst thing about both of these is its usually just one guy organizing it at a time, paying people they know in service industry jobs to supply them the stolen card info, and they will just put all the card info in a bundle and sell it to someone somewhere online to use. They might make one or 2 fake cards for themselves or friends to test them out, but for the most part the individuals will never get caught and you wont even know your card info is out there till years later.
Either way, you dont need to worry about bad guys taking your info from your card while it is in your wallet. The requirements to actually pull off that kind of attack makes it pretty much not a risk when the other options are easier, cheaper, and more useful to criminals.
I started giving the card readers at gas pumps a good jiggle, everywhere else I use tap or Apple Pay and use credit. But I could see how stupid small charges like that would make the bank not believed it’s not you.
Was warned by the employee doing my CalFresh interview that cards and benefits often get lifted at Winco and Grocery Outlet. Use some sort RFID protection, and if you have food stamps use the EBTedge app to turn your card off while you’re not using it, and only have it turned on during your transaction at checkout.
Yea I've had it happen a few times. Frustrated cuz I dunno what I'm doing to make myself an easier target. I dont go anywhere, dont buy (much) online and when I do its Amazon or Uber. If you find out let me know! Its happened so frequently I'm considering switching banks.
I'm really not trying to call out specific markets but I coincidentally had some fraud charges after I began going to Pat's Market. I only use cash now.
Yes I have had my credit card info spoofed and now use an rfid wallet and keep my purse hanging in the front of my body with my arm holding it there. No fun to sort out the mess. Most likely the spoofing is a common crime and very easy to do with small tech toys to steal digital info.
8/10 times its when you physically hand your card to someone, and they generally just use a little swiper plugged into their phone that you can get for a couple bucks on amazon. When you hand your card to someone and they walk away with it or it drops out of view, thats generally when it happens. There is no good way of stopping it other than paying with cash, or a card you can load specific amounts onto at a time. The rest of the time its usually something like a skimmer, a plastic face plate that sits on top of the actual credit card reader and looks just like it. Its not uncommon at like a gas station, atm, or anywhere else where the card readers are not being watched by humans. So you can stop holding your purse in an uncomfortable way, just start paying at restaurants in cash, and jiggle/pull on the face plate of the gas meter when you are filling up, and you should be more or less immune to in person credit card theft (unless its strong arm robbery).
Used to happen a lot more. I'm almost certain that certain spots around town have skimmers on the card readers. Stopped happening around the same time I stopped going into corner stores.
Nothing charged locally, but my coast central debit card got hit with the big $900 fraud charge last year, for some type of site/app that is like Western Union, but specifically for sending money between select African countries. It was a doozy.
This is why you should never use your debit card, always use credit cards for everything!
Absolutely, never use a debit card. Risk the bank's money instead of your own. Also, set all your card transaction alerts to anything >$0 and install the banking apps on your phone so you can quickly lock down cards. Mobile payment apps are actually even safer than credit cards, because your card # is never provided to the merchant.
Just don't let that person you just met in the bar enter their phone number on your phone if you use those apps...
Setting card notifications is so vital! There have been a few times where I was able to catch a fraudulent charge thanks to being notified. It made it way easier to start the fraud process (mainly because I was able to lock the card and report the charge less than 10 minutes after the fraud charge happened.
Absolutely. It also helps mitigate the "this isn't real money" mentally with credit cards. You get notifications every time you swipe it, plus every time you're charged for that Hulu subscription you haven't used in five months. A great way to audit recurring charges, especially for those who don't actual do this monthly when you pay the bill (which should also be done).
Yep I do. Still didn't matter. Its hard to dispute small charges.
I don’t know what your case is, but I’ve never had issues disputing charges in my credit cards. The most effective way I’ve found is to go on to the card website, lock the card, and report the specific transaction(s) as fraud. The charge then is temporary taken off while the dispute case is open. Eventually, you’ll get a letter saying the charge was reversed because the merchants can’t provide physical proof you made the purchase.
Just some info because people seem to be falling for "scam" RFID protection wallet. Yes it is **possible** for someone to steal your credit card through your wallet, and yes those RDIF protection wallets **DO** protect the cards... but nobody is stealing your card through the air. But what they leave out is that the RFID in a credit card are a specific protocol that has a very limited read range, this is why when you try to use the tap on your card you have to try over and over again, anyone trying to steal it through your pocket or purse would have the same challenge. (There are other extremely high tech attacks people work on to defeat these chips, but the people capable of pulling those off have a masters in computer security or an equivalent knowledge base, and they would not be risking jail time stealing cards in humboldt) On top of the technical challenges of stealing the info, using it is going to be a bigger challenge. The only reason the chip in your card can be so small is that its a passive chip, it cannot be re-written, you would have to use a smart card with a re-writable chip, which will look nothing like a credit card and any store you try to use it at would be immediately suspicious. the info that is taken from the RFID is not the info you would need to use the card online, it doesnt pass the CVV which is required for any online purchases, and it doesnt pass the required data for the magstrip to be duplicated. The only way to use that info would be to ALSO have a physical look at the cards CVV. There are 2 main ways people are getting your card info. 1. Card skimmers, little plastic faceplates that sit right on top of the card reader. There are a few different types, but all of them will steal your card number, CVV, and most damaging it will steal your PIN. Pull on and wiggle the plastic trim of card readers that are not well monitored, you probably will never find one, but you might. 2. Physically giving people your card, this is what is happening 9/10 times. When its time to pay and you hand over your card and they walk away from you with the card out of view, they can just scan it on one of those phone dongle card readers that cost a few bucks on amazon, and or take a quick photo of both sides of the card, and thats all the info they will ever need to be able to use it online, or if they have a card writer they can dup it and use it locally. The worst thing about both of these is its usually just one guy organizing it at a time, paying people they know in service industry jobs to supply them the stolen card info, and they will just put all the card info in a bundle and sell it to someone somewhere online to use. They might make one or 2 fake cards for themselves or friends to test them out, but for the most part the individuals will never get caught and you wont even know your card info is out there till years later. Either way, you dont need to worry about bad guys taking your info from your card while it is in your wallet. The requirements to actually pull off that kind of attack makes it pretty much not a risk when the other options are easier, cheaper, and more useful to criminals.
I started giving the card readers at gas pumps a good jiggle, everywhere else I use tap or Apple Pay and use credit. But I could see how stupid small charges like that would make the bank not believed it’s not you.
Almost all my transactions are using the RFID tag. I wonder if they are using a different technique to steal that data?
Was warned by the employee doing my CalFresh interview that cards and benefits often get lifted at Winco and Grocery Outlet. Use some sort RFID protection, and if you have food stamps use the EBTedge app to turn your card off while you’re not using it, and only have it turned on during your transaction at checkout.
An RFID blocking wallet is a great investment.
Yea I've had it happen a few times. Frustrated cuz I dunno what I'm doing to make myself an easier target. I dont go anywhere, dont buy (much) online and when I do its Amazon or Uber. If you find out let me know! Its happened so frequently I'm considering switching banks.
I'm really not trying to call out specific markets but I coincidentally had some fraud charges after I began going to Pat's Market. I only use cash now.
use cash.