I lost/misplaced/had stolen a credit card over the weekend without realizing it until I got a call from the credit card company yesterday. Someone had been using my card to buy gasoline at the pump and somehow the company's loss-prevention detection caught it. Had to cancel the account and get a new one.

Last year there was a skimmer (a device placed on a credit card/ATM slot that stealthily steals and stores card numbers) on an ATM I used. Someone proceeded to charge over 6,000 USD to my checking account (it was a bank/debit card) the next day. Luckily my bank caught it and notified me before the charges were batched out and the money was actually transferred.

My girlfriend went to a "wellness center" with a back issue, after which she started having physical therapy done there. The wellness center was billing the insurance company for physical therapy (mostly exercise with a trainer), and other people that she works with started doing the same. Turns out the licensed therapist for that site was actually in California living and working on a new degree at a school there, so there wasn't actually a licensed physical therapist on-site. The insurance company doesn't like being charged for physical therapy for what really amounts to personal training, which is not covered. They were likely defrauded for hundreds of thousands of dollars and the owner (the licensed therapist in CA) is likely losing his business and probably doing some jail time.

My parents (who are senior citizens) are terrified of using credit cards or doing much of anything online because they're convinced that their identity will be stolen. People seem so justify fraud by telling themselves that they're only hurting some big, dirty corporation, but some (in some cases a lot) of the burden is passed onto other customers/members of a service.

Do you have any experience with fraud, either through a job or your own personal dealings? I'm interested to hear how many of you have been hit by someone living at the expense of others.

I got bitten by ATM and/or PINpad fraud as well. Rather than using a skimmer, it was via a camera that captured my card #, the sequence # and my PIN. The ATM cards have no security in the stripe, so the thieves just encoded a card with the numbers and used my PIN to withdraw from my line of credit. Fortunately my bank reimbursed me. When my new card arrived, it had the same number on it. I asked them how this was supposed to help. They replied that the sequence # had changed.

It had increased by one. Brilliant.

So, in order to stymie more than just the thieves who can't count, I now chisel several of the numbers off my ATM cards, leaving a nice rectangular hole in them. As long as I don't hit the stripe or chip they work properly. Makes for a good conversation-starter at checkouts too.

Yes, I have. Once someone got my debit card card number. No idea how, I only use is at my bank's ATM and at big websites (like amazon, newegg ect). On one of my bank statments someone bought a bunch of stuff that I didn't recognize. I googled the acronyms/descriptions of the charges and they were from the Playstation Online Store, I don't own a playstation. Had to fill out an affidavit and my bank put the money in my account.

I also had some Chinese farmer steal my WoW account. I didn't even notice for about a week since I wasn't playing much at the time. I was at work and a buddy of mine texted me that he could see me online on a different toon with the new battlenet stuff. Was on the phone with Blizz that night for an hour or so while they locked the account, reset the pw and gave it back to me. Little bonus, the farmer got me like 2k gold and a super rare pet drop that was still in my inventory.

Neither of those were fun, but it could have been a lot worse I suppose if it was a credit card or ss that they got.

That's not a bad idea. Just remember to write down the rest of the account number somewhere.

Just thought of another one. I bought a couple of electronics items (an SD card and an IR remote control) from a certain eBay seller a couple of years ago. When I received the items they appeared to have been shipped directly from Newegg.com. I found that odd, but didn't think too much of it. A couple of months later I ordered something from Newegg.com and I couldn't get the order to go through. When I called them about it they told me that my account had been suspended due to suspected fraud. I talked to their loss-prevention people, and it turns out that the eBay seller had been stealing credit card numbers, setting up eBay auctions, and then setting up Newegg.com accounts in the names of the auction winners. Of course, they paid for the items on Newegg.com using the stolen credit card numbers and had them shipped directly to the winners of their eBay auctions.

I've had my credit card details stolen twice; the second was the most conspicuous and should've never happened, someone who was obviously not the cardholder booking plane tickets to Nigeria (surprise). Got refunded both times, though since neither the bank nor the police could've been less interested, I never found out how they got my details.

I sold my wow account for $150, and the person who bought it from payed me through Paypal. Turns out that the person didn't actually have the money, and Paypal doesn't cover virtual property. I had to pay some collection people for like 4 months to pay off the debt.

I once discovered a few odd charges on my bank account. I turns out that they were monthly charges for.. um.. websites of ill repute. I called the company and was told that the free trial period for the websites had ended and the monthly charges had kicked in. I said I wasn't the one who setup accounts, I wasn't interested in their "service" and even if I was I wouldn't be paying $76 a month for it. The woman on the phone said that if they refunded the money then my card number would be banned from all their sites. Really? You're threatening me with smut? Go ahead and block me, now I know that little jackhole won't be able to keep using my card to get his entertainment.

The funny part is that I would have gladly let the guy have the money, so long as I found out who he is and where he lives.

Nothing really involving money

Nope, I picked the third option.

I'm one of the lucky ones. I've never had anything like this happen to me and I hope it stays that way.

Yes, I've experienced fraud in some way. Fraud happens all the time in Capitali$t America.


Sounds to me you tried to scam someone and it backfired.

I've never been scammed myself. I don't know if I'm just super cautious or just super lucky, but knock on wood, so far so good.
That said, my mother's business was been scammed many many years ago. My girlfriend at the time was working at my mother's florist shop, and took a call from a "floral network's" admin. offices. (this was right at dawn of the internets, and as such, my mother had just signed on to a legitimate website that was building a directory of professional florists online) When this call came in they announced themselves as a web admin for said company, and wanted to verify our shop's information, including the owner/proprieter's name. Like I said, they had just joined days before, so this didn't sound "off" at all, so my ex complied. About a week later, a bill for the sum of close to $550.00 arrived at my mother's business, in "official" company stationary. Unfortunately for the scammers, the bill from the legit company's services arrived the day before, for the pre-arranged price of $40.00. A registered letter from my mother's lawyer was sent out the next day, and they dropped the bill but, still to this day, we get calls there from "The___________ network" (spelled one letter different of the legitimate company's name) asking if they can confirm our information for their "free" online directory...
Oddly enough, the legitimate company has never called or billed us again, and the last time I checked, our information is still listed, and current no less.

A few months back my ATM card was compromised

They took out a penny from my account (even if it's just a penny they took out they still have access to the account and thus the rest of my money) but the bank realized what was going on right away and called me (and emailed me) about the activity so no major damage was done.

Sure do.

Lost my wallet 2000, then in 2006 I got a call from the city of San Diego claiming I owed unpaid parking tickets. Turns out that someone had a car registered under my name / info.

I'm only guessing it was related to the incident when I lost my wallet.

Strangely, somebody mailed me the wallet back in 2007. Weird, huh?

My parents also had some check fraud occur last year as well. They were also were victims of a real estate scam in Arizona.

Watch yourselves people, identity fraud is becoming more and more common.

Of course they don't cover that, selling WoW accounts is illegal.

Someone used my dads card for some online gambling . . . I got a call from my parents whilst I was at uni asking if I had something to tell them. They thought I'd become addicted to gambling!

EDIT: With the amount of stories people tell about themselves on this forum it wouldn't be too hard for someone to steal someone's identity on here.

The Goverment charge me tax when I didn't allow them to, stuff NI I don't even use it :verymad:
I've lost my bank card once and soon went onto the phone telling the bank company to block the card instantly and it was done, fraud/theft avoided and a new card was with me in 2 days
I don't put my bank details or anything that hints towards them online, I just don't trust something I don't know I'd rather go to the shop and buy my stuff face-to-face.