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• Reputation: 976 Q&A: 26 0 7 567 256 1 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Follow Following 0 protosaurus

  5 0 Use a credit card for everything. I switched my entire life over to a single 2% cash back credit card with a ridiculously high limit and zero fraud liability. My credit card got skimmed on the hill the same way yours did and about $700 of unknown charges showed up one Saturday afternoon. It took one, 5-10 minute phone call to kill all the charges and cancel the card. A new one was overnighted and life went on. My friend's debit card got skimmed on the hill and he lost almost a thousand bucks via ATM machines the same way you did. He is still jumping through bank and police report hoops trying to get his cash back. He's getting close to giving up. The only problem is not everyone appreciates you trying to use a credit card for your $2.50 cup of coffee or whatever. It's not legal for them to require a minimum purchase (many articles on Consumerist about this as well) so if they want to argue about it, I walk out and am unlikely to return. I'm not interested in places that are cash-only that aren't named Dick's. protosaurus answered in Personal Finance about 1 year ago | Report 1 comment by Rev.Enant… 0 0 Good answer, Proto! Rev.Enant commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  2 0 You may have used your card at an ATM that had an ATM Skimmer placed on it. As I understand it, a skimmer copies the data from your card as well as your PIN (when you punch it in); the thieves running the scam can then duplicate your card and use your PIN to withdraw all of your cash. I hope you filed a police report, and also provided your transaction records - if this is what happened to you then it has likely happened to a bunch of other people. Read more about ATM Skimmers here: http://consumerist.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=1&limit=20&search=skimmer Luckier answered in Personal Finance about 1 year ago | Report 5 comments by Musely, aviaticsquad, and Luckier… 0 0 The skimmer itself can't copy the pin - but a fake keypad or camera nearby might be able to catch it as you type it in. Musely commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 Yeah, that's where I got stumped. Skimmers make enough sense to me, but the PIN? Some place, somewhere (most likely on/around the hill), had both a camera and skimmer, or some other system completely. Arg. aviaticsquad commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 I think you could set up a false ATM machine that both records the debit card number and the keystrokes for the PIN. There are a few stories on the Consumerist site that at least imply that such a thing was done. I think the simpler explanation though would be skimmer plus video or human observation of the PIN. Luckier commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 Yikes. Does anyone know what a skimmer look like and how can you spot it on an ATM? Marconia commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 Here's a good overview of skimmers - found this link on consumerist which has many many tales and pictures of skimmers - http://www.commbank.com.au/personal/apply-online/download-printed-forms/ATM_awareness_guide.pdf Musely commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  1 0 Call the police already: 206.625.5011 is the non-911 number. This is a Secret-Service level crime: please call them too: (206)220-6800 There's a large wave of skimming going on recently/right now on the Eastside: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/theblotter/2013388435_police_bust_skimmers_who_targe.html Most people don't look for a skimmer when they use an atm. All the criminal would need to do is watch you enter your pin, and in the age of wireless nannycams the size of a mini-post-it stack, that wouldn't be hard to arrange nor conceal. They could have also tailed you to a gas station or grocery store and watched you enter it there. (20 minutes of stalking time for $600 or more cash is a pretty good deal - it would seem that crime does pay!). Whenever possible, use your credit card option and avoid entering that PIN anywhere but inside your bank. Rev.Enant answered in Personal Finance about 1 year ago | Report 1 comment by aviaticsquad… 0 0 Definitely filed a police report when it happened, but secret service? Is it really worth filing a report with them? Shouldn't it be sufficient to have a police report? aviaticsquad commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  1 0 Sounds like you got skimmed somewhere - it's really easy to fake debit & credit cards with a little bit of cheap equipment. Besides being careful where you use your debit card, you might also want to look into opening a second checking account for spending money that you don't keep very much cash in. Make sure your bank/credit union doesn't link it to your other account(s) and don't sign up for overdraft protection - that way if it happens again you shouldn't lose too much money. I used to have a set-up like this where most of my paycheck was direct deposited to my credit union and a small amount was deposited to an account at a bank - the pain in the ass of course is transferring the money. I closed the bank account and now I try to just keep my spending allowance in cash instead of using my debit/credit cards to buy stuff. Everybody loves cash! asteria answered in Personal Finance about 1 year ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  1 0 Happened to me several years ago. I found several large charges against my checking account made in even dollar amounts at large retailer outlets in another state. My bank took away my Visa card privileges and gave me a card that only worked as a debit card for the short time they took to "investigate" the incidents. It was pretty obvious that I hadn't initiated those charges, however, and they gave me a new fully functioning card in a short time. As a result, I've learned to be very careful about which ATMs I use, and which stores I will give my debit card to. It's impossible to be 100% sure about any of them, but I won't use the ones in sketchy gas stations or in the back of dive bars. For instance. Lee answered in Personal Finance about 1 year ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  0 0 Just happened to me this last weekend. And these people are smart. They used a duplicated card and spent more then 2500 dollars at the USPS. The one stupid thing they did was get it all in money orders. So seattle police are working to find out when they got cashed, and who is responsible. Very scary situation and not only did they have my pin number, they also changed my pin number. At this point i am only going to withdrawl money on cash back at the grocery store. This has been a stressful situation and will do whatever i can to avoid it from happening again. And i was very smart about where i used my card and what atm's. I always used my bank atm and now they are looking into the videos like you stated as well. Just hope they find these dumbass' so they can't do this to someone else! krysmiss answered in Personal Finance about 1 year ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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