credit card stolen, what should i do?

[72ratnova]

so tonight i come home from spending time with the family and check my e-mail and see a paypal receipt for paypal payment when i havent brought anything in over a week and it says a $500 camera was bought today on ebay with my paypal. i have the persons name and address where it is supposed to be shipped to and its out of state. so already ive filed a claim with paypal and they are investigating the order and i was able to get a hold of the last person working at discovercard tonight and they canceled the payment and the cerdit card number so it cant happen again. then i emailed the seller of the camera and told him the whole deal and theres no point in shipping it because there will be no payment. but after doing more looking there was another purchase of $300 on the card thats not ours, but they already left at discover so have to wait til monday on that one. and i already changed my paypal password. is there anything else i can do to stop this from happing again?

[Taman]

Make sure you go to your local police and file a report. You contacted your credit card company, so the $300 you are not liable for. I would call the 800 number on the back of your card and let them know. If you don't have it go to their website and get the number. Ask for the fraud department and tell them. Good luck. I have had my identity stolen and know what your going to. I also have a lock on all my credit reports that require a call to my home before any credit is issued.

[CarlC]

I got ding'ed for $24,000 of fraudulent charges last month on my company credit card. Many of the charges were made in Amsterdam, so the joke is that a bale of pot is on the way to my house.

You've done the right thing by calling the credit card company and having the card cancelled. I also recommend that you send some type of written correspondence to prove the date and time that you started the process.

It is not uncommon for postings to occur after the card has been cancelled. There may be more that show up.

Keep a list of the fraudulent charges in Word, Excel, etc. in such a way that it is neat, clean, and simple for the people at the CC company to understand. The back of your bill should have either a table for fraudulent charges or a link to a form to use.

Keep all of your correspondence with the credit card company and the fraudulent charges. Years ago I had a dispute on some charges that I refused to pay because they were not mine. The credit card company put that on my credit report, and when it came time to get a new home loan, it showed up. I pulled out the paperwork to show the loan company what happened, and it was immediately dismissed. If I had not had that paper trail it would have been much more difficult to prove my innocence.

I have the same credit lock as Chris. Experian, Equifax, etc. offer services that require a call to your home before any credit will be issued. Most are no-fee services. What happens is that if someone, even you, tries to get any type of credit, the credit will not be issued until you confirm the process from your home phone. For example, let's say you are at the local mattress store and want to purchase a mattress at 0% interest for 12 months. You are at the store, but Equifax, Experian, etc will place a call to hour home to confirm that it is a legitimate transaction. The credit line will not be issued since you are not at home to take the call. If some bozo tries to do the same, and you get the call at home, you can deny the transaction.

Most of all, don't get too agitated at the process. It can be extraordinarily frustrating dealing with some of the charges. In another case of fraud against my wife and I, I figured out exactly when and where the fraudulent charges were occurring. The only thing I did not know was the name of the offender. I called the CC company, and did not even get a thank you for my efforts. This was at least $15k worth of fraud, but they flush that much down without a blink of they eye.

[Taman]

I had a card issued in Miami,Fl. Received my first credit report. Had a $10k Visa. Called and told Visa. They stopped the card. I received the 2nd credit report. Visa turned the card on. Now was at $20k. Called Visa. They said I called and had all the correct security answers. Told them nope. I received the third creidit report. The Visa was now at over $30k. They even made a $1k payment to have the card turned back on. Called again and told them this was my last call. Same guy has stole my credit several times. Even got caught using a bad card. In Florida security can't detain you for police to arrest you. I got an 800 number for a government agency that put me on a list. Haven't had a problem in over 5 years.

[dadto2jays]

Call the 800 number on the back of the card and let them know about the fradulent charges......You will be alright, dont sweat it..



Another reason to love "American Express" one call does it all!!!!