Classical Music & Opera Forums

lulu wrote:One of the most sickening feelings in the world:

Discovering your wallet has been stolen and in less than 20 minutes the thief spent $600 in the mall! Visa cut the card off as I was on the phone with the bank. Visa said the transactions looked fraudulent and didn't fit my shopping pattern. It must have been the Guess charges that tipped Visa off since I never stepped foot in a Guess store, ever. After I got through with the bank, I came home to find Visa called and I called back and we discussed it. Said those charges weren't typical of me (who knew they kept track?) and that basically the thief buys gift cards (fast transactions) and go on a binge before the card is cut off. Unfortunately (I'm not responsible but still) I didn't realized I had an $800 limit before the card cuts off and I need authorization. I quickly changed that to $300. If I had had the latter, the $400 gift card at Macy's would have stopped the thief because he would have had to call the bank for authorization which s/he would not have received.

But my beautiful new wallet!

I had to change checking account, savings account, driver's or non-driver's id, notify a zillion people about change in checking account (such as SS, medicare, pension, etc.) and I'm still unstrung. Until I get id, I won't feel like a human. And I just feel as if my identiy has been stolen (which it was).

Serves me right for getting an expensive wallet. I was fine before: separate coin/money purse with all my cards in an inside, zippered pocket.

Sigh!

To quote the title of a Ring Lardner story, "I Can't Breathe."

Aw! I feel your pain. Been there/done that. Awful, isn't it?

Ouch! Even a short-term theft of identity leaves one feeling polluted. My thoughts are with you, lulu.

Oh, lulu, how horrible! I had that happen to me in Vienna. I had to get my passport replaced at the Canadian Consulate, and it took 3 days! Meanwhile, I had no identity, and couldln't change any traveller's cheques. Horrible, helpless feeling.

I was in the railway station in Philadelphia, and had a lucky break when someone tried to steal my wallet out of my purse. He/she grabbed my bottle of contact lens solution instead, which I guess felt like the shape of a wallet - a flattened oblong. After that, I always got purses with zippers and always kept them zipped.

The day Marisa and I arrived in Milan, after dropping our luggage at the hotel, we decided to shake off the long flight by taking a walk to the Castello Sforza. The hotel room having no safe, I put our passports and my wallet into a zippered belt pouch placed between the first and second belt loops on my left side. As we walked to the castle, we noticed a gypsy woman and her two young children on our sidewalk, leaning against the building to our right. They looked us over but did nothing.

After a wonderful few hours at the castle (and its art museum), we strolled back to our hotel. The same small group was on the sidewalk, now on our left side. This time, the woman approached me and unfolded a tabloid newspaper in front of me -- just above belt height -- as though to interest me in purchasing it. I knew of this move, so I swept my right hand under the paper toward my pouch and grabbed her wrist firmly as it was already beginning to open the zipper.

She gave a sharp yell (as though I were assaulting her!), but yanked her wrist free and retreated, giving me a dirty look (if not the Evil Eye). She and her children set off for a different post on a different sidewalk.

No harm done, that time, but when we got back to the hotel, I took out a safety pin and pinned the zipper tab shut. The pin looked dorky and was a nuisance every time we purchased something, but I never had any further trouble of that sort on that trip, or subsequent ones.

Of course, the following day we bought a couple of apples from a jolly vendor at a streetside fruit stand, and only later did I realize I'd been stiffed on the change to the tune of ten dollars, equivalent (Italy was still on the lira at the time). I blame jet lag...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

I've already been tricked. I'd like a treat now.

Many thanks for condolences. They are a comfort to this person who doesn't know who she is.

pczipott wrote:The day Marisa and I arrived in Milan, after dropping our luggage at the hotel, we decided to shake off the long flight by taking a walk to the Castello Sforza. The hotel room having no safe, I put our passports and my wallet into a zippered belt pouch placed between the first and second belt loops on my left side. As we walked to the castle, we noticed a gypsy woman and her two young children on our sidewalk, leaning against the building to our right. They looked us over but did nothing.

After a wonderful few hours at the castle (and its art museum), we strolled back to our hotel. The same small group was on the sidewalk, now on our left side. This time, the woman approached me and unfolded a tabloid newspaper in front of me -- just above belt height -- as though to interest me in purchasing it. I knew of this move, so I swept my right hand under the paper toward my pouch and grabbed her wrist firmly as it was already beginning to open the zipper.

She gave a sharp yell (as though I were assaulting her!), but yanked her wrist free and retreated, giving me a dirty look (if not the Evil Eye). She and her children set off for a different post on a different sidewalk.

No harm done, that time, but when we got back to the hotel, I took out a safety pin and pinned the zipper tab shut. The pin looked dorky and was a nuisance every time we purchased something, but I never had any further trouble of that sort on that trip, or subsequent ones.

Of course, the following day we bought a couple of apples from a jolly vendor at a streetside fruit stand, and only later did I realize I'd been stiffed on the change to the tune of ten dollars, equivalent (Italy was still on the lira at the time). I blame jet lag...

Ah yes! The glory of having one's passport hanging around one's neck inside one's blouse.
Thanks to a very knowledgeable OF poster, we learned that and to keep an eagle eye on our luggage on trains in Italy.

Ready for another story?

While on a train going to Rome with a stop before Bologna, Cliftwood decided to get off the train to take some photos of trains when suddenly I felt the train move and with a bit of trepidation I went to the window signalling with my arms frantically and finally tapping on the window with my ring but he was completely absorbed.
The next thing I know the train moves and I am now completely panicked. I saw him running but he missed our car. Now the train is definitely in full throttle and suddenly into our car walks C. He grabbed the last car just in time.
I tell you, between punching him on the shoulder, sobbing, frightened yet grateful that I was not going to be traveling alone for the rest of the trip, we learned a sober lesson about Italian trains. They don't sit in a station like ours do. They move baby! They MOVE!

lulu wrote:
Discovering your wallet has been stolen and in less than 20 minutes the thief spent $600 in the mall!

lulu: Sorry to hear your story.

How come you had available credit on your card?

Is amazon losin’ it’s grip or sumpin’?

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bricon wrote:

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Of couse, this notice doesn't apply to ALL forumites.

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bricon:

I did have a limit but it was, unfortunately higher than I thought. I lowered the limit anyway. The stores are culpable too. They should have charged it as a debit card which means the purchaser would have punched in a private code. They also have the wonderful habit of never checking the signature against the id (driver's license) which they used to do. Now they'll take anycard without checking. And Visa should have cut it off earlier when they saw the fraudulent charges being made. They waited too late. They called and said they noticed that it wasn't my pattern. Unfortunately, Macy's was the worst. (Guess who won't be shopping there anymore.)

The stores are so anxious for money they don't care whose card it is. They swipe it and without checking they give the purchaser the product.

I'm still waiting to have the bank take the charges off. Meanwhile they took half the money from my pension deposit and are still overdrafting me. Monday I go storming in,. And I'm still puzzling why I had to cancel my checking account. The thief didn't have my checks.

Still steaming in Alexandria. I'll be at the bank when the doors open.

A little sage advice:
I have been told more than once NEVER to sign the back of your credit card. INstead put "SEE ID" which will encourage the salesperson to ask for your picture ID.

A.C. Douglas wrote:

mogliettina wrote:A little sage advice:
I have been told more than once NEVER to sign the back of your credit card. INstead put "SEE ID" which will encourage the salesperson to ask for your picture ID.

Did you get that advice (which sounds very smart to me) from someone who understands fully the legal implications of doing that? I'm fairly certain doing that would render the credit card null and void for use when presented physically (as opposed to its use over the Net or the phone).

ACD

That advice was actually given to me by a salesperson who had seen that I didn't sign my name on the other side of my card. She told me it was the safer way to go. Since then, I have had two more salespeople simply smile and ask me for my picture ID. The rest (typically) don't even bother.
I think it is like refusing to give your SS# to just any people who ask for it. That advice has been around forever and a day now.

PS. Actually, now that I think about it, in this present society the credit card companies should be grateful for no signature on the back, requesting instead to see picture ID. Anyone can forge a signature. But I ain't got no beard, if ya catch my drift.

And Visa should have cut it off earlier when they saw the fraudulent charges being made. They waited too late. They called and said they noticed that it wasn't my pattern.

Ummm, it takes a few expenditures for a pattern to become discernible. It's very unlikely that they could tell anything from a single purchase: one point does not a pattern make. Even if it's from a store you've never patronized before: maybe, for example, you're buying a present for a friend or relative who asked for a gift from that store. I'm impressed that it only took 20 minutes of activity for VISA to note the suspiciousness of the spending.

The one exception to the pattern business: I've learned to warn my credit card company before I go on overseas travel, and to tell them the countries and dates of travel. I've heard of people who -- using the cards legitimately -- have had them shut down the first time they try to use them, overseas; and then it takes an international phone call to get the card reinstated.

On the other hand, there is no excuse whatsoever for a salesperson not to ask for ID, IMO, nor to treat a debit card as a credit card, not asking for the PIN (and/or ID).

I am wondering: We here a the Western Frontier part of the US have banks issuing credit cards with the photo of the cardholder. My Bank of America local branch office took a photo of me, and in one week I had in my hands two new Visa cards, one the regular size, the other the convenient small size and both with my smiling face!

Perfect ID!

pczipott wrote:

And Visa should have cut it off earlier when they saw the fraudulent charges being made. They waited too late. They called and said they noticed that it wasn't my pattern.

Ummm, it takes a few expenditures for a pattern to become discernible. It's very unlikely that they could tell anything from a single purchase: one point does not a pattern make. Even if it's from a store you've never patronized before: maybe, for example, you're buying a present for a friend or relative who asked for a gift from that store. I'm impressed that it only took 20 minutes of activity for VISA to note the suspiciousness of the spending.

The one exception to the pattern business: I've learned to warn my credit card company before I go on overseas travel, and to tell them the countries and dates of travel. I've heard of people who -- using the cards legitimately -- have had them shut down the first time they try to use them, overseas; and then it takes an international phone call to get the card reinstated.

On the other hand, there is no excuse whatsoever for a salesperson not to ask for ID, IMO, nor to treat a debit card as a credit card, not asking for the PIN (and/or ID).

Yes, I agree.
Several years ago, we learned that hard lesson. We were in the Caribbean and the restaurants and shops kept saying our card wouldn't "take." At first we just thought it was their system but by the third day we clearly started to get suspicious.
I had to call the States and speak to a person, practically screaming at him to "fix it!" I also complained about having to pay for the long distance call when it was their error and asked that they reimburse us for it. He said they could do no such thing.
I will make this story a short one: They paid for it!

Now we always make sure a week before to announce our unusual travel plans.
Once burnt...

When I got home and spoke to the person at Visa who had called me, I mentioned the fact that Visa should issue photo ids, such as you have on driver's id. Stores should be made to ask for id and check signatures but they don't and I don't know if telling the stores would do any good.

The only thing I can think of doing is writing to my congressmen to enact laws requiring merchants to ask for id and check signatures or risk being liable for fraudulent transactions.

I won't hold my breath, though. Stores will fight back and guess who will win: constituents or big business?

And my bank is still treating those fraudulent purchases as overdrafts, only allowing me half of my pension posted. God knows when they will remove those charges. I'm going in on Monday to do battle. Plus they made me change my bank account which was stupid since my checks weren't stolen and now I'm in a mess because of that. Not necessary since to cash a check you still need id.

I think I'll go and watch figure skating to lower my pressure.

And I'm thinking maybe it's a good idea to chop off hands of thieves. Murderous thoughts are filtering through my mind and it's not good. I know they will pass but I'm thinking Titus Anddronicus.

brian:

Just reread your comment about amazon and started laughing. I think my sense of humor disappeared with my wallet. If you have stock in amazon, it will be dropping since my loss of my card. No purchases.

Will they send me an e-mail saying "we miss you?"