Using credit cards and debit cards is quite convenient, but it brings out the scammers too. I’ve come across three incidents, I’m sure there are many more, but I want to share these three with you today.
Scam #1
This involves lockers at a gym or some type of facility where you leave your clothes in a locker.
The one I heard about took place in a health club locker room. The guy had been going there for years without incident. This particular day was no different. After his workout he took a shower, went back to his locker, clothed up, checked his wallet and took off.
A few weeks later he got a bill from his visa company for $9,000.00. Since he didn’t use his credit card for that period of time, he didn’t know what happened. What did happen was someone got into his gym locker, took his credit card and replaced it with a dummy credit card. When he got the bill he looked in his wallet and saw the dummy card. Because he didn’t report the stolen card earlier, he is on the hook for the nine grand.
Chances are once he fills out the fraud paperwork, he will be off the hook for most of the charges.
Scam #2
This involves a cafe, a crooked cashier and a shifty waitress.
As we all do, after enjoying a nice meal at dinner time, the lady took out her credit card and gave it to the waitress. When the waitress returned with the check, the lady noticed that the credit card was not hers.
The waitress quickly apologized and returned to the cashier. The customer took note that the cashier didn’t even look at the erroneous card an just swapped it for the correct card without looking. The cashier obviously in on it, the customer observed the cashier taking a card from under the counter and giving to the waitress. This seems a little dumber scam than the first one was.
Scam #3
This had a similar setup, it took place at a restaurant too. After dinner the customer gave her credit card to the waiter. He went over to the visa machine to run the dinner charges. He had his back turned, but the lady could still see part of what he was doing. As the visa machine was doing its checking, the customer thought it odd that the waiter pulled out his cell phone.
She could see just enough to know that he wasn’t talking to anyone, what she suspected was that he was talking a picture of her credit card. Knowing this, she set up an alert with the card company which would send her an email when anything was charged on her card. She also monitored her account much closer in the weeks to come. The article did not state, if anything, happened after that.
Side Note:
I recently had my checking account attacked. Someone(s) made a really bad copy of my check and made three purchases using a false drivers license and these fraudulent checks.
It totaled about $600.00 and I caught it right away, but it still hit my account. The bank (B of A) could clearly see what happened and within 10 days all the money was deposited back into my account. The hassle is filing the police reports and the fraud reports with the companies who took the checks. It’s a pain in the butt.
Something like this you really have no defense against unless your checking account doesn’t have enough money to cover the fraudulent activity.
One might say these are dumb scams, either way it’s something we must be aware of and know what to do if it happens to you.
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