Strange charges on my debit card!!

[Sparky2]

Please keep us posted with your results. Hope everything gets resolved pronto.

[otisishere]

The first time we traveled to Mexico a few years ago, we used an ATM from an unknown bank and when we got home they had taken everything out of my account. The bank made good for it but it was very scary. The banks usually have a separate number for you to call any hour should you have issues with your card. Whenever we travel to Mexico or anywhere we always make sure we use a known bank ATM. When in Mexico, Scotia and Santander banks are reputable and are the only banks we use now. In one year my account was compromised twice. We now call my bank when traveling out of the country to alert them. Good luck.

[LMaxwell]

OP, hope you get it sorted out. Debit = your money on the line. Bank may or may not make it right. Get credit card for travel; safest method, you are totally protected from fraud. If you don't qualify for an unsecured card, get a secured card. Next best is cash. Debit should be considered as last resort back up to obtain more cash. I hope this headache gets dealt with in your favor promptly.

[sarafinadh]

One more reason we ONLY deal in cash when travelling. :(

 

I hope you can get it resolved quickly.

 

This can happen when you shop in your own town...

[sarafinadh]

Explain money missing from their accounts to people who have not travelled. Just a few months ago My SS check never made it to my checking account. Someone set up an online account diverting the check to them.

Dealing with cash is indeed safer, but still no guarantee one's account will not be tampered with at home.

 

Until your house burns down with your savings account in the mattress... Of you loose your wallet, or your purse is stolen.

 

There really is NO way of loss proofing your self. If you loose cash, at home or traveling you are sol. it's gone.

 

At least if it's thru a financial institution you are going to get it back.

 

Thinking cash is king is not thinking clearly.

[MCC retired]

$400 plus $4.00 fee sounds like an ATM for sure.

$400 may be the daily limit so more may follow until your acct is empty.

Hope OP acted immediately with the bank .

I had that happen once , $400 a day until the savings acct was empty , then it started on the Savings acct which was linked for overdraft protection :eek:.

 

Suntrust , my bank was wonderful in restoring my $$ .

 

I no longer link checking & savings acct's . Learned a lesson.

[JUGGER]

i balanced my acct today. Everything balanced. A few minutes ago i went on to see if my paycheck was deposited & there are 2 charges dated 1-3-14 informato atm cancun. One is $4. And one is over $400!!!! I was in cozumel on dec 6 but didnt use my debit card. I'll be calling my financial institution asap but why do i have to find these errors at nite when i cant fix them??? And we leave next saturday for another cruise!! Anyone else have similar issues??

 

 

 

Sent from my iphone using tapatalk

hi----sorry for your loss--but that is why we never--never use a debit card------with all the scams about-----think about it---hope you can recoup-----you may be stuck------learn the hard way----irene and john----58 cruises on carnival

[2 cruzen]

And THIS is the exact reason I DO NOT use my debit card attached to my checking account. I have a pre paid AMEX that I got at WalMart. It acts just like a debit/credit card but only has the money I put on it for use. Once the money is gone, nothing else can be applied. I use it exclusively for travel. I put money on at Walmart or I can buy a Green Dot card to add funds.

 

Good idea

[DTC]

Well to satisfy all the speculation.... I did try to contact someone last night to no avail. Bank is not a giant but rather local. Anyway i went into the branch this morning. They cancelled my debit card & said i'd get a replacement in a few days. As they looked into my account they could see someone was still trying to get more $$ from my acct. Which is good......let me finish.....policy with atm fraud claims is a review of the video tape. To verify you werent really taking your own money. Which requires a $200 deposit. But because it was currently happening & i was sitting right in front of them i didnt have to pay that.

 

I was told i'd have my $470 back into my acct by Wednesday. Mgr told me to enjoy my upcoming trip...told her I'd see her next Friday as i would be coming in for cash! LESSON LEARNED!!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DTC]

Going back & reading everyones experiences... It disgusts me to know that there are such horrible people out there who do these illegal transactions.

 

A few months back i had a "payroll" service (yea right) give me $40 then take it back and proceed to take $1000 after that. I did get the money back that day, but you really have to monitor your acct everyday!!! I had just balanced to the penny yesterday so i knew something didnt look right.

 

How much $$ do these scammers get that people dont catch??? Scary to think.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[LMaxwell]

Glad your bank has your back, but get a credit card if you don't have one. If you pay in full every statement you pay no interest (and may get cash back or other perks). Credit card = banks money. You're never liable for fraud and you may get other benefits like trip insurance, luggage insurance, rental car insurance, and price match insurance. Always good to have as a back up for "Oh ****!" situations too where you can charge big ticket purchases in an emegency. Cash is safer than a debit card, but if you lose your cash you are in a bad situation too. Have a great trip coming up.

[DTC]

For sure. I do have a credit card. We travel two times a year and have never had an issue. Maybe we were lucky. Just figured we had the cash. Oh well. Like i said lesson learned.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Sparky2]

Glad to hear there is a happy ending. Enjoy your upcoming cruise.

[cruisinsly]

Just noticed that you already have this taken care of. Glad your bank was able to have it fixed so quickly for you. Have fun on your upcoming trip.

Edited January 3, 2014 by cruisinsly

[luddite]

Never, ever use a debit card for this.

[YeahBaby!]

After a trip to the "happiest place on earth" (Walt Disney World) in October 2013, our bank alerted us to fraudulent activity on our credit card and immediately cancelled the card. Thank goodness!

 

I would NEVER EVER use a debit card on a trip or vacation. I'm pretty particular where I use my debit card around town where I live. But really, it can happen just about anywhere, even at banks!

 

Glad everything turned out good for you.

[moesyk4]

OP, hope you get it sorted out. Debit = your money on the line. Bank may or may not make it right. Get credit card for travel; safest method, you are totally protected from fraud. If you don't qualify for an unsecured card, get a secured card. Next best is cash. Debit should be considered as last resort back up to obtain more cash. I hope this headache gets dealt with in your favor promptly.

 

I worked for a bank and that's not true. Banks don't just say "Sorry about you, it's your money, deal with it." They operate under the same guidelines. Generally, we would refund the money immediately once the claim was filed, by law there was a certain amount of time they would have to investigate (I think 30 days), and as long as the claim was valid, all your money would be returned. They can't just "steal" your money!

[TruckinMama]

This can happen when you shop in your own town...

 

Yes it can, but then I can deal with it in person myself. I'm not going to have it happen on vacation, ever, because I won't use a debit card when travelling. My son and DIL both work for a bank, I'm very aware of how often this happens when people are travelling.

[happybooker1]

And glad you got it resolved quickly. However, I use my CC for literally EVERYTHING to rack up airline points. All my bills are paid through my CC, meals out, groceries, trips through the fast food restaurants, ANYTHING purchased online, Starbucks, gas, etc., etc. When on our recent cruise I called the bank & they made a note on my account whom I was cruising with & what ports we'd be stopping at. And I didn't (and haven't to date) had any problems.

 

I've done this for at LEAST 9 years. I hardly have more than $20 in my wallet at one time & that will last me 5-7 days.

 

I've lost my card twice (my fault both times) and several years ago there was a big CC compromise of Ross stores & the CC of EVERYONE was cancelled & re-issued. Maybe I've just been very lucky, and I know ppl steal the numbers and charge stuff up, but I don't think you need to go to the extremes and not use credit/debit cards or only stick with cash.

 

(Now watch. My bank account will be compromised tomorrow!)

[nascargalinfla]

My daughter tried to use her card at CVS last weekend, it didn't go through. Tried again at work to test it as she knew she had money, still wouldn't go through. Called the bank "wachovia" and was told that they had cancelled her card and mailing her a new one. She was caught in the Target fiasco. While she was using her card here in FL someone else the same day was making charges in MI. Glad they caught it, she received her new card today but said she will be using cash most of the time for now on. She is 22 and learning the hard way.

[LMaxwell]

I worked for a bank and that's not true. Banks don't just say "Sorry about you, it's your money, deal with it." They operate under the same guidelines. Generally, we would refund the money immediately once the claim was filed, by law there was a certain amount of time they would have to investigate (I think 30 days), and as long as the claim was valid, all your money would be returned. They can't just "steal" your money!

Some banks do say that. What your bank may or may not due is not what others may do. Plenty of people have had their accounts drained and the source was not able to be traced and they were left holding the bag. The bottomline is that a credit card protects all of my money, it is never exposed, it can't be frozen, stolen, or compromised. It is the banks problem, not my problem. I'm not going to be in a foreign place unable to withdraw money from a bank because someone cloned my credit card; a very real possibility with a debit card.

 

Debit cards are devices not intended as a savvy financial tool; they exist to generate fees for banks in the forms of ATM fees, minimum checking balance fees, overdraft fees. They are a product; the banks give them for free not for your convenience, but so that people spend without seeing the cash, hoping to fee to death those that make even the slightest mistake. It's the last form of payment I consider and there's no valid reason a bank or anyone else could give me to use a debit card instead of a credit card.

[Crusin6]

Some banks do say that. What your bank may or may not due is not what others may do. Plenty of people have had their accounts drained and the source was not able to be traced and they were left holding the bag. The bottomline is that a credit card protects all of my money, it is never exposed, it can't be frozen, stolen, or compromised. It is the banks problem, not my problem. I'm not going to be in a foreign place unable to withdraw money from a bank because someone cloned my credit card; a very real possibility with a debit card.

 

Debit cards are devices not intended as a savvy financial tool; they exist to generate fees for banks in the forms of ATM fees, minimum checking balance fees, overdraft fees. They are a product; the banks give them for free not for your convenience, but so that people spend without seeing the cash, hoping to fee to death those that make even the slightest mistake. It's the last form of payment I consider and there's no valid reason a bank or anyone else could give me to use a debit card instead of a credit card.

 

The only use for a debit card is to grab some quick cash at the secure bank ATM. And only then as a backup if the bank is closed. It is quite simple to get money from a human teller and they still exist

 

Every penny I spend goes on a credit card which I check online daily. If I have 50 bucks on me it is only because I need it to dole out to the kids

 

I pay everything on time via online bill pay that I set up to make weekly payments to my regular use cards just so I am never in arrears nor pay any interest. I save loads if money on stamps as well not to mention all the cash back points I get that I use for vacations.

 

I am not old school and embrace technology as you can see by my online bill paying. I just do not ever give anyone direct access to my checking account. Which is what you are doing when using a debit card.

 

Oh and I never use my regular checking account for travel. I have one set up just for travel that is funded as such and the ATM card for that account is linked only to that account and not a savings as well. The ATM card is only used in an emergency while traveling otherwise it is credit card and if course I carry sufficient cash securely when traveling as well. To not have emergency cash of a few hundred bucks is just insane IMHO

 

Yep I've been cloned hacked etc while in Italy but it wasn't a trip destroyer because of my emergency cash credit cards and of course a secondary back up travel only account with an ATM card attached. So yes I have 2 travel accounts with ATM access. And 2 travel only credit cards.

 

You only need to set them up once and then just use for travel. It is no big deal. I learned a long time ago to separate monthly use accounts from travel only accounts.

Edited January 4, 2014 by Crusin6

[DTC]

I did figure out how my numbers were stolen. The victory docked at the International pier instead of the usual Puerto Maya. I was going to get cash on the ship but while others were shopping i noticed an atm. The fees were insane so i canceled the transaction. There must have been a card reader on the atm machine. And coincidence or not?? my husband remembers a man sitting on a bench right next to the atm. Just passing this on to future cruisers. International Pier right next to jewelry store i believe was diamonds int'l. Don't use that ATM. And im assuming my #'s werent the only ones they got.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Sue Do-Over]

Report it immediately. You can follow up with your preferred bank contact on Monday, but should shut down the card right away.

 

When fraud is reported, the bank's data analysis tools activate, and look for patterns. Your quick report can help stop the fraud at the source, saving others from being hacked.

 

I worked in fraud investigation -- irregular patterns, 'test' withdrawals (a small amount followed by a larger amount), several high-dollar purchases within a short time, purchases within a short time at far-apart locations, all kinds of patterns alert the fraud detection system.

 

If you wait until Monday, your bank will probably take care of you... but why let the bad guys get away with it any longer? Save the bank money, potentially save other customers... no reason to wait.