I received an email this afternoon from Bank of America letting me know that I owed about $300 on my Visa card.
This is surprising, as the last purchase I made with it was in December (and that was an annual recurring billing thing which I failed to cancel a while back — it’s now moved to my primary card) and was completely zeroed out two days after that charge went through. The card is physically in my safe, so it would not be possible for it to have been physically stolen without my knowledge.
I checked my online statement to see what charges were made. Hmm, let’s see: five different charges for paid, premium Yahoo Mail accounts, three charges for Yahoo Personals, and three charges for a reunion website. The hell? I didn’t make any of those charges.
[several minutes pass as I call the bank]
All right, my credit card account has been closed and the charges have all been reversed. A new account has been created and a new card should be here in a few days. I don’t really care that much, as I rarely use the account (it’s strictly a backup/legacy account) for anything, preferring my USAA Rewards MasterCard.
The criminals must have somehow acquired my card information or generated it, as the card has been in my possession this entire time. Go figure.
Why can’t criminals be smart? The last time someone stole my credit card info (but not the card itself) it was my CapitalOne card, and they used it to buy $200 worth of gasoline. This one buys subscriptions to an email service some personals/reunion sites. If I were a thief (and I’m not, but I’m just speaking hypothetically)? I’d buy some good durable goods, maybe a new washer/dryer set, dishwasher, or maybe some gold. Definitely not something ethereal like a service (which can be cancelled at a moments notice) or consumable like gasoline.
See, if a thief manages to pull something off like a major diamond heist, I’m impressed. That takes some serious skill, planning, and effort to pull off. They’re still doing something illegal, but they’re good at it and I can respect that, even if I am strongly opposed to thievery. But simple credit card thieves? Stupid and annoying.
Folks, be sure to double-check your credit card statements and ensure that everything’s good.