My Photo

Action

  • Your Whole Pet
    My pet column for the San Francisco Chronicle on SFGate.com

  • Follow Me on Pinterest

Twitter Updates

    follow me on Twitter

    Other Places I Blog

    • AfterElton.com
      I blog there mostly about movies, actors, and TV shows, but sometimes I sneak in some politics.
    • AfterEllen.com
      I don't blog here as frequently as at their brother site, AfterElton.com, but they let my inner Warrior Princess run free now and then when I have news to report about Lucy Lawless, Renee O'Connor, or Xena: Warrior Princess.

    • www.flickr.com
      christiekeith's items Go to christiekeith's photostream

    BlogRoll

    • YesBiscuit!
      Powerful advocacy blogging for sheltered pets and against bad sheltering practices.
    • Vox Felina
      Feral/free-roaming cats and trap-neuter-return/TNR: critiquing the opposition with science, facts, and evidence.
    • PetsitUSA Blog
      The best place to get breaking pet food recall news from the relentless Therese Kopiwoda.
    • KC DOG BLOG
      Great no-kill coverage, interesting commentary, and news no one else has.
    • BAD RAP
      From the pit bull wars.
    • Food Politics
      Food safety and nutrition scientist and reformer Marion Nestle's blog. Required reading for anyone who, you know, eats stuff.
    • AMERICAblog
      I keep getting fed up with some of the more testosterone-drenched political blogs, and have to stop reading them for a while. And yet I never stop reading this one.
    • Pam's House Blend
      I never miss reading the Blend. Fantastic LGBT plus mainstream politics in the perfect mix for my interests.
    • What Do I Know?
      This is the longest-running blog on my blogroll -- written by ex-pat Kathy Flake, commentary on politics and stories about her dog.

    « More veterinary drug alerts from FDA | Main | Spay/neuter in shelters: Does raising the bar mean raising the cost? »

    09 July 2008

    Comments

    Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

    Red

    Okay, that's beyond weird. If you don't have it on your computer (google's auto-fill function) anywhere, my guess is that someone, somewhere copied your card number. I was watching something last week about this on one of those Most Daring Idiots or whatever. One way of doing it is to swipe your card through the reader placing a post-it sticky over the numbers, leaving the imprint. Or placing the sticky over the stripe, then, when it doesn't read, putting it in manually. There's all kinds of messed up stuff that people can do right in front of your face. I've noticed now that most places will swipe your card in unobstructed view of you, then place your card on top of the machine. I prefer this, it keeps the cashier honest and makes me feel better. Maybe when you use your card, any card, in the future, insist that they keep the card in plain view of you. Oh, and a friend told me to sign my card with a Sharpie, and write on it, "check ID." Works most of the time, and sometimes, I prompt them.

    Cheryl

    1. call your bank and make sure they put an alert on your accounts. 2. go to the credit bureau sites and put a fraud alert on your credit report. Both of these will make it harder for anyone to use your info and also keep them from opening any accounts with your credit. Your bank should have a department that can help you through the identity theft morass - I know Wells Fargo does.
    3. The weird thing is the paypal and the cards both being hit. Start thinking what ties the three together. Also, didn't you recently get a new computer - what did you do with the old one? Are you sure that info wasn't saved somewhere on that old machine?

    Christie

    Thanks Cheryl! I will put the fraud alerts on, I didn't know about that!

    I kept my old computer. It's right here. So that's not it. Plus the first incident happened before I got the new one.

    I agree, the PayPal incident makes this a different story. It's quite disturbing. ;/

    Moira

    Make a police report! Also check your Homeowner's insurance policy as many now include Identity Fraud protection. They don't cover loss by fraud as a rule, but do reimburse for the expenses needed to restore your good name and protect your accounts.

    KathyF

    Our credit card got scanned soon after we moved to London, at a restaurant. They took it away for a few minutes to swipe it, and then within an hour someone had charged $3000 at an online gambling site. Our bank ate the charges.

    Recently our cards were stolen, we cancelled them, and soon after I got my credit cards, they wouldn't work. I found out our bank had put an alert on my debit card. After receiving my card I'd immediately donated to Obama, and to a charity, then used the card here. They were concerned that I was spending money on two continents on the same day!

    Anyway, just shows what a good bank will do. I have no idea what's happened to you. I'd get all new cards (after first assuring you have enough money to get you through until new ones arrive!) and start over.

    Jon

    Your computer probably has a virus, such as a keylogger that tracks every letter you type on your keyboard. That's how they got your credit card AND password information. Go get your computer checked out asap.

    Well, this might not be your case but sometimes, if the scammer has your social security number, your birthdate, your other important details, changing cards is of no use.

    Brian

    The same PayPal thing just happened to my wife's card, which is not associated with any PayPal account. To comfort you, they never did log into your PayPal account. Just someone got your credit card number (by some means) and used PayPal as their credit card processor. You don't have to have a PayPal account for a PayPal charge to show up on your statement. Some scammer just thought it would be better to get cash from a stolen credit card number than try to buy something with it.

    Verify your Comment

    Previewing your Comment

    This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.

    Working...
    Your comment could not be posted. Error type:
    Your comment has been saved. Comments are moderated and will not appear until approved by the author. Post another comment

    The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.

    As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.

    Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.

    Working...

    Post a comment

    Comments are moderated, and will not appear until the author has approved them.

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner