Saturday morning at 8:26a.m. my cell rings. I don't answer it because I'm still in bed half asleep. It's Saturday. Come on! I don't even check to see who is calling me. I start to think it's probably a politician and figure that when I'm awake enough I will add them to my blocked list, or go online and figure out how to stop their calls.
Anyway, back to sleep.
At 8:45 I finally decide to listen to the voicemail. It's someone from the fraud center at my bank wanting me to contact them to confirm some strange transactions that had been made on my debit card, which they believe maybe stolen. Until I call them my card is being shut off to protect me.
At 8:52 I dial the number... and get it wrong. Frustrated, I try again... and get it wrong again. Sigh. Finally I get it right. If ever you have to call customer service do it at 8:52a.m. on a Saturday. I only had to wait a few minutes to get through to someone.
They stated I needed to confirm or deny several purchases that had been made with my card that morning.
"Did you place a purchase with an escort service?"
"Um.. NO!"
"Did you place a purchase for glassware in Massachusetts?"
"No."
"Did you place a purchase for $720 on Walmart.com?"
"No!"
The lady on the other line said my card was going to be shut off. She would contact my bank to issue me a new card and then send me paperwork so I wouldn't be liable for the above mentioned purchases. Thankfully I have identity theft protection through my bank, so this should all be cleared up at no cost to me.
However the timing couldn't be more strange. I have barely used my debit card recently, using mainly cash and a new American Express credit card that we got for the reward points. We also seem to be in the middle of a series of unfortunate events when it comes to our finances, which you will have to wait until tomorrow to hear all about.
I can't help but think this all stems back to my post on Trusting Him Without Borders because at least six financial surprises have happened since then, as though God is trying to test my trust in Him by getting me to put my money where my mouth is—no pun intended. Although money woes are not fun, I'm trying to choose to trust the Lord in the midst of it.
Have you or someone you know ever been the victim of credit or debit card fraud? How was your experience and what did you learn from it? Share your thoughts below!
Keep pinchin' :-)
God's not the one trying to trip you up darlin...you've stepped out in a big way for Him.....and you have angered the enemy of your soul who would LOVE to try to make people believe that you're fake. So he is setting you up to fail. Keep fighting the good fight! {{hug}}
ReplyDeleteI guess it's more of Him allowing, which means He is using it. Makes me think of Job and how God allowed Satan to test him, for God's greater purpose.
DeleteThis happened to me when flying back from Indy on time. After getting home I had a $500 charge on my debit card that I didn't make. The bank was very helpful, the cancelled my card, ordered me a new one, made sure all my in coming debits were not returned for insufficient funds (I had just paid a bunch of bills) and did the research they needed to do to find out if they could recoup their money. Not sure that they ever did but my $500 was given back to me. What I learned was to be super careful in using my debit card while traveling; even though I run it as credit now always, I am more incline to use cash or a cc card when traveling so not to have that all happen with my account again!
ReplyDeleteGlad it all worked out ok for you, and that they did ask the work. I'm thinking mine was stolen online, so maybe I will just use our credit card online from now on!
DeleteI had a fraud center call me yesterday. Thankfully the purchase was mine (I was trying to buy a computer online) and not a theft. I was upset at first because my transaction kept getting denied, but then I realized I need to be grateful that this kind of thing exists to keep my money safe.
ReplyDeleteIt can be an inconvenience, but I would definitely rather have that than stolen money! Happy for you that it was just your purchase and not someone else's!
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