This is the second time this has happened to me. What shocks me is that the company didn't think it necessary to contact me for weeks. Unfortunately, this is the same credit card on which I charged my airline tickets. Fortunately, those charges seem to have gone through with no problem.
I have a second card with the same company. When I call them this afternoon to straighten it all out (I kill the card instantly), I decide to have the customer service rep check the second card.
"There are some charges that we have questions about." Shit. "They're from February..." February? Fuuuuuuuuuck, dude. Could you have notified me just a little SOONER?!?!
Turns out those charges are valid, after all. My second card is solid.
I decide that I should probably check my bank credit card, too, since it was my bank ATM/debit card that had some fraudulent action on it when I cut it up a year or two ago. (I never replaced the ATM/debit card.) I call the bank service number and am stuck on hold, and stuck, and stuck, and stuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
Turns out that credit card is solid, too.
But, here's what surprises the shit out of me: I. Am. Poor. POOR. Poor, people. I don't own a flaming THING, not even my car, and my bank account is really, really, really tiny. If you're going to hack someone's credit card and you don't want to be caught right away, you should probably hit someone who holds a giant balance. Between the credit cards I own (and occasionally use), including store-based credit cards, I carry a plastic-based debt of maybe $2,000. Maybe. That's across the board.
Of COURSE I'm going to notice (as will my credit card company) if someone starts wracking up a balance. I rarely carry any balance. What I do carry is cash. I deal exclusively in cash for my daily and weekly needs: groceries, gasoline, wine... Every bill I pay is done using a check. I very rarely use the internet for anything credit-card related, and I will do so even less now.
To you cyber-thieves, I guess I should apologize. I mean, NICE TRY, for real ... again, anyway. I'm sorry I am poor and broke and owe so much student and parent loan debt that you honestly are hacking up the wrong card. I'll work harder on that whole "make more money" crap so we can both enjoy a better lifestyle.
