{"id":333,"date":"2005-11-20T18:16:00","date_gmt":"2005-11-20T18:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/74.53.225.194\/~story1\/mdmproofing\/iym\/weblog\/?p=333"},"modified":"2010-04-10T00:48:57","modified_gmt":"2010-04-10T05:48:57","slug":"debit-card-danger-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mdmproofing.com\/iym\/weblog\/2005\/11\/debit-card-danger-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Debit Card Danger … Again!"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s a topic I’ve touched on several times: Debit cards have their uses, but high-dollar (“Death of a Debit Card”<\/a>) and online purchases (“Debit Card Peril”<\/a>) aren’t among them.<\/p>\n

This morning my wife received an email from one of her online acquaintances — I’ll call her Barbara. Barbara’s letter read like this:<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, I have become the latest victim of internet fraud. Even though I thought I was taking enough precautions to make online shopping safe — I use McAfee Firewall Protection, VirusScan, Ad-Aware, and ZoneAlarm to protect myself from viruses and hackers and made sure I was using “secure” sites — somehow the crooks still managed to steal my information.<\/p>\n

It happened this week when I purchased theater tickets from telecharge.com using my Visa CheckCard. I ordered the tickets on the 16th – total $353.50. Yesterday, I saw the purchase posted to my account, but I also noticed a pending transaction for the same amount on the same date for an “Oliver and Wildgoose,” a company I never heard of. After spending hours on the phone with the bank and with Telecharge, I discovered that Oliver and Wildgoose is the name of a liquor store in the Bahamas. <\/p>\n

I thought that since the transaction was listed as “pending,” I’d caught it in time to “stop payment,” like you can do with a check. It doesn’t work that way with a check card. “Pending” means the funds have already been extracted — they are just not officially posted to the account yet. So, the money is gone. Today I have to go to the bank to file claims, open a new account, order checks, etc. — I’ve been told it could be up to 90 days for the investigation to be processed. Hopefully, I will be able to recoup the $350. I also need to file a police report and put a fraud alert on my credit report in case this individual (who is evidently partying it up right now in the Bahamas) plans to steal my identity, too.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ain’t online life grand? I consider stories like this — and it isn’t the first debit-card disaster I’ve heard — just more ammunition to strafe away at Dave Ramsey’s admonitions that “All you need is a debit card.” Here’s a little tidbit from DaveRamsey.com<\/a>, in fact:<\/p>\n

If you “have to” use plastic, I suggest a debit card. I use them for travel and the occasional convenience of ordering something over the Internet or phone. Other than that, I use cash.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Knowing what I do, I’ll state here and now that preaching “debit card exclusivity” is stupid advice. It’s horribly naive, in my opinion, and laughably unrealistic.<\/p>\n

The last part of Barbara’s email also bears repeating here, I think:<\/p>\n

The lessons I’ve learned that I’m passing on:<\/p>\n

1. Don’t use a check card for any online purchases!!!<\/p>\n

2. Don’t use a check card anywhere where you can’t physically watch the salesperson swipe the card — restaurants and gas stations included.<\/p>\n

3. If you’re going to make an online purchase, find out if your credit card company offers a “disposable” number designed for one-time use. If you’re a Visa customer, sign up for Verified by Visa.<\/p>\n

4. Monitor your accounts closely (luckily I do) and keep all receipts in a safe place.<\/p>\n

5. Make sure you have up-to-date hacker protection!<\/p>\n

6. Find out the privacy policies and security measures of any online merchant you use. Know that even “secure” sites can be hacked.<\/p>\n

7. If you use a check card, find out what your bank’s policies are when it comes to filing fraud claims.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s a topic I’ve touched on several times: Debit cards have their uses, but high-dollar (“Death of a Debit Card”) and online purchases (“Debit Card Peril”) aren’t among them. This morning my wife received an email from one of her online acquaintances — I’ll call her Barbara. Barbara’s letter read like this: Unfortunately, I have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[11,14,13],"class_list":["post-333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-banking","tag-banking","tag-credit-cards","tag-debit-cards"],"yoast_head":"\nDebit Card Danger ... 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