Need advice. I think I got robbed today.

At the moment i'm trying to figure out if i'm being paranoid or too conspiritorial for my own good. Let me tell you what happened and maybe you can give some advice.

A few weeks back I was notified by my bank that my Visa card and debit card information was stolen along with the info of 40 million other people. They told me to watch for any odd activity on my account and offerred to replace the cards for free.

I wasn't that worried to tell the truth. I am not a rich man and even if they cleaned out my account they wouldn't get much. Sure, i'd have to dip into my 401K or something to stay on my feet till it got straightened out, but it wouldn's be that bad of a deal.

So today I was online and went over to my bank account and found something a bit odd. A pre-authorized debit from my account for one dollar. At first i figured it was a bank fee or some other small fee for a transaction I had made, then i realized, I do not allow ANY pre-authorized debits from my accounts.

I got to thinking about this, if you had the account information on 40 million people, would you clean out the accounts on all of them and raise all kinds of red flags? Or would you take one dollar from each, per month, and hope they didn't notice.

I think I got robbed today. The bastards stole one dollar from me.

Now, was this just a test robbery to see if they could access my account? Is it a monthly fee where they are going to take one dollar from 40 million people each month and hope it doesn't get noticed.

Or am I being paranoid?

Before i go screaming into my bank on Monday morning I would really love to hear what other people might think of this. I'd hate to rush in and make a fool of myself. (Like I usually do)

What kind of advice would you give in a situation like this?

Thank you my friends,

Wupy

It might be a test withdrawal, but I don't think you're being overly paranoid. Contact the Visa card company and explain.

BTW, your bank will reimburse you for this. But tonight, call Visa and Monday call the bank. Note the time of transaction and where it came from.

I'd just call the bank. And not scream. They'll be glad to help you figure out what/who initiated the charge.

Same goes for any credit card for that matter, if you sense something strange, call 'em up.

I did it just last month because now theres this silly "international transaction" charge on every foreign transaction made with a visa/mastercard. Pretty much all credit card companies just started doing it fairly recently. I saw the buck seventy-five "fee" and had no clue what it was about. Called them up, they told me, I complained, but its industry-wide now and there's not much I can do about it. I think theres one or two card issuers left that tout the fact that they DON'T charge this fee, I think I may pick up a card from one of them just for int'l purchases.

You can't go wrong bringing the bank into any funny business going on as early as possible. You say dipping into 401k wouldn't be that bad, but I think yeah, it would suck. You gotta pay that back.

Best to nip any financial monkeyshines in the bud, before they trash your credit.

I just found it odd that one dollar is now pre-authorized to be withdrawn from my account. I think thats what set off the alarms.

I'll be walking into my bank first thing Monday morning. This is one of those things that sick days were created for. (cough,cough)

Wupy

Actually, I would bet that even if you went in screaming, they would still help you. Unfortunately, I did this: I authorized a direct debit and a few weeks later when it appeared on my account, I called up the bank in a fit. They looked into it and told me that I authorized the debit and provided detailed information. Of course it was then that I remembered it and appologized profusely. But I have to give credit to the bank. They did everything to help me out (but they did let me know that they were right and I was wrong).

Originally posted by mrwupy
I just found it odd that one dollar is now pre-authorized to be withdrawn from my account. I think thats what set off the alarms.

I'll be walking into my bank first thing Monday morning. This is one of those things that sick days were created for. (cough,cough)

Wupy

i ran across this too. i'll explain what my bank told me. i had ordered something from eddie bauer and the next day i saw a 1.00 chrg on my account.........and so i called.

the bank explained that on my debit card when i place orders the company that i order an item from will routinely place a 1.00 "hold" on my account and then they will bill the entire amt later in the day.

don't ASK me the significance of this............but that is what i was told by my bank. i ck my balance continually and have seen this happen just about any time i place an order either via telephone or i-net.


angie

Hey Mr. Wupy... save your sick days for what they were really intended for... going to the beach! Just call your bank!

Also, many companies traditionally put a $1.00 authorization through on your card. Usually they are companies that you RENT something from, such as if you just joined Blockbuster Video, rented from a tool rental place, Rent-a-Center, used your card to hold a confirmation for a rent-a-car or hotel room, etc. However, those charges are traditionally called a "pre-authorization", not a "pre authorized debit".

Sorry I did not look at the date of your post before replying... so what happened? What did the bank say?!

Yes be careful that it isn;t something legit, but it does no harm in checking.
Some guy did this years and years back, he took a dollar or pound or something from every account he had access too after hacking a bank's computer, I think he got away with it!

Back then don't forget there was no internet and people only got their monthly statements, no-one even really noticed or worried about the pound.

These days you would think that the main computer would flag that kind of activity, but who knows!

Don't forget 40,000,000 x £1 = £40,000,000 !!!

Originally posted by AgentSmith
Yes be careful that it isn;t something legit, but it does no harm in checking.
Some guy did this years and years back, he took a dollar or pound or something from every account he had access too after hacking a bank's computer, I think he got away with it!

I think that was in Superman III - didn't Lex Luther recruit him or something?

Did you state that you are going to walk into your bank? I am confused. They still have brick and mortar bank buildings with customer service reps? Wow

OK, heres what happened. It was saturday evening when i noticed the strange debit and couldn't do anything about it till Monday. Since it was still pending i decided to let it go thru on monday and then find out what it was for. I checked Monday morning and it was still pending so I went to work and decided i'd go by the bank after work to take care of it.

Just before I got off work I went online and checked my account again, to see who initiated the debit, and it was gone. There was no record of it having ever even been levied against my account.

I'm still going to change all my info, i'm just no longer in a panic about it. First I have to stop having my paycheck directly deposited. Then I have to make sure I have no checks out. Then I can close the account and open a new one. I'll also cancel my credit and debit cards at the same time and apply for new ones.

It was an odd thing that happened. I have no idea why it showed up or why it suddenly went away. I'm not going to take chances though, i'm going to change my financial arrangements while I can.

Thanks for the help everyone.

Wupy

Okay, here is likely what happened. You stop for gas and use your card outside. Those machines sometimes check before hand that the card is good before letting you pump gas they do this by putting in a preliminary charge of $1.00 that will not actually be charged to your card. You then pump your gas. The card will show the preliminary charge for a couple days until the real charge is passed through the system, that preliminary charge will be removed and the actual charge shows up.

This is only one of the scenarios where a $1.00 charge will show up and disappear on your card. Others would be websites that look for evidence of your age by validating Credit Cards, they too will put through a test charge for $1.00 to make sure the card is valid, but they never submit the charge for payment so after a few days the charge will disappear entirely.

There are many ways that a $1.00 charge will show up on your card and then disappear that are legal.

Okay, let me ask something. Are your Visa and debit card one of the same? I ask because my Wells Fargo card serves both purposes. Second, I don' t think it's possible to get pre-approval on a debit purchase. Even at the local gas pump, I have to enter a PIN to get the gas flowing.

It sounds to me like the bank is stacking one more charge on top of all its others, and you caught it. Call the bank, be nice about it, and ask what's going on.

Now, getting robbed at knife-point...and losing your Visa AND Social Security Card...THAT'S scary

identity theft is so out of control that most credit card issuers will simply remove charges under a certain amount. Internet transactions are so often at issue that the same thing holds true. I bought something from an online vendor and cancelled it later in the day via a phone call (the delivery date they gave me was not good). The person I spoke with said no problem. They shipped the package anyway. They told me not to worry, that the package needed a signature or it would be returned. Nope, UPS left it on the doorstep and it was stolen. I called Visa. they knocked the $50 or so bucks off the bill.

Oddly enough, the vendor also refunded my money. so I made out with a profit.

nobody asks questions with the smaller charges, they simply give you the benefit of the doubt.

I've noticed that this happens when I pay for gas with my credit card. Might want to check into to that.

[edit on 29-7-2005 by Racer5]

I still don't understand why you don't just ask your bank what it was for. They will tell you. And then this will not be a big mystery.