Did you contact your bank? It could have been the bank's error.

First thing you need to do when you see something like this is to call your bank!

Definitely call your bank. Could have been an honest error, but to be on the safe side, I'd cancel the account and get a new one. You can't be too careful with your identity.

Yes, I did cancel my card and my bank told me the porn company must've gotten my information somehow.

I'm getting the sense, and now that I think about it, most likely it was the bank my debit card is at. They must've screwed up the transaction and charged me instead of another customer. Now that I think about it, banks normally do daily money balancing routines and it probably brought up a problem, which they found and credited me the next day. I doubt a porn company is that quick on their books, and have enough honesty that realizing they successfully charged the wrong card would actually give the person their money back. It had to be the bank messed up. Thanks all.

Actually, this could have been a way for a scammer to see if your card IS valid. They charge, then reverse to make you think it was a mistake without cancelling the card. Then WHAMMO! They ding your card big time. I would definitely take this seriously and just carry on with closing that card and getting a replacement. You can't be too careful with the ID theft threat.

One time our credit union called and said that they were going to cancel our card and reissue a new one because there was a 1 cent charge posted to our account. That was a red flag for someone who did not have nice things planned for our credit card account -- at least from our standpoint. We were grateful that they were watching.

My husband checks our credit card account everyday. One time he called and asked if I had charged $2000+ to a computer store. (He knew the answer was no!). So, we called the Credit Union and told them it wasn't our charge, then we got the name and phone number of the store. Fortunately for them, they had not shipped out the computer. The call to order the computer had come from an address in Atlanta, and was to be shipped to somewhere in Washington. We have no idea where the people got our number. They said that they have at least one fraudulant charge every week. I was shocked.

Way back in the olden days of dialup, I had my service fees automatically charged to my credit card. One month, I found a charge for a porn subscription. So I called, and had it taken off, yadda yadda. I complained to the ISP, but they swore their network was secure. Did I have a teenager in the house? Maybe I clicked something accidentally (I think I'd have noticed).

The bank said I should report it to the police. I tried this, but the officer, after finding out that there was a male in the house, tried to gently inform me about the nature of men and porn. In spite of my protestations that the male in question swore he didn't do it, and moreover what kind of loony would buy porn using the WIFE'S credit card, they wouldn't file a report.

This happened a couple of times, until I got annoyed and terminated the auto-pay feature at my ISP. Coincidentally, the CC company switched my card from visa to mc, so I got a new number.

It never happened again. Coincidence? Hubby suddenly wised up? I don't think so. I haven't kept a cc on file at an ISP since.

You did the right thing. My DH had his identity stolen recently and used to open fraudulent accounts as well as using existing accounts. I urge you to contact one of the three credit bureaus and have a 90 day fraud alert put on your account. That way if someone attempts to access your information to open new accounts, etc. then it will be more difficult for them. It is free and automatically expires after 90 days but could save you a world of trouble in the mean time. We have also now signed up for the 9.95 month credit monitoring which I used to scoff at as a waste but if we had used it when all this happened then we would have known immediately that someone was doing this and taken steps to prevent. Now the bills and paperwork continue to pile up from this 30 day crime spree..13000 dollars and counting...

I had the same problem with streamray inc, somehow my bank caught it, called me and canceled my card.

Unless you plan to be buying a home or car, etc. soon you can put a freeze on your credit information at all three of the credit report companies. If, later, you do want to permit a company to see your report it only takes a couple of days to 'un-freeze'. This is free; no need to pay for 'monitoring'.

I recently had two fraudulent charges on my credit card - one was $5 to a charity, and the other was some company called "Airtel" for $214. My company reversed the charges but I had to insist they close the account and send me a new card with a new number. Now, no one ever used the card but me, and even my hubby didn't have my number so I think some of the scammers pick random #'s just to see if one "hits." I am paranoid now to even order items on secure internet sites!

"Way back in the olden days of dialup, I had my service fees automatically charged to my credit card. One month, I found a charge for a porn subscription. So I called, and had it taken off, yadda yadda. I complained to the ISP, but they swore their network was secure."

Same thing happened to me. I was using a brand new card to pay my ISP. Never used it for anything else. One month, I had a charge for Direct TV (I have cable), the next, I had a charge for a new cell phone (already have one). My ISP denied any responsibility so I stopped autopay and now use a virtual credit card to pay any online bills.

I look forward to the day when citizens in ALL states are allowed to freeze their credit files. The three credit bureaus make their money by legally gathering important information about us without our permission and selling it to other people who need that information. Unfortunately, sometimes that information is supplied to felons who might use it to do us great harm by identity theft. It seems that the credit bureaus do this with no fear of liability. Now the credit bureaus are telling us that if we pay them some amount of money, they will stop selling information about us. How is this different from a protection racket?

Hmmm, this is interesting to me b/c I just had this happen. I got my bank statement and had a charge for $9.87 on it that I did not make... It was a POS (point of sale) debit, so my debit card had obviously been used. I immediately called my bank & they didn't seem too concerned. So, I noticed that the charge was from a website, pictureglobus.com, so I went to the website and emailed them. All I mentioned in the email was the amount & that I had contacted my bank. In less than 5 minutes I received an email back from this website saying my $ would be refunded and they were sorry for the incorrect charge, but that someone must've gotten hold of my card #. I found this odd, b/c I didn't give them any info. except my name & the amount & they were so eager to refund my $.

Well, I told my bank that I was supposed to be getting a refund, but I had to wait til Mon. to see if it would actually go through (of course, this happened on a Friday). Sure enough, my $ is now back in my account which is good, but I'm still confused.

I was going to just blow it off as an honest mistake on someone's part, but after reading about scammers "hitting" on a card # that works, I'm becoming more & more afraid that someone will drain my account! I'm going to my bank tomorrow and will insist on having my debit card cancelled and getting on a new one.

I hate how you can't trust anybody or anything now days!

mc_hudd wrote: "I was going to just blow it off as an honest mistake on someone's part, but after reading about scammers "hitting" on a card # that works, I'm becoming more & more afraid that someone will drain my account! I'm going to my bank tomorrow and will insist on having my debit card cancelled and getting on a new one."

Good idea to change your account no., since there are websites where one can buy stolen debit card info. If your account has been compromised once, there is a chance it can happen again. Especially if you don't know how the first theft occurred.

Two more reasons why I prefer to pay with cash whenever possible.

Giant Eagle grocery stores (Cleveland)"accidently" double-charged customers debit cards. I wonder if they paid for any overdraft fees that resulted from THEIR mistake.

Dec. 21, 2007

CLEVELAND - Hundreds of shoppers may have been doubled-charged while shopping at area Giant Eagle stores last week. Last Friday, almost 2,000 people were charged twice for their grocery purchases.

It's not clear which stores were affected by the malfunction, but a Giant Eagle spokesman said that the company is working hard to reimburse the customers who were charged twice.

Giant Eagle released the following statement on Thursday:

"Giant Eagle's third-party point of sale processor temporarily malfunctioned between the hours of 4 and 6 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 14. During that time, a small percentage of customers across all of our markets were double billed for their credit card and debit card transactions.

"Giant Eagle has been working diligently with the third-party processor to ensure that all customers are fully refunded for their duplicated bill as soon as possible, as well as for any other unintended charges. At this time all known duplications have been credited by Giant Eagle. Timing as to when the credits will show up on affected customers' respective bank accounts will vary by financial institution, though we are confident that the majority of customers whose checking accounts were double billed will be fully refunded by end of day tomorrow, Friday.

A link that might be useful:

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22348403/

FROM DAVE RAMSEY'S SITE-

50,000% Interest!

By Paul in Atlanta

My overuse of the debit card resulted in overdrawing my checking account. The overdraw was $13, incurring a $32 overdraft fee. Less than 24 hours after the overdraft, I transferred funds to cover it all.

A quick-and-dirty breakdown of the interest rate required to return $32 on $13 in one day exceeds 50,000%.

I now see why the bank building is so much bigger than my house. Earlier this year, I became debt free for the first time in my adult life. All the thanks and praise go to God for giving me a deeper understanding of true freedom!

Stupid Tax-The stupid things we do with money
www.daveramsey.com

I'd say it was a bank error and they were just covering themselves by saying that the company somehow got your information because there would not have been a credit back to your account.

When I was a SAHM I didn't have the need to use my bankaccount so it just stayed unused with the minimum amount in it. One month I got a statement and noticed that $500 had been credited to my account and then debited again, could have been the same or next day I can't remember.

That 'credit' + debit all in one day thing happened to me too, but as I hadn't lost anything, I just put it down to human error (with a computer). Stuff happens, and sometimes you get a less than perfect person on the phone, so need to talk to another agent, or supervisor, but it's not a huge deal, just take it easy and wait for a consensus of answers (or proof on your statement).

You really have to watch where you use your debit card and when using it, NEVER let out of your site.

Recently here in Plainfield, Il at a Wendy's. An 18 year old employee stole up to 50 debit card numbers from drive-through customers and went shopping to the tune of thousands of dollars.

See http://www.examiner.com/a-1126747~Police__Wendy_s_worker_steals_50_debit_card_numbers.html

I know this thread is a little old, but a nice feature I've found is the "Shop Safe" feature at Bank of America. All you have to do is log in, select shop safe, and input the amount (it will even do recurring charges). Their system will issue a temporary number to use for that transaction. On-line or telephone merchants can't get your actual card number that way.

Happened again! I posted here on 12/18/07 & on 1/14/08 the same exact thing happened w/ a completely different bank account. The only difference was the amount was $9.55 instead of $9.87 & the company name was World Wide Services (just FYI the other company name was PictureGlobus.com). I contacted my bank & they said that if I wanted to dispute it I could, but my debit card would be cancelled immediately, well, I had some purchases to make & only had my debit card, since I hate carrying cash, so told them to hold off. Well, I couldn't call on Monday (holiday) so I planned to call 1st thing Tues. morning. Well, I checked my online bank 1st & sure enough, the money had been refunded. I did go ahead & call & have my card cancelled which worked out perfectly since I had just ordered a new one w/ my new (married) name on it.

I just find this so odd. I'm a little paranoid about it now actually. I don't think both of my banks (one has nothing to do w/ the other) could've made this almost exact mistake and w/ me as the common denominator... weird.

I just caution everyone, b/c apparently nothing is secure anymore. I am scared to purchase anything or pay bills online now (or over the phone for that matter). I'm even getting more paranoid about paying @ restaurants w/ debit... I've seen receipts before w/ the whole card #, not just the last 4 digits. I will start marking these out!

"I just find this so odd. I'm a little paranoid about it now actually. I don't think both of my banks (one has nothing to do w/ the other) could've made this almost exact mistake and w/ me as the common denominator... weird."

Odd that this happened with two entirely different banks. Is there a way that your identity might have been compromised? Have you considered freezing your credit files in the meantime? Wouldn't hurt to order a credit report from the three reporting bureaus so you can see who has (or has not) been checking your files for creditworthiness.

If it were me, I wouldn't keep very much money in the accounts that have been compromised until I found out more.

I wouldn't worry about purchasing anything over the internet as long as you use a virtual credit card number. I think Bank of America offers these, if not, Citi does.

I've been given receipts that had the entire number on them. I mark out all BUT the last 4 numbers. I no longer give my card to anyone who says they have to take it out of my view. Some restaurants are starting to use portable, handheld skimmers that the server brings to the table.

Dream~ After posting here last night, I did go check my credit report & nothing was out of the ordinary. That was a relief! However, I'm still going to keep a close eye on everything to do w/ money, which I already did, but will even more now.

I wish you could get the virtual #'s w/ debit cards. I usually use my debit simply b/c of not having the bills... When you debit it from your checking acct. it's paid for & done. But, I may have to start using cc's just to be safe.

I know this is an old thread but almost exactly the same thing happened to me by the same company. Steamray inc debited my credit card not once but twice the sum of USD74 and once USD25. I discovered it only by chance when I went to pay a bill using my banks online banking service and saw the debits on my online statement. As I had never heard of the company and had no idea what it was I contacted my bank and they told me the problem was not their end and my options was to cancel the card and dispute the debit. I did this but before the dispute was settled by VISA amazingly the illegal debit was reversed. To this day I have no idea how they got my credit card details, the chief suspect was an online ebayer who I had paid for an item using paypal as I had to dispute a debit for an online rapidshare subscription the same week that I never susbscribed to. That was the only time I used the credit card that month

This is one way thefts could be happening.

NY ID Theft Ring Used Insiders, Gang Members

At the center of the alleged conspiracy are employees at New York institutions that had access to large amounts of sensitive consumer and business data. Among those being arraigned today in a New York state court are JP Morgan Chase employees Karen Chance, Mercy Adebandjo and Joanna Gierczack; Tracey Nelson, an employee of the United Jewish Appeal-Federation; "Roberto Robbie" Millar, a car salesman for Open Road-Audi in Brooklyn; and Nicola Bennett, a compliance officer employed by AKAM Associates Inc., a residential property management company.

"These insiders used their positions to gain access to client data, and then sold that data to make money for themselves and their accomplices," District Attorney Vance said in a written statement. "We will continue to work with our partners to build significant cases to disrupt identity theft and dismantle these criminal organizations."

A link that might be useful:

krebsonsecurity.com/2011/12/ny-id-theft-ring-used-insiders-gang-members/

No problems with my debit card: I don`t have one. When I carry cash - they can get what`s in my wallet.

That`s all.

ole joyful

I'm with you Ed!
NO debit card... so no worries about my bank account being drained.

We differ in that I charge as much as I can... I do not like carrying cash.

"No problems with my debit card: I don`t have one. When I carry cash - they can get what`s in my wallet."

Same here except I carry one credit card and an ATM (need password).

Ole joyful, don't you have a birthday coming up at the end of the month?

Early wishes for a joyful celebration of good health with good company! ;)

I was in deep .... (error) above.

When they get my wallet, they get the cash that's in it.

"That's all", I said.

But that's not all.

They'd get the credit card, too.

Since I rarely use my card, I should carry it in a separate carrier, that I take with me only when I expect to need it.

Loss of the card would have been bad, with the plain credit cards, earlier ... but now I have to enter a PIN.

Except - when it's for a purchase at distance, when neither the card nor I are present ... and I'm not about to tell a guy at a distance what the PIN number is!

Had a big bill on it recently - plane fare London - Edmonton (via Calgary) and bus fare back from Saskatoon ... plus CAA membership renewal. All at a distance, as transport fare purchase done online.

And I'm about to renew a magazine subscription (with people whom I trust) ... to be online, as well, so, once again, PIN can't offer protection.

ole joyful

We bought gas at a local station, the owner was a friend and neighbor. One of his employees wrote down or double-swiped my husband's credit card. When we got our bill that month, ther were several suspicious charges, including one for several cans of oil from this same station!. Hubby talked with the owner-friend, who figured out who was the thief and fired him. We were reimbursed by the credit card company and got a new card with a whole new number. Case solved! You can never be too safe. Check your bills each month.