Unpreventable debit card fraud

A fraudster withdrew cash from my Discover debit card account 11 times (7 in NH and 4 in RI, all at Shaws stores) within an hour or so until the account was largely depleted. I have never lost the debit card or left it unattended outside my home.

The following is one of the eleven transactions:


I use the card only twice or thrice a year for the only purpose of cash withdrawal. I rarely touch cash nowadays. I never enter the card number online. The card number does not exist online anywhere. My two frequently used credit cards have no issues, so I do not see the possibility of identity theft. 

I strongly suspect the fraud was done either by a Shaws employee or with the assistance of a Shaws employee so he could bypass as many checks as possible. 

Discover's customer service is superb. I received the replacement card, and they credited all the fraudulent transactions within 48 hours of the report. I hope they catch the fraudsters with the help of the exact times and locations of the transactions and ubiquitous surveillance cameras.

The fraud happened on January 15, but I found it by accident only on January 30. Financial account aggregator Empower sends me daily emails reporting transactions, but I rarely read them, so I miss the transactions. I will read the emails from now on.

Discover sent a letter for each disputed transaction even though all of them were disputed at the same time. What a waste!


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