A few months ago I received a call from Discover, they said there was some suspicious activity on my account. They Proceeded to list the most recent charges so that I could verify whether a charge was fraudulent or legitimate. There was several miscellaneous charges, such as two $30.00 gas charges within a 10 minute time period, and many other fraudulent small charges that added up to alot of money. One of the biggest charges was in Orlando, Florida. I have never in my life been to Orlando, much less used my credit card there. This leads me to beleive that my card was copied or reproduced and sold. I got that card cancelled, got a new account number and a new card.
Shortly after that, I transfered the balance from Discover over to my Visa card and stopped using my Discover card. Well, guess what? It happened again. I got a call today from Visa saying they found what appeared to be abnormal use and they went over the most recent charges with me, much like when it happened with Discover. This time, the biggest charge was $2,350. Yes, I will repeat that. The biggest charge was for two thousand, three hundred and fifty dollars.
When it happened with Discover, I made a point of keeping the list of charges handy, in case it ever happened again, and It’s a good thing I did. After comparing the most recent charges on both cards leading up to the fraudulent use, the common factor between the two seemed to be Wendys fast food drive thru.
A few days before the incident with my Discover card, I had been to Wendys and paid at the drive thru using the card. I noticed the same thing on my Visa, Wendys drive thru, followed by the fraudulent charges within about a week. I try and always make a point of not letting my credit cards leave my sight. But I could not avoid this at the Wendys drive thru.
I beleive someone working at my local Wendys is writing down credit card information or copying the strip, reproducing and selling them. I especially beleive this after speaking with Visa. They informed me that there have been numerous acts of credit card fraud originating from fast food drive thru charges.
Some of you may have noticed that a few fast food places now have a device that allows you to swipe your card right at the window rather than handing them the card. This is due to all of the credit card fraud originating at fast food drive thru’s.
When you hand your credit card to someone at a drive thru window, you are essentially trusting your credit card with a complete stranger. You wouldnt let someone take your credit card and walk away with it for as little as 30 seconds anyplace else, so why should it be tolerated at a drive thru? Do yourself a favor and refrain from using your credit card at fast food drive thru’s that still don’t use the window swiping machine. If you want it bad enough, walk inside to order and swipe your card. It’s worth it, trust me.
I didn’t think this could happen to me, and it has happened twice within a few months, on two different cards. Getting all of this straightened out is becoming a real headache. I have subscriptions and other things that automatically get charged to my credit card every month, such as the hosting for this website. Now I have to contact every place, explain what happened and give them my new updated credit card information.
Credit card fraud is very real and it happens everyday. Learn from my mistake and dont let it happen to you.
