Skimmed –
if you had asked me just a month or so ago, I would have said this was one of
those made-up shorthand words for ordering a light coffee. As in skim milk, no
whip. But I learned the true meaning of the nefarious word recently when a
$1,300 air ticket to China got charged on my credit card. And I had no
intention of going to China.
I only
found out about the air ticket when I tried to charge some gasoline and my credit
card was rejected. Ditto during a trip to a retail establishment. Since it was
a Sunday, my only recourse was to call the credit card company’s hotline and
invalidate my credit card through some telephone prompts.
The next
day, I learned that not one but two tickets to China had been the destination
of my credit card when it got skimmed. Fortunately, the second air ticket was
rejected for payment. The credit card representative couldn’t have been nicer
or more sympathetic. All I had to do was complete and return a form verifying
that the air ticket wasn’t my charge and the funds would be promptly returned
to my account. And they were.
Figuring
out how my credit card actually got skimmed has proved to be much more challenging
make that impossible. I learned from reporting the incident to my local sheriff’s
department that skimming has mainly occurred at gasoline station pumps, through
a device easily installed within the actual pumps. None of the gasoline
stations I had visited had been skimming destinations, at least not that the
sheriff’s deputy knew about. And he said that gas pumps are the only places
skimmers have been found, raising doubts that criminals are walking around with
portable skimmers in their pockets.
Just to try to better ensure the safety of my replaced credit card, I put it in a supposedly anti-skimming card protector and buried it deep within my wallet. I’m checking gasoline pumps to make sure the paper seal on the pump opening hasn’t been compromised. I’m also checking my credit card statements much more regularly online.
I thought I
was skim-free until this past weekend, when I tried to use my debit card at a
grocery store and it was rejected. I thought maybe it was just the store’s
equipment and, in fact, decided to try the debit card at my bank’s ATM machine,
where it worked just fine. But it didn’t work just fine the next day, rejected
again at a store. So when I called my bank I discovered that, sure enough, the
card had been skimmed and used as a credit card on the east side of the state.
Fortunately, the purchases weren’t large. One, for $106, was rejected and a
second, for $20, went through before the card was deactivated.
I have some
comfort in realizing that the debit card was used as a credit card and that the
crooks don’t have my security code. But where the card was skimmed is a real
cause for concern, because I don’t pay for gas with my debit card. I raised
this issue in an email to the same deputy who had taken my original skimming
report, but this may be out of his jurisdiction since the purchases did not occur
in the area. I also raised the issue with my bank, which appears to be skimming
central. While I was there, a woman was going over her account with a teller
because her debit card had been skimmed for $250.
 |
| My debit card is being officially retired |
Postscript: My new credit card got skimmed shortly before Thanksgiving. This time, the main charge was for hundreds of dollars of tickets to a Detroit Pistons game. The thief also enjoyed a pizza in the Detroit area. I'm canceling that card and getting a new card with a security chip installed. Sigh.
