Until the phone call came.....An automated call from Wells Fargo Fraud department..they wanted me to verify the last five transactions on my debit card. I've had to do this before when we move around more than normal. After the first time my card was declined because of traveling patterns, I made an effort to notify Wells every few weeks about where we were, and had done it recently, so I was a little surprised to get this call. The first transaction was made in California...my mind started reeling. Did I buy anything on line where the company was based in California? I didn't think so...The next two transactions were also from California....Now, I started to panic. The transactions were for more than several hundred dollars each. After punching a few more buttons affirming these transactions were not made by me, I was put in touch with a live representative from the fraud department. We started digging, and apparently, someone got my debit card number and started a charging spree. Luckily, for me, I don't keep a whole lot in the checking account at one time, and so after three tries of buying stuff, the card got declined due to insufficient funds. My checking account had been emptied. By this time, I was pretty upset. I filed a fraud claim with the bank, and then the hassles started with how to proceed from there. Wells offers several options for protecting your numbers and accounts. Without going into those details, it took me an hour and a half of talking to bank representatives. To complicate things, when you are in a different state than where your accounts originate from, that affects what you can do if someone starts using your bank card or hacks into your account.
Wells Fargo explained that your debit card number is not the same number as your checking account so only the debit card number was compromised. But heck, they might as well have compromised my checking account as well, as it got emptied faster than a speeding bullet even though Wells called me the very next day when the charges went through. Wells had no idea how they got my debit card number. It could have been an online purchase (highly possible), a gas station, a restaurant employee. I just saw a TV show the other night where they showed a waitress with a little device that many home party dealers use to record credit card sales. I had one myself when I sold Tastefully Simple but never used it. It seemed to risky to me and not very secure to be carrying this little card reader/swiper around in my pocket in order to record credit card numbers to be entered for sales credit later. The show showed the waitress running the card thru the little reader as she walked back to her service station and stowing the card reader in her pocket. What's to prevent anybody from purchasing these little readers for about a hundred bucks and scamming people on a regular basis? I try to watch my card wherever it goes, and stand there and wait when running the card inside a gas station if I don't run it at the pump, I try to look at the card readers at the pumps to make sure they haven't been tampered with, but I'm still clueless how they got my number and for now, so is the bank. I'm supposed to get my money back in a couple of weeks, I sure hope so! Debit cards are not handled the same as credit cards, that I know. We shall see......
There are apparently "rings" of scammers working in the Tampa area who obtain numbers one way or another, and then sell the numbers to people who make fake debit cards. That was just one scenario the banker explained to me. Seems like I had just heard about central and south Florida being one of the top areas of the country for credit/debit card fraud in the country. And now, I'm a victim.....
Back to the Camping World Store....Our bed was done....The great thing was, it was an easy install. Tiffin already has the outlet in place for sleep number beds AND a compartment for the motor. We didn't lose any storage space under the bed! The tubes are at the head of the bed, and everything worked out great and very neatly, and the Camping World tech guy did a great job. One good thing that happened today.....Yay!
We're at Lake Magic, an Encore park that honors the Florida Max Pass, so, our stay is FREE! We'll preview the park for you tomorrow....See you then!
