[sdiy] Credit Card fraud - BEWARE!!!!!!

[Peter Grenader]

Fellow DIYer and lovers of all things analog,

I recently became the unfortunate victim of ATM/VISA card fraud in which
somebody got my card number duing a so-called secure card transaction on the
internet and quickly depleted my checking account of over $3,400.

I was made aware of this by a call from B of A's freud department.  While
they originally told me that it would all be taken care of (including
reimbursement of my loss) within 72 hours and advised me NOT to close the
account before all the hits had made it, they are now telling me not to
expect a refund until September.

In the meanwhile, I had not yet paid my rent, or my car payment, nor my
utilities.  

When I received that call, while they knew thay transactions had happened,
they had no idea what the amounts were and at the time, I could have closed
my account and still had the $3400.  But unfortunately, I did as they
advised  and now it's gone.

Further to this,  of the 46 transactions this thief made, only 31 of them
have hit my record, with 15 still pending.  Because it was an ATM
transaction, they cannot stop these from hitting my account.  Unfortunate in
that the ones that have made it range from $150 to $50 each, so I can expect
up another $2000 to vanish (not such a big deal, in that I'm already at a
$700 negative balance).

The problem is, B of A will not allow me to open a new account until this
overdraft has been paid. which could be in the $2700 range before this is
over and done with. Even more unfortunate, I am on automatic deposit at
work, so they are going to recieve a good part of this by this evening and
it's too late to stop it.

Be careful out there - don't believe everything you read (especially the
words 'secure server').

best,

Peter Grenader