Been Scammmed

I started work early, ate lunch at my desk, so I could take my male lab to the dog park, he lives for that and has many dog friends. I stopped at my usual gas station to get water and snacks, and my debit card was denied. I went right to our bank and after 15 minutes, somebody in Arizona is using a copy of my card to the tune of 571.76. I called my wife to come get the dog out of my car, windows down 75 degrees, but the paperwork was going to take longer.
We do not use online banking, no debit card numbers online and I still send the Fed and state paper returns, I do not want that info available!!
So after all is done, the bank froze my account but will take hand written checks for bills. Both wife and I will now carry 200 dollars cash each for emergencies. Can you imagine pumping gas and your card is denied. The lady at the bank stated they would get you home in that situation, really???
Well somebody got 250 dollars in baby cloths, put gas in 3 vehicles, different stations, had lunch, and bought a bunch of videos.
I am just sick. my garage, lake home and now my checking account. Sad thing is, my check card had to be destroyed after the fraud alert, but I needed the card to get money from savings to survive a few days. Oh well I hope I enjoy vacation

Someone stole my debit card number about a year ago. Thankfully I caught it very quickly and was able to get my account changed before too much damage had been done, and my bank refunded the fraudulent charges. Although my bank took care of me, it was a major inconvenience to do without my debit card & checks for a few weeks.

Personally, I feel that harsher punishment for criminals is the only answer. As long as people can get away with just a slap on the wrist, they're just going to keep stealing from others instead of making an honest living. It may seem barbaric to most, but if a crook had his hand cut off for stealing, or was sentenced to hard labor, public humiliation or even stuck in a cell without the luxuries of air conditioning, cable tv, free healthcare, warm beds, free gym membership, internet access, store privileges, hot meals, the opportunity to hang out with their buddies all day, etc., I believe that they would think twice about doing it again... and so would the next guy.

Sorry to hear that.

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. Thank you though, for sharing an experience that could befall any of us.

I guess this happens all of the time, my mistake was thinking, I am debt free, have no credit cards and have a low credit score, due to not borrowing money, so I should be safe. I guess I was wrong, it can happen to anybody!!

Twice, so far, with me. Always the debit card, too.

I found out something new today. The retailer has to prove I made the purchase. What got me is the bank has the exact time the purchases were made and most places have security cameras, but most places do not want to bother going thru security tapes for a few hundred dollars and take the loss???

That would be a thing called "work." No way man!

Of course vacation scheduled during this mess, but went anyway. While on vacation, all our money was refunded. When I get home, I have a letter from the bank stating no fraud, their mistake??? Now I won't know what happened until Monday, the bank is not my friend!!!!

Is it one of the major banks? Some are known for their bookkeeping blunders, you might want to look around online to see if your bank has such a reputation.