04-05-2012, 11:14 AM
Yesterday I noticed I had a voice message on my cell phone. It was from VISA's fraud investigation department. They wanted me to call them back ASAP. So I did. They had detected unusual activity on my card. The lady mentioned certain OSH purchases, and then other stuff. At first I thought it
was just all the recent purchases at Orchards, Lowes, and Barrons Plumbing Supply, and I was telling her it
was okay. Fortunately, we finally connected. There were several purchases yesterday. Last night. On the Web.
Still, I couldn't rule out auto-renewals of my web page and a couple other things I have going, so I asked if I could log into my account and look at the charges in more detail. The lady said sure, and then call them back ASAP.
So I tried to log into my account. One of the damned security questions kept throwing me.
What was my favorite place to visit as a child? I tried castle. I tried zoo. But that didn't do it, and my mind was a complete blank.
So I finally had to call VISA to even get into my account. The lady kept saying, Now this place, it's an
imaginary sort of thing. Though I'd tried them before, I said "castle" and "zoo." She said nope. It's a place you'd only be interested in if you were an
astronaut. Mars? I said. Nope. The moon? Nope. I was beginning to think I'd have to take a flight out to her office and play this game of charades face-to-face. She then told me it was a more general term. Outer space! I shouted. Yep, I finally nailed it. I told her I'd always wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid.
So finally I got into my account, but I couldn't see the questionable billings. The fraud department had
mentioned that I might not be able to see them, because they've been blocked. So I called the fraud department back and asked for
more details on the charges. This is what I think the lady said (my damned hearing):
BOM C2 10.77
Yves Rosher 1.00
Yves Rosher 40.00
I told her I couldn't imagine making those purchases. I did mention that I'd made numerous purchases for the first time at OSH, Lowes and Barron's Plumbing Supply, and I wondered if one of those places had hacked my card. She told me that was highly unlikely. That's when I started suspecting she knows a whole lot more about what's going on than she's willing to tell. Very likely she knew full well my card was hacked, but she needed me to say it. Lady Cranefly later pointed me to a news article about a massive VISA and MasterCard private info theft.
Anyway, they're looking further into the charges. Meanwhile, they're sending me a new card -- same number
but different expiration date. And I'm wondering if it's a card with new security codes worked into it. I would hope...
Whew. Sure glad they caught it. They can be annoying with their false positives. But when they nail one, it sure feels reassuring.
Okay, so that was yesterday. Now for today. When I logged into my email, I saw a message from Facebook. They've locked down my account due to a suspicious access from an unfamiliar computer or place. Great, I thought. My laptop always seems to cause sites trouble. They always think it's an unusual access. So with a sigh I went through the steps to resolve the issue. I ended up on a page where Facebook presented a map and pointed to where the attempted access occurred.
![[Image: suspicious_facebook_access.jpg]](http://www.garywshockley.com/images/doom/suspicious_facebook_access.jpg)
Okay, so I flagged that as an invalid access and had to change my password, and now all is well.
Except now I'm a bit rattled. What comes next?
was just all the recent purchases at Orchards, Lowes, and Barrons Plumbing Supply, and I was telling her it
was okay. Fortunately, we finally connected. There were several purchases yesterday. Last night. On the Web.
Still, I couldn't rule out auto-renewals of my web page and a couple other things I have going, so I asked if I could log into my account and look at the charges in more detail. The lady said sure, and then call them back ASAP.
So I tried to log into my account. One of the damned security questions kept throwing me.
What was my favorite place to visit as a child? I tried castle. I tried zoo. But that didn't do it, and my mind was a complete blank.
So I finally had to call VISA to even get into my account. The lady kept saying, Now this place, it's an
imaginary sort of thing. Though I'd tried them before, I said "castle" and "zoo." She said nope. It's a place you'd only be interested in if you were an
astronaut. Mars? I said. Nope. The moon? Nope. I was beginning to think I'd have to take a flight out to her office and play this game of charades face-to-face. She then told me it was a more general term. Outer space! I shouted. Yep, I finally nailed it. I told her I'd always wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid.
So finally I got into my account, but I couldn't see the questionable billings. The fraud department had
mentioned that I might not be able to see them, because they've been blocked. So I called the fraud department back and asked for
more details on the charges. This is what I think the lady said (my damned hearing):
BOM C2 10.77
Yves Rosher 1.00
Yves Rosher 40.00
I told her I couldn't imagine making those purchases. I did mention that I'd made numerous purchases for the first time at OSH, Lowes and Barron's Plumbing Supply, and I wondered if one of those places had hacked my card. She told me that was highly unlikely. That's when I started suspecting she knows a whole lot more about what's going on than she's willing to tell. Very likely she knew full well my card was hacked, but she needed me to say it. Lady Cranefly later pointed me to a news article about a massive VISA and MasterCard private info theft.
Anyway, they're looking further into the charges. Meanwhile, they're sending me a new card -- same number
but different expiration date. And I'm wondering if it's a card with new security codes worked into it. I would hope...
Whew. Sure glad they caught it. They can be annoying with their false positives. But when they nail one, it sure feels reassuring.
Okay, so that was yesterday. Now for today. When I logged into my email, I saw a message from Facebook. They've locked down my account due to a suspicious access from an unfamiliar computer or place. Great, I thought. My laptop always seems to cause sites trouble. They always think it's an unusual access. So with a sigh I went through the steps to resolve the issue. I ended up on a page where Facebook presented a map and pointed to where the attempted access occurred.
Okay, so I flagged that as an invalid access and had to change my password, and now all is well.
Except now I'm a bit rattled. What comes next?
I'm nobody's pony.
