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2007-04-24 - 6:28 a.m.

Are you one of those people who just can't stand to *not* know who's calling on the phone? I'm one of those people.

I had just gotten home with Ben from work and was upstairs changing clothes. Suddenly we heard this strange ringing coming from downstairs. We determined that it was my phone on the kitchen table. I was half-naked (and there's a window by the table) so I wasn't about to rocket down the stairs just to get the phone. So, I hurriedly got dressed and by the time I was clothed, Ben had brought me my phone. He decided that he needed to work off some pent-up frustrations, so he went for a quick jog.

Meanwhile, I look at my phone. It read: "UNKNOWN" for my missed call. Hmm... then the voicemail chimed. I listened and it was Chase Credit Card company calling to inform me that there has been some suspicious activity on my account.

I put on my headset and went downstairs to the computer and pulled up all my account information. (It's on a flash drive that Ben keeps in his computer bag... we don't keep that stuff on our actual harddrive.) I call and get ahold of a rep by the name of Jinky. I kid you not, that was what she said her name was.

She proceeds to tell me (much to my horror) that someone had racked up $5243.98 on my Chase MasterCard. I'm thinking: "What the f***?!?!?" because I have the card in my possession. As a matter of fact, this card is physically stuffed into a small Lock-n-Lock with other cards we do not use. The container is on a shelf in a bedroom closet.

I'm confused as to how this could have happened. Then Jinky tells me that the charges were all cash advances from an ATM in..... wait for it.....
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S I N G A P O R E
!!!!

Again, I'm thinking: "WTF?? Jinky asks if I had received the new credit cards they sent out on March 30th. I reply that no, I had not but inquire what address were they sent to? She informs me that they were sent to my P.O. Box address. Well, for those of you who don't know, my M-I-L, Rita always gathers our mail from our P.O. Box and about once a month and sends it to our local address here in south Florida. I'm almost in panic mode now because I'm almost certain that Rita has the cards in her possession.

I ask Jinky how in the hell could someone in SINGAPORE use my card at an ATM if my mother-in-law had it? Jinky wasn't sure about that but she was sure that that it was used. Jinky then closes down that account and says that she's going to issue new cards and send them to my local address. She also tells me that I'm not responsible for the fraudlent charges and gives me a phone number to talk to the Fraudulent Operations Department.

I call the 888-number and speak with...(I don't know how to pronounce this) Eiyu. He goes into a lot more detail and explains that what typically happens in these cases is that these people work much in the same way as a drug smuggling ring in the sense that they're on a global scale. People know people who know people. And apparently these criminals knew someone who could get ahold of my information somehow (probably worked at a bank or something) and decided to PHYSCIALLY MAKE A FRAUDULENT CARD which explains how the account was accessed despite the fact that I have my set of cards and I called Rita and verified that she had the new cards. In fact, the next department (Investigations) that I spoke with said that she showed on her screen in front of her that the machine where the card was fraudulently used had a little difficulty reading the card. And each time it was used, the card became increasingly more difficult to use. She was also able to tell me that the transactions took place on April 21st (weekend!) and that the person(s) was able to make 9 transactions before the 10th was denied.

Of course, if computer information to and from banking/financial institutions were more IMMEDIATE, then these people probably wouldn't have gotten away with over five grand in cold, hard cash. I mean, the fact that the card was being used at an ATM in SINGAPORE for gawd's sake should have been a GIANT red flag.

It was also explained to me that I didn't do anything wrong regarding my account; my identity was not compromised; and, this was just one of those things that unfortunately happen. The only "reason" this occured in the first place is that I'm someone who has a credit card with a zero balance that hasn't had any activity on it in a long while. The rep in the investigations department explained that these people seek out accounts like that and they probably paid someone off to get this information.

It's difficult because I know that the credit card companies are trying their hardest to protect their customers but at the same time I feel that you can't stop some criminals. If they want something badly enough, they're going to get it no matter how many safety & security parameters you have in place. And, I was assured that this was not a case of computer hacking, either.

I feel better knowing that 1) I don't have to pay these charges and 2) this is not a result of carelessness on our part.

However, here's the kicker to this story:

Yesterday afternoon, Kraig came to my desk with a credit card. Handing it to me he says, "I have no idea how this ended up on the floor board of my government vehicle. I just looked down as I got out and there it was."

Immediately, I called the number on the back of the card and spoke to a rep. I gave her the account information as well as identified myself and where I worked and the location from where I was calling. I explained that one of our employees had found the card and we wanted to do whatever we could to get it back into the hands of the rightful owner. The rep put me on hold for about 8mins, came back on the line and said, "We're going to go ahead and close that account so you may destroy the card." I said, "Oh, but what if the person needs to use it?" (I know what a hassle it is to cancel an account, etc.) The rep replies, "I have the account holder on the other line and she has already approved the transaction." Then the rep asks me, "You said you were in Florida, right?" I reply, "Yes." And told her where exactly. Then the rep said, "Hmm.. the account holder has never even been to Florida! She's in Las Vegas, NV!"

Needless to say, I was shocked to hear that. I hung up with the rep and followed her instructions: I immediately destroyed the card by running it through our shredder.

And to think just a few short hours later I find out that I've been the victim of credit card fraud. Interesting.

I still believe in karma.... what goes around, comes around. And believe me, good things will definitely still come around for *MY* good deed!

Until next time...peace, love & HEALTH!!!









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