Just discovered somebody stole my debit card info. Looked at my

[sinkingfeeling]

checking account online and saw 3 charges to NY Parking fine payment. Called my credit union and they put stop on card and opened fraud case. Paying to have new debit card expedited here at my son's house.

Makes me mad since that's the card I have set up on PayPal and ActBlue and several charities that I give to monthly. Besides I had all the info for it memorized.

Anything else I should do?

[applegrove]

1. Change your online banking password. And if course your online

banking card number. Had info of my debit card stolen. They withdrew money from a bank machine I frequented. I have no idea how they did it.

[saidsimplesimon]

2. Temporary identity theft protection

at the major credit bureaus perhaps?

[TheCowsCameHome]

3. Mine was hacked last week.

My bank noticed suspicious activity, $500 worth of unauthorized purchases on it, I went to my local branch office and they issued me a new debit card right there, total elapsed time less than 45 minutes.

The unauthorized charges were credited back to my account the next day.

[exboyfil]

4. I personally would switch to a credit card

for all of these types of transactions. My wife and I don't even use debit cards. You get more protections with credit cards. At the end of the day, the credit card company is on the hook for the losses. Even if they don't recognize a fraud claim, I will just pay to the amount I actually owe and cancel the card. I will then force them to take me to court for the remaining amount, and I will have the fraud police report to back myself up. I will challenge any ding to my credit report, and threaten to sue.

[SCantiGOP]

12. Do this

what exboyfil said.
Credit cards cannot make you pay fraudulent charges; debit card fraud is up to the bank or institution that provided the card.

[flibbitygiblets]

13. +2. NEVER use debit cards except to get cash from ATM

With your debit card, that scammer could have wiped out your bank account. You'd probably get it back (eventually), but in the meantime you'd be sweating food, rent, etc. with NO MONEY.

Not so with a credit card. The fraudulent charges are simply reversed once reported. A new card is issued. Worst case you're out a card for a week (in which case I recommend having at least one back up credit card).

Furthermore, many credit cards give you cash back and/or points that can be applied to travel (hotels, cars, flights etc.), and many have no annual fee (Chase Freedom Unlimited 1.5 points per dollar spent, Amex Blue Cash 3% back at grocery stores, for a couple of good examples). Debit cards do no such thing.

[brush]

5. You can get a card with the same CC number but the expiration date and code...

on the back will be different.

Been there.

[mr_lebowski]

6. Any site online you may have 'saved' credit card info to for later use, change your password

Paypal is a real obvious one, but if you have shopping sites ... Amazon, Newegg, Overstock.com, whatever ... hell, even meal delivery ... if you ever saved your card info there, for convenience for later purchases, change the password. Think about adding two-tier security if you have a smart phone (whereby to login to the site, you have to have a password AND a code sent to your phone).

Of course obviously change your Credit Union login password.

And don't forget to update all your auto-pays for bills and such with the new card number, once issued. Getting late fees on top of this would really suck

I cannot believe someone would be so stupid as to pay off their parking tickets fines using a stolen credit card. I mean ... talk about 'being obvious' ... unless they were getting their car outta impound to flee to Mexico ... pretty stupid plan, I gotta say ...

[hlthe2b]

7. Mine was cloned at a trusted Safeway outdoor gas pump, so I NEVER use a credit card

at pump or ATM--only cash or I hand the card to the person in the payment booth.

This happened (ironically) last Thanksgiving and though my credit unit called me that evening (good on them and cancelled the card), there had already been hundreds of dollars of changes in "black Friday" purchases made on line. Of course I got those cancelled and even spoke to a fraud investigator who was working locally with police and were going to file charges directly.

Sorry, folks, but apparently, using cards at the pump is a BIG convenience and a BIG risk. According to this investigator (and in speaking to Safeway, which had just had the pumps "swept" the day before" ), there is no way to know for sure whether a pump is safe or not. Ditto ATMs. Even the swipers inside at the check-outstations can be planted with a reader if the stores are not on top of it.

It made for a lousy holiday, but my credit union stood by me and I learned one hell of a lot from that experience.

[agingdem]

8. welcome to my world

2 AM Sunday...alert text from BOA..ItaliK..Uber...Grub Hub..Verizon..international charge....text back no...debit card shut down...problems..lots of auto payments attached to that card (medicare, medicare part b, insurance)..and I'm leaving town on Thanksgiving for Las Vegas...family event...hotels and casinos don't take temporary cards...canceled my trip...waiting for the card...maybe tomorrow but more than likely Friday...just great...

[Croney]

9. Who steals a card and pays parking fines!

When ours was stolen, they racked up charges to Target and Toys-R-Us.

Parking fines can be traced to the plate number, can't they? It was a dumb idea.

[dembotoz]

11. my thoughts too

[rsdsharp]

10. I haven't had a problem (yet) with my debit card,

but in less than a year (July 2017 and May 2018) I twice had to get a new American Express card. Fortunately, AMEX was very aggressive with fraud alerts: texts, e-mails followed by phone calls.

[flibbitygiblets]

14. that's because credit cards are on the hook for fraud, so they're hyper-vigilant to spot it

not so with debit cards.

The only reasons I can think of to NOT use credit cards instead of debit cards are:
1. A person has bad credit for whatever reason. Assuming you have income and ability to pay bills in a timely manner, you can get a "secured" credit card from a local credit union and if you pay on time, in about 6 months to a year they'll convert it to a real credit card.
2. A person cannot trust themselves not to spend more than they have on credit cards. If this is the case, stay away from them until you're ready for the responsibility.

[rsdsharp]

15. Given your use of the "you" I'm assuming that you are directing your advice to me.

I've had credit cards for nearly forty years. AMEX for nearly thirty. My FICO score is in the 800s. I think I'm OK to use them, but thanks.

[flibbitygiblets]

16. Most sorry, I was not directing my comments at you personally, I meant "you" in the general sense

No intent to offend or personalize at all. I was just trying to help others.

[rsdsharp]

17. No problem. I apologize for over reacting.

[flibbitygiblets]

18. It's all good! :-)

[lunatica]

19. Your bank will probably credit your account back

That happened to me recently where someone charged a bunch of meal home deliveries.

Sometimes it’s impossible to get a contact with certain things like long-standing charities, but if you wait the affected charities will contact you. Doctors Without Borders was one that did that. When they contact you they usually send a link if you want to keep giving.

[sinkingfeeling]

20. My bank is a credit union and they credited the amounts back to me within 45 minutes.