[virtualbong]

So, there was a fraudulent charge placed on my credit card for $1,499 this past Sunday. I have since replaced the card and the fraud department placed the charge as fraud. I am investigating this further since I have this hunch that an incident I had at a store in Newbury Street is where I believe two employees stole my credit card number. Here is a summary (somewhat long) of what happened at said Newbury Street store this past Saturday...

Went in with 2 friends to take a look at some clothing. Decided to purchase one shirt so I go up to pay for it. The cashier guy rings up my shirt and then I give him my credit card. He swipes it...a paper comes out and he takes a look at it...and then suddenly employee 2 comes up and they whisper to each other for 2 seconds. Then this dialog occurs:

Cashier Guy: "Does this look ok?"
Employee 2: "It just did not read his card"
<Employee 2 pulls out the old school way of capturing a credit card and runs the card to make a carbon copy of my card>
Employee 2 tells me: "Don't worry we will not double charge you"
<Cashier Guy hits another button on the register and another slip comes out and hands it to me to sign>
Me: I sign the slip and then ask "Do I need to sign this too?"
Employee 2: "You are all set"
<This is strange to me and my two friends but we do not think twice about it>

Fast Forward to Sunday morning:

I receive a voice mail from Fraud company. I think it's the pair of sunglasses that I just purchased from Germany, so I call them up to tell them that it is a legit purchase. The guy proceeds to run through the rest of the charges and then he says, "$14.99" at AL Collections...I repeat "$14.99?" and he says, "No, $1,499". I tell him there is no way I made a huge purchase like that the day before. He puts a note that this was a fraudulent charge and tells me they will hold the charge and investigate.

After the call, I start to think to myself when someone could have taken my credit card information since I only purchase from reputable online sites and people only swipe my card in front of me...then I realized the whole situation at said store in Newbury Street. I go take a look at my receipt that I signed (they did not give me a copy of the carbon copy that I did not sign) and it has my full name and my last 4 digits of my credit card. So I start getting even more paranoid because it looks like my card went through. I call the store today and speak with the assistant manager. I ask her when they need to take a carbon copy and she tells me when my credit card strip does not work properly...basically when it does not register my card number or my name. Both these items are on my receipt which means it did register and there was no reason for them to have taken a carbon copy of my card. She tells me that she will take a look at the receipts. The regional manager is coincidentally stopping by and she gives me a call after looking at the receipts. I explain what happened and she tells me that both the system receipt AND the carbon copy had my signature so to her, there is no issue. I am heated at this point and tell her that I did not sign two copies and that I definitely did not sign the carbon copy. So it HAD to be those fools that looked at my signature and signed for me. I tell the regional manager that I am coming in this Saturday (when she is supposedly back at that store) and we are going to take a look at that receipt AND the video (supposedly she could not make out whether or not I signed the carbon copy or not. Screw that...it should be pretty apparent because I remember exactly what happened. So now I am waiting until Saturday to take care of this. I am wondering if I should demand to settle this earlier than Saturday.

What do you guys think? I am also wondering if I need a lawyer? What do you guys think? Lawyer before or after this meeting with the regional manager. Sorry for the long post...

Cliff Notes:
- Purchase shirt at Newbury Street store
- Employees tell me card did not go through and needed to take a carbon copy
- I sign system receipt and not carbon copy
- Regional Manager says that both receipts are signed and video does not show anything.
- Meeting with Regional Manager to view video as well as carbon copy this Saturday
- Should I get a lawyer and demand to settle this before Saturday.

WIL

[Alexander]

Sorry about the fraud. Man is inheritably evil.

I'd call a lawyer and explain the problem, it can't hurt, punishment needs to be handed, and a lawyer would help nail those fucks.

[Peanuto]

No credit card machine that I ever used in retail printed something if the card didn't work. It read "ERR" on the digital readout. This is usually caused by wear on the strip, but can be because card is being declined. The next step, and here is where it is fishy, is that they ran it through an old school machine. This is odd because if a card isn't read by a scanner, you do not do what they did, you enter in the machine to punch in the numbers manually, and enter the info into the digital swiper manually.

[JayKay335i]

Hate Boston.

[virtualbong]

Originally Posted by Peanuto

No credit card machine that I ever used in retail printed something if the card didn't work. It read "ERR" on the digital readout. This is usually caused by wear on the strip, but can be because card is being declined. The next step, and here is where it is fishy, is that they ran it through an old school machine. This is odd because if a card isn't read by a scanner, you do not do what they did, you enter in the machine to punch in the numbers manually, and enter the info into the digital swiper manually.

That is EXACTLY what I was thinking. They did mention that they sometimes use the old machine to copy the card information if my name did not come out on the receipt and just my credit card number, but BOTH show up. So this is too fishy.

[virtualbong]

Originally Posted by Aonarch

Sorry about the fraud. Man is inheritably evil.

I'd call a lawyer and explain the problem, it can't hurt, punishment needs to be handed, and a lawyer would help nail those fucks.

Any lawyers on this forum? Need advice BAD.

[JayKay335i]

I wouldn't lawyer up yet. First off, what did they purchase? Was it from an online store or an actual store front? Local, national, international? Shipping addresses?

My mother had this happen to her multiple times. A few years back somebody bought ~2k worth of horse riding crap. American Express called her up asking about it, she told them it wasn't her and they dropped the charges. Fast forward a couple years and a few months ago somebody charged ~$30 at an apple store. She noticed the charges, called AE, they took it off and put her account under watch. A couple weeks after that somebody tried to buy 2 tickets the UK for almost $4k and was declined, twice. At that point they sent her a new card, again.

[CollinsE90]

+1^^, dont lawyer up yet and get in touch with your credit card company, i promise you arent the first person to be frauded haha...they will take care of it

[Peanuto]

Have you been to any hotels, specifically internationally in past 6 mos? International hotels do this shit all the time. My mom had her identity stolen twice in one year and they traced it back to the hotels.

[virtualbong]

I won't lawyer up, but I did submit a Consumer complaint to my Attorney General because the store that I believe the two employees took my credit card information does not line up. There was NO reason to take a carbon copy of my card and I also did not sign the carbon copy even though they say they have two receipts signed by me. I am going in on Saturday to see the carbon copy AND the video of the occurrence.

[Maestro]

They use to do this years ago, and it stopped due to the security number on the back, most online sites will not process and order without the security number and theives need all 16 digits, your name and the security number to process an online order, by handing them your card, you allowed them to see the back, and the did the imprint which now they have the 16 digits and your name so they were set to go. They know they only have a few days and one of two transaction before they are shut down so they usually move fast.

This just happen to a co-work on her AE, had not traveled in a few months, went on a business trip, had lunch at chi-chi and by dinner the card was placed on hold by AE because of unusual charges that occurred over seas between lunch and dinner. We figure is the the waitress who did it, she did not seem right after looking back at the situation. The co-worker call the restaurant and told them what happen, but not much they could do but watch the girl.

If I was you I would make a case with the business, since it was most likely those two employee who did it. Many time they hope most people are not watching that closely and they can get away with it.

I do not like when people ask for the card and look at the back since the can get the security code, but I also have written on my card to check id which most places do.

[virtualbong]

Originally Posted by Maestro

They use to do this years ago, and it stopped due to the security number on the back, most online sites will not process and order without the security number and theives need all 16 digits, your name and the security number to process an online order, by handing them your card, you allowed them to see the back, and the did the imprint which now they have the 16 digits and your name so they were set to go. They know they only have a few days and one of two transaction before they are shut down so they usually move fast.

This just happen to a co-work on her AE, had not traveled in a few months, went on a business trip, had lunch at chi-chi and by dinner the card was placed on hold by AE because of unusual charges that occurred over seas between lunch and dinner. We figure is the the waitress who did it, she did not seem right after looking back at the situation. The co-worker call the restaurant and told them what happen, but not much they could do but watch the girl.

If I was you I would make a case with the business, since it was most likely those two employee who did it. Many time they hope most people are not watching that closely and they can get away with it.

I do not like when people ask for the card and look at the back since the can get the security code, but I also have written on my card to check id which most places do.

I would love to work with the business but they are basically taking sides and trying not to draw attention to their business. This is a chain store and a nice one which most likely does not like negative publicity. When I go in there on Saturday, they better treat me better than the way the Regional Manager treated me on the phone...she was basically accusing me of lying.

[fnckr]

Regular lawyers don't file criminal charges, Prosecutors do. Call the police on a non-emergency number, speak to a detective, and file a report with all of the details you have. Be sure to mention the video so that they can review it.

Unfortunately, this happens all of the time. As a victim, the only remedy I've had is the charge removed from my bill. It would be great if you could get those scumbags arrested.

[chungdae]

That's why I only use cash.

[virtualbong]

Originally Posted by fnckr

Regular lawyers don't file criminal charges, Prosecutors do. Call the police on a non-emergency number, speak to a detective, and file a report with all of the details you have. Be sure to mention the video so that they can review it.

Unfortunately, this happens all of the time. As a victim, the only remedy I've had is the charge removed from my bill. It would be great if you could get those scumbags arrested.

Yeah, I think the likeliness of me being able to confirm that these guys were behind the fraudulent charge is highly unlikely but I want to get all the information I can to at least rule them out. The transaction I had with these guys at this store was not normal procedure since my credit card did go through fine so no carbon copy was necessary and the regional manager now telling me that both slips were signed is definitely not reassuring because I did not sign a carbon copy...just the print out. I will definitely update everyone as I obtain more details.

I would even be happy knowing that the guys will be "observed" now because of me questioning them. My gut is telling me something is not right...its just tough trying to prove it.

[bassholic]

I'd get over it considering the Credit Card company will return your funds.

[808six]

your cc should have 0 liability on fraud charges, they should recredit your accnt with out much hassle. leave it at that, everything els eis just a waste of time, i believe the matter to be between the card issuer and the merchant. btw i hope you have a new accnt number now.

[ideliver]

you have ZERO exposure here...get a new card if you want to feel better...also you can place a fraud alert on you credit files if you are super-paranoid...but you will not be able to open any more credit at the point of sale (think gettting a new bestbuy CC and getting 20% off if you sign up today)

also, your best lead is where the item was purchased/shipped etc

[virtualbong]

I received a new card basically the day after so I am not worried about it. If I had no clue who stole my credit card information, then I would not think about this anymore, but knowing that these two dudes at this store may be the culprits is the reason why I won't let this go. I guess this is just the way I am. Don't like takin' advantage of especially if I may know who it is.

[crooked I]

someone tried to buy a TV in Australia on my credit card for 8 grand! i got a phone call right away and apparently they caught the guy

[JayKay335i]

Some CC companies will go after the guys. Depends. Most of them aren't very smart.

[Georgeair]

You've got no damages or legitimate action against the company. The credit card company will take care of the fraudulend charges and (unlikely) pursue prosecution.