A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Banter Hall Beware!

We just received yet ANOTHER phone call from American Express asking about a particular purchase that was attempted. NOOOOOOOO we had NOT made that purchase! Someone compromised Don's card at a Home Depot using one of their "self check-out" machines!!!

This really upsets me because... that means that someone has installed somekind of spyware on that machine in Home Depot. How else would someone get his card number if he did this check-out all by himself? It was the only place he used the card yesterday. This morning, the person who stole the info attempted to make a purchase at another Home Depot in Orlando, Florida! Don joked to me, that no, he had not gone to Florida for breakfast and then returned to work this morning!

This is really upsetting me because it's the second time in just a few months that this has happened to our cards. Mine was compromised before, and attempted to be used in a WalMart in Canada! These thieves are more and more prevalent these days - thank goodness American Express has been on their toes for us!

Please be VERY vigilant when using your cards. The American Express representative suggested that we scrutinize all our other credit card bills - I am passing that suggestion on to all of you!

Oh my...makes me glad I don't use credit cards. Scarey....

A good thing to do before using your card at any retailer is to make sure there isn't anything sticking onto/out of the card reader; card "skimmers" are little magstripe readers that read the black stripe on the back of your card, people just slap them onto the machines that take cards in and just saves the data, they then write the data to a blank card and use that.

This is more common on ATM Machines however (see here for an example)

Jeepers..I never would have thought about something like that. I use a bank debit card everywhere.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if these scam artists used their talent and brains to actually get a real job and do some GOOD for this country!!??

Tam, you must be very very careful with bank debit cards as well. Debit cards get swiped through the reading machines as well as credit cards and can be used in person or on-line.

Last year a large grocery store chain was hacked and zillions of debit card numbers were stolen & accounts depleted. The guys are in jail now but man dear, lots of people were messed up!

I'll second that!


I called the store and asked for the store manager. I got a woman who said she was operations control - okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay... I told her what happened and she of course said there wasn't anything they could do for us. NO STUPID - I am telling you to check out your machines!!! Something is amiss there! DUH!

She rushed me off the phone saying she'd speak to "someone". Yeah... right!

Thank goodness American Express has our backs!

Debit cards cannot be used on-line here...and they need a PIN number to use them, must be why we don't have as much trouble. Debit and credit cards also have 'chips' in them here.

Me Either! that is really Scarey Lynne,,

Lynne, will they issue you a new card now?

Yes they are sending out a temporary card for Don to arrive today, and then he'll get his permanent card in about 5 busines days. I have to say, I am impressed with the way American Express is handling these cases.

I just wish they were ahead of these clever thieves!

A word to the wise should be sufficient. A PIN can be hacked more easily than an entire card number and it does happen, with frightening regularity. Many people choose to reset their PIN numbers every month to try to stay ahead of would-be thieves.

Lynne I'm glad Am X is doing so well by you guys.

And you are right: It will be wonderful when this kind of theft is a thing of the past.