Credit Card Fraud

As with all things in life, there are ups and downs.

When we were dining at the Grand Canyon ( a major upper ) we had a bit of a downer.

Imagine my surprise, when the waiter discreetly let me know my credit card was declined.

Impossible, I said, because we are very careful to never come even close to our limit, and we pay our card off every month.

Must be some mistake, I reasoned, and asked Teresa to try her card.

Declined !!

As soon as we got back to the motel room, I called our Mastercard provider - President's Choice Financial.

Actually, I was a little miffed, because I thought they missed the fact that I had alerted them to our travel to Arizona.

When the friendly rep asked me if we were in North Carolina, I began to have a sinking feeling.

Oh, oh, there were over twenty charges in a matter of hours at gas stations, grocery stores, pharmacies, and others.  All in N Carolina.

This activity was noted by the bank's software, and an immediate lock down was enforced.

Now what ... I was relieved to find out I would not be responsible for these charges.

Also, a new card would be sent out to our home address immediately.

After a few security questions, they were able to re-activate Teresa's card.  We are on the same account, but she has a different number than me.

We were successful using Teresa's card for all our purchases, and thought that this was just a minor inconvenience.

Fast forward about five days, and after enjoying a great meal, a very kind and considerate waiter whispers in Teresa's ears ( we were with a bunch of friends ) that her card was declined.

Dang.  When we phoned the bank again, they said this was a separate issue, and Teresa's card was compromised as well.

They are also sending her a new card to our home address.  Now, we have a new problem.

We leave here next week, and won't have a mailing address until our stay in Palm Springs in March.

As we told a few others of our misadventure, we came to find out that there are hundreds of us in our park and the park next to us that have fallen victim to the fraudsters.

The police are involved and have some suspicion about a couple of local stores, but nothing definite yet.

I also came to find out that somehow these perpetrators are able to gain access to your account through debit cards.  

This seems impossible to me because of PIN numbers, but we talked to a gal in our office who said it happened to her and her husband, and their checking accounts are frozen.

We are not sure if our cards were scanned out of our sight, or if someone within a local store would have access to our info, but it has left us feeling a little leery and drained.

Why am I telling you this ??  

Well, although our original idea was to do this journal so friends and family would know of our adventures and travels, we thought it might be a good idea to let our RV'ing friends know so that we can all be diligent in protecting ourselves.

Now, if you will excuse me, I am going to BBQ some salmon fillets with a glass of wine by my side.

See, it isn't all bad !!