Seriously?
Right now I'm very glad we have the high-level credit fraud monitoring/protection/insurance plan-thingy with Chase, who runs our Amazon Visa card.
It notifies us whenever there is a transaction over $100 online or any transactions out of the country. It waits for approval from us before processing. It can sometimes be a hassle since we order lots of big ticket items from newegg and Amazon, there is a small monthly fee, and it does mean that Brian is constantly bugging me to see what I purchased to confirm the transaction (and since his 30th birthday is coming up, he knows I'm planning something big), but it has proved worth it today!
This was the IM'ing that took place (keep in mind I was responding one-handed while holding Ezri, who was determined to "help" me type):
Brian: Did you order something for $354.96?
I don't need to know what if so
11:10 AM Just got a credit card alert and confirming
11:14 AM me: no i did not!
no orders placed today
11:15 AM nothing for that amount
Brian: Okay, MACWIRELESS.COM does not sound familiar?
11:16 AM me: not at all
11:17 AM Brian: Islamic Center of Greater Australia?
I almost thought Brian was joking, but no... someone used our card to donate funds to the Islamic Center of Greater Australia. I'm practically waiting for the Men in Black to show up and interrogate us about terrorist ties or something. (Disclaimer: I don't believe donating to Islamic organizations makes you a terrorist, I'm just saying that our government's paranoid reaction is to assume that).
So we quickly contacted the appropriate banking authorities and that card is canceled. We're getting a replacement and we don't have to worry about any of the charges, since we never confirmed them (and their algorithm correctly flagged them as suspicious, anyway). The only annoying aspect is having to go into our Amazon accounts and change our default billing information. I think my Nook account is also set up to auto-charge to that card as well.
It notifies us whenever there is a transaction over $100 online or any transactions out of the country. It waits for approval from us before processing. It can sometimes be a hassle since we order lots of big ticket items from newegg and Amazon, there is a small monthly fee, and it does mean that Brian is constantly bugging me to see what I purchased to confirm the transaction (and since his 30th birthday is coming up, he knows I'm planning something big), but it has proved worth it today!
This was the IM'ing that took place (keep in mind I was responding one-handed while holding Ezri, who was determined to "help" me type):
Brian: Did you order something for $354.96?
I don't need to know what if so
11:10 AM Just got a credit card alert and confirming
11:14 AM me: no i did not!
no orders placed today
11:15 AM nothing for that amount
Brian: Okay, MACWIRELESS.COM does not sound familiar?
11:16 AM me: not at all
11:17 AM Brian: Islamic Center of Greater Australia?
I almost thought Brian was joking, but no... someone used our card to donate funds to the Islamic Center of Greater Australia. I'm practically waiting for the Men in Black to show up and interrogate us about terrorist ties or something. (Disclaimer: I don't believe donating to Islamic organizations makes you a terrorist, I'm just saying that our government's paranoid reaction is to assume that).
So we quickly contacted the appropriate banking authorities and that card is canceled. We're getting a replacement and we don't have to worry about any of the charges, since we never confirmed them (and their algorithm correctly flagged them as suspicious, anyway). The only annoying aspect is having to go into our Amazon accounts and change our default billing information. I think my Nook account is also set up to auto-charge to that card as well.