Two arrested in the Target hacking case.

[Armistead]

Webster is correct, right now it's cheaper for them not to change or use improved software....regardless of the hell it will place on customers.....

I had my identity stolen a 6 years ago, it was a nightmare, it ruined my credit for years, insanity dealing with numerous credit card companies and detectives and regardless always trying to force cost on me. Heck, they even arrested the guy, he posted bail and went home to Mexico, only to hit me again a year later...this time doing about 12K damage in California....After numerous hand signatures test, they still said I did it, even though I've never been near that state...It finally resolved. I had to go through a long process of changing SS numbers, etc...and spent close to 5K to fight and defend myself...

I hope it's an easier process to deal with today.

Originally Posted by Armistead

Webster is correct, right now it's cheaper for them not to change or use improved software....regardless of the hell it will place on customers.....

I had my identity stolen a 6 years ago, it was a nightmare, it ruined my credit for years, insanity dealing with numerous credit card companies and detectives and regardless always trying to force cost on me. Heck, they even arrested the guy, he posted bail and went home to Mexico, only to hit me again a year later...this time doing about 12K damage in California....After numerous hand signatures test, they still said I did it, even though I've never been near that state...It finally resolved. I had to go through a long process of changing SS numbers, etc...and spent close to 5K to fight and defend myself...

I hope it's an easier process to deal with today.

sadly I think its even worse today because now your info is shared by thousands of crooks over the web so you may be under attack the rest of your life unless people go to the extremes like you did and get all new identity.

if any of you out there know someone who has a problem please do them the favor of telling them not to follow the credit card companies process and bypass all that by reporting the card as stolen so you want to cancel it and request a new card. this is the fastest and simplest way to resolve the matter for them and they can then move on.

the ones who get screwed in all of it are the stores who lose the merchandise and never get paid for it from the credit card companies and because they don't have to pay the stores for purchases made with stolen cards the credit card companies have no real incentive to immediately prevent the card from being used again and in some cases they act as though that isn't their job.

this is a conversation I had last year when I got a call from visa that my card was being used in some little country next to or in Russia:
(I cant remember so i'll just call it Russia)

Me: no I haven't made any recent purchases in Russia, I live in the united states and only shop locally.

Them: well we see there are several large purchases made outside of your location in the united states and at the same time there are local charges being made on the card so we feel there is some illegal activity on your card.

Me: I live in the USA so that is not me making any charges in Russia because I cant be In two countries across the globe from each other at the same time, so my card info has definitely been stolen.

Them: "thank you, we will file an incident report and an investigator will contact you in a few days about the incident"

Me: ok, thank you for calling me and warning me about this theft. I assume this means my card has now been canceled and you are going to send me a new one?

Them: well no, that is not how we do it, we need to investigate the incident first and after the investigation has been completed and the investigator files his report, we will see what he recommends. if he feels it is warranted, then we "may" issue a new card to you.

Me: ok then just cancel my card and close my account effective immediately.

after that there was a bunch of butt kissing trying to get me not to cancel the card but I told them "nicely" (because its not the worker on the phones who makes the rules) to "shove it"

had I used their "process" it would have taken at the very minimum 2-3 weeks to get around to canceling the card

im sure they react this way because people make false claims of stolen cards to try and avoid paying for legit purchases but they can better protect customers from real theft if they just give you a new card first, then do the investigating and put the charges back onto the new card if they are found to be legitimate charges. some card companies will do this but most don't.

[Onkel Neal]

Target: maybe now the US will switch over to a better credit card system? I was hearing on NPR how Europe has a superior card with a chip embedded that makes it very hard to hack. Anyone use one of these cards, maybe fill us backwater Americans in on how they work?

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

Target: maybe now the US will switch over to a better credit card system? I was hearing on NPR how Europe has a superior card with a chip embedded that makes it very hard to hack. Anyone use one of these cards, maybe fill us backwater Americans in on how they work?

Explained here:

http://thepointsguy.com/2012/07/maxi...rds-in-europe/

The card I use:

http://help.barclaycard.co.uk/brochu...nd-pin-details

[vienna]

Jim, you forgot to include your card and pin numbers in your post...


<O>

[Jimbuna]

I'll wait till the 16th...that's my monthly pension day