View Full Version : Watch those credit cards
Hiker's mom
03-19-2007, 23:07
A word of caution, watch those credit cards carefully. Have someone at home check your statements for you monthly. Ghost's statement came today with a $1,088 charge for a British Airways plane ticket and a $20 Expedia charge. We were able to contact the card company and get the charges removed while they investigate the fraud. Could have been a different story if he had set up auto bank drafts to cover while he was gone. Just before the charges, he had used his card at an outfitter in VA. Their computer was "down" and someone took down his info to input later. It was probably not someone there (as the charges originated online in England), but that was just a day or two before the charges originated. Be careful, don't let it ruin a great experience.
hammock engineer
03-19-2007, 23:10
I am lucky in the fact that I have someone that can check my statements for me when I am gone. Might be something to consider if you have someone you can trust, a lot.
Earl Grey
03-19-2007, 23:25
Most banks now have online billpay/statements etc. Actually I have instructed mine not to send out paper statements anymore as I just get them in electronic form now. I check it every couple days at least and will do this on the trail too when I can.
hammock engineer
03-19-2007, 23:46
Most banks now have online billpay/statements etc. Actually I have instructed mine not to send out paper statements anymore as I just get them in electronic form now. I check it every couple days at least and will do this on the trail too when I can.
If you do that on public PC's I would have sure you see the "https" in the address line. The "s" means it is a secure connection. I would also make sure to clear the cookies when you are done, just incase the PC automatically saved any of your info.
Few items: Take all the cards and official documents. Lay them out on a copier and shoot a copy or two. Turn them all over and do it again. Gives you instant access to "what is lost"
Sign up for online access to any accounts. Check as often as you can. On public computers. CLear Cache. Clear Cookies, Clear History. Clear everything! Then, close down. Make sure you also logoff each account as you go on and off.
Be careful whom you designate to care for your money back home. One NOBO I ran into last year had his girlfriend take quite a bit from his account. Or should I say "ex-girlfriend?"
Frolicking Dinosaurs
03-20-2007, 07:06
Perhaps one of those re-loadable prepaid credit cards would work for hikers? I have a friend who now gives her teens their allowance this way - she has her checking account set up to auto draft to the kids prepaid accounts every month....
TN_Hiker
03-20-2007, 08:24
Few items: Take all the cards and official documents. Lay them out on a copier and shoot a copy or two. Turn them all over and do it again. Gives you instant access to "what is lost"
Sign up for online access to any accounts. Check as often as you can. On public computers. CLear Cache. Clear Cookies, Clear History. Clear everything! Then, close down. Make sure you also logoff each account as you go on and off.
You need to be aware clearing cookies, cache, and history does not remove all the info. from the hard drive. Granted it does move it so Windows doesn't see it, but rest assured it is still there. In order to scrub the hard drive you need to have admin rights. Admin rights are usually restricted on public computers.
Appalachian Tater
03-20-2007, 19:53
Keystroke logging fraud can happen on public computers, as well.
atraildreamer
03-20-2007, 22:11
Few items: Take all the cards and official documents. Lay them out on a copier and shoot a copy or two. Turn them all over and do it again.
I read somewhere that the electrostatic fields generated in the copying process can demagnetize the magnetic stripes on the cards, making them useless. Anyone else heard of this? :confused:
cargousa
03-20-2007, 22:19
>>electrostatic fields generated in the copying process can demagnetize
BS, I've done this on several occasions, no problem
But make sure you put on your tin foil hat before copying!
--cargo
I read somewhere that the electrostatic fields generated in the copying process can demagnetize the magnetic stripes on the cards, making them useless. Anyone else heard of this? :confused:
As part of my job, I keep track of a whole slew of business credit cards, which includes making copies of both sides before I hand them out to the guys. (You know that when you report a lost or stolen card, they ask for the card number, which is sometimes hard to come by, since you no longer have the card. In fact, I'm not sure how I'd know what phone number to call to report the lost or stolen card if I didn't have a copy of the card to look at.)
Copying the cards hasn't demagnetized any of them yet.
Marta/Five-Leaf
A word of caution, watch those credit cards carefully. Have someone at home check your statements for you monthly. Ghost's statement came today with a $1,088 charge for a British Airways plane ticket and a $20 Expedia charge. ...................etc,etc,etc,................... .................................................. .........................don't let it ruin a great experience.
ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS...get those carbon copy reciepts...don't trust the clerk to throw them away...:D
Customer's copy doesn't have but the last 4 numbers on the card, right?
Most important thing in IMHO is to have a plan in place to check your statements-- even on those dormant cards you hardly ever use.
It would be harder to get you credit card companies to take responsibility if you only told them of the fraud the day you got back from a 6-month hike.
If you inform the credit card companies in a timely fashion, they are the ones on the hook. The rules might be different for debit cards. NOt sure about those.