Last week, Citibank told me that our debit card may have been compromised. That’s why they reduced our cash limit suddenly without telling us. There may have been a robot call but I’m not sure.
I found out when I tried to take out more than $500 from my account on a weekend and the screen told me that I wasn’t allowed to do that.
When I called Citibank, they told me that many debit/credit card passwords had been compromised in this area and as a safety measure, they were limiting the amount of cash that can be withdrawn from a large number of accounts in the area.
I’m not sure why they suspected that my account had been compromised or if they are protecting a random selection of local accounts.
In order to get the security limit lifted, the Citibank operator went over every transaction on my card made since December 12th.
I was able to confirm that there were no fraudulent uses of the card.
Reading Park Slope Parents, I see that a lot of members are talking about finding purchases they never made on their cards. Many of the purchases are at gas stations in Texas.
Citicard is causing the theft of information if you ask me, by using a huge clearing house to serve as their customer service reps. I got a call three days in a row to tell me my Radioshack Citicard was late and they wanted a payment over the phone. They wanted to speak to my husband about my account it seemed, not me, he’s not on it. Turned out after several of these nuisance calls they had it wrong, they wanted him alright but it was because his Stapes Citicard had missed a payment. Scarey to think they would jumble all our info into one space with low paid employees, not knowing what they do or caring.
It seems there are two different issues here. Some people have had fraudulent charges, and the prevalence of these in certain places has led Citibank to limit everyone’s limit. Last year, I received a renewal credit card with the wireless capability (you can wave it near a receiver in some stores, and in a trial with Citibank PayPass, near certain specially appointed subway turnstiles, so you retain the illusion of security in that the card never leaves your hand) and almost immediately had fraudulent charges, leading me to suspect someone “got” the identifying information through the envelope, before the card ever made it to me.
I had fraudulent charges to my Citibank account too recently — two for Domnino’s Pizza (where I’ve never eaten in my life) and three for Tatsu Sushi on Flatbush (where I haven’t eaten in quite some time).
Put me in that “me too” category. Had my HSBC debit card number and my Bank of America credit card number lifted and then charges made to them at that same gas station and Walmart in Texas. Amazing, huh? I hope we eventually learn in this country that mental illness and psychopathy are the causes of crime, and “homelessness,” drug addiction, etc., and not the euphemistically labelled scourges of poverty or racism, which while they tragically do exist, are effects more than causes. Mental illness and psychopathy cause racism and poverty, not the other way around. Think about it. Can you be sane and be a racist, hating someone for the color of their skin, or for any external differences, for that matter? Can you be mentally healthy and physically able-bodied and still not find the determination to improve your lot financially, at least to a level of reasonable survival? Not to say there aren’t incredible degrees of corruption and greed running rampant in our country, but still, we are all ultimately in charge of our own destiny if we’re not crazy. None of the social problems we suffer from in our society will improve or remotely approach elimination until we place mental and emotional health on the top of our priority list.
Always remember to read the police blotter in The Brooklyn Paper, where these crimes show up with regularity. Reporters like Dana Rubinstein, Adam F. Hutton, Mike McLaughlin, Joe Jordan and Michael Giardina who actually go to the precincts to read the police reports deserve credit for breaking these stories on a weekly basis.
GERSH KUNTZMAN
Editor
The Brooklyn Paper
http://www.brooklynpaper.com/sections/news/crime/