Wednesday, May 21, 2008

BUYING ONLINE--BEWARE--I GOT STUNG

It HAPPENED to me; some creep got my debit card number (I had ordered something online recently) and made a nice purchase with MY money. SO he thought. I've always been way to trusting. I just hate thinking that someone is actually going to try rip me off. Well, no more!
Today, as I do everyday or every other, I opened my bank account on-line to see what checks have cleared and what my balance was. I QUICKLY noticed I had about $200 LESS than I should have. As I scrolled over to the date and name by the purchase amt., I SEE a charge for $234.00 paid to AUTO-TRADER!
AUTO-TRADER???? I thought to myself. Me? I don't think so! In fact, I have plenty of good miles left on my Subaru. Luckily, there was a number and address under the AUTO-TRADER name and I couldn't dial it fast enough.
The helpful woman who answered the phone wasn't all that shocked when I told her my bad news. In fact, she said, the "purchaser" had been flagged as he/she had quite a bit of activity the past few days. Seems the THIEF used my card number to place the ad for a scheme that I guess is fairly common: These scammers/thieves, place ads on AUTO-TRADER and then when some poor buyer says they are interested in a car (the one the THIEF placed with my card was for $29,000), then the THIEF tells the buyer to send HALF the money! YEAH....SURE!
So, BEWARE when placing orders on-line UNLESS you are certain they are VERY secure. AND, check your bank statement offen.
Fool me once, shame on you...Fool me twice, SHAME on ME. (Who said that?)

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