Got an email from the fraud detection program of a credit card company a few minutes ago. It listed a half dozen transactions and said if there were any I didn't recognize then I should call them. I saw two items with today's date for one dollar each, and I hadn't made any such charges, so I called.
It was the self-serve gas station where I had just filled up about a half hour earlier. Something I didn't know before: when you use a credit card at a self-serve gas station, as soon as it reads your credit card it makes a one dollar (or some other amount) charge to verify the card before it allows you to continue and fill the tank. It happens so fast that there is no noticeable delay. So the two one-dollar charges were the test charge and a credit for that amount when the card passed.
I like the way credit card companies look out for any odd occurrence. In this case, I had made a charge at the gas station and a few minutes later I made a $223 charge a few blocks down the street. That sequence triggered their fraud detection program.
A few months ago, my wife got a call from a bank about her debit card. There had been some charges made in Michigan with her name and card number. After talking with the bank, they cancelled the charges and she cancelled the debit card. Finally! I hate those things.
She had been in Detroit about a year earlier. I'm guessing that is when her card data were stolen.
I miss cash. <sigh>
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