Stolen

My debit card number, that is! Here's the story...

Sunday morning, Branden and I went out to buy groceries. When I attempted to pay with my debit card, it was declined. Branden paid for our groceries, and we came home, wondering what would cause my card to be declined.

After unloading the groceries, we logged on to our accounts online and boy, was I in for a shock! There at the top of the detail on my account were four strange charges that I knew nothing about - three to DHL totaling over $2200, and another to usps.com for $4.75.

Initially, I was in shock. Of course I'd heard of this happening, but didn't this always happen to someone else? A friend of a friend, someone a coworker knows, etc. But it was actually happening to me? Wow.

I immediately called my bank's customer support number. Here is where I have to brag on Chase and their fraud department. They never questioned me about the fraudulent charges. They had even already added a fraud alert to my account before I called - apparently the thief tried a fourth charge at DHL for over $900, but that one didn't go through. (Seriously - who spends over $3000 at DHL? What are they shipping, and to where?)

I spent about fifteen minutes on the phone with the fraud department, and they completely took care of me. The representative gave me a number to call back as soon as the charges actually hit my account (they were still pending) so that a credit could be issued. They also gave me a number to get in touch with DHL (that was a laugh...more on that in a minute!).

On Tuesday morning, I logged on to my account, and it was like it had never happened! All four fraudulent charges were completely gone, and everything looked great. The good news in all of this is that they only got my debit card number - so my actual account is still safe, as are our other accounts (savings and Branden's checking). I was issued a new debit card, which I should get in a few more days. Hopefully, this is all behind me.

Oh, except for the DHL part. I called their customer support line, and they said in order to get in touch with the fraud department, I had to e-mail them with my contact information. So I did, on Sunday. I have yet to hear from them! Good thing Chase is taking care of me, because they certainly aren't!

So to recap:

Credit card fraud stinks.

Yay for Chase!
Boo on DHL.