Vacation Fallout

Talk about an expensive vacation!

The fraud department of my bank called me this morning.  They were questioning some charges that started showing up at 6:00 this morning.

Had I made a 99 cent purchase with Sony Entertainment?
How about a $5.00 donation to Africare?
Oh... and did I spend $948 on something called a streetman?

No, no and NO!

It seems the bad guy also opened up a pay pal account in my name, on my dime.

Gah!!

Fortunately the bank is on top of it (yay US Bank!!) and I am not responsible for any of these (and about 20 more) charges.  My account is now locked and secured and a fraud case has officially been opened.

I asked the bank fellow if there was something I could do to eliminate or minimize my risk of this happening again.  For instance change the way I shop on-line or don't let my card out of my sight, ever.  He replied that in this day and age, with current technology there is NOTHING to prevent a determined crook from committing these crimes.  It's just a game of Russian roulette and it was my turn.  He did say it was most likely someone that had my card in the last few weeks.

I can't help but wonder which seemingly lovely person I met on my vacation committed this crime.  Was it the nice old lady at the botanical garden gift shop who took so much care to wrap the gift I purchased?  Was it the nice bartender, recently moved from Key West, new grandpa and the unhappy owner of his first pair of "real" shoes?  Was it the English-as-a-second-language parking attendant we tipped so generously or the cute girl with the interesting tattoos, piercings and hair color that had never been jet skiing but worked at the jet ski place?

Unless I'm in a hurry (or they are) I generally do not just "do business."  I chat and visit and learn about the people I deal with.  And I admit it, I'm a pollyanna and it breaks my heart that someone that I had a conversation with had the nerve to do this to me.  How rude!

Now I am cash only until my replacement card shows up in a week or so.  It'll probably be good for me to get back to cash.  It's way too easy to spend money I don't see.

The upshot is that my behavior won't change.  I will continue to shop online, use my debit card and chat with everyone.  It's who I am and I'm not gonna fight it.