There seems to be endless coverage about the fallout from the false missile alert. The person who made the mistake has been getting death threats. Governor Ige has been criticized and some are thinking it will impact his re-election campaign. Seems to me that in the end there's been some benefits from all this. People have the time now to think what they could do in the event of a real threat. First Hawaiian Bank and Walmart workers are being educated on trying to help people instead of turning them away from their establishments in a crisis. Failsafes are being activated.
Anyway, with all this going on I was surprised yesterday to get this.
What?
It was about 7:00 AM and we certainly hadn't gone to McDonalds.
So was this a real alert?
We were dubious. We're not trusting anything anymore. So Art called the credit card company. They said someone had bought something at McDonalds yesterday morning before I was even awake. They'd also gone to KFC twice a few days ago.
Then we found out that these purchases were being made in Virginia!
So it's a real alert! It's real! Arrrghh! The credit card was cancelled and a new one was issued to us.
Aggravation!
OK... We're going to be paying more attention to these alerts now. Siren or no siren.
What?
It was about 7:00 AM and we certainly hadn't gone to McDonalds.
So was this a real alert?
We were dubious. We're not trusting anything anymore. So Art called the credit card company. They said someone had bought something at McDonalds yesterday morning before I was even awake. They'd also gone to KFC twice a few days ago.
Then we found out that these purchases were being made in Virginia!
So it's a real alert! It's real! Arrrghh! The credit card was cancelled and a new one was issued to us.
Aggravation!
OK... We're going to be paying more attention to these alerts now. Siren or no siren.
I wonder how something like that happens, but it seems as though it was caught early.
ReplyDeleteI have had a problem like that twice in the past. One time someone in Indonesia charged a hotel room on my credit card number. I argued with the bank about it for several weeks and ended up calling the Kansas Attorney General about it and he made the bank give me credit for that charge. I ended up not only cancelling that credit card but changing banks over that incident.
ReplyDeleteHaven't had that happen recently but paid attention to it when it did. Our alert came by a phone call. Big purchase at a Taco Bell in Texas which is nowhere near Maryland.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you guys caught that and even better those were small amounts. I have heard of thousands of dollars in fraud.
ReplyDeleteI got an alert about a $500 charge made in California for make-up. Good catch on my bank's part! I also got an alert about a purchase I did make recently and made a quick call to verify the transaction with the bank. I am glad that they have this service in place.
ReplyDeleteyes, they start with a couple of very small charges to see if it goes through...before they pull one big day of massive charges. Lucky your bank caught the small ones, but it's still a pain in the butt and unsettling. Sorry you have to deal with this!
ReplyDeleteI am grateful to my bank for this alert business. As Silver said, first the small ones. Mine was a couple of Uber charges in California. Actually, I felt bad because I think the ultimate loser is the Uber driver.
ReplyDeleteoh geez,,, thats terrible!!!!
ReplyDeleteArt did the right thing, as always! Terrible mistake by the guy who did the alert but for him to get death threats! That's awful.
ReplyDeleteSame thing happened to Saimi at http://mydogarchie.blogspot.com/ only the charges were to iTunes at a time they were sound asleep. Glad you have that alert.
ReplyDeleteHope you have somewhere solid in case of a missile attack. I too am glad you got that alert. We are all learning.
ReplyDeleteI have alerts go to my phone if anything is over 0.01 cents.
ReplyDeleteGlad it worked out. If I see a charge that I do not recognize on my statement, I call in and they remove the charge after a little investigating. I LOVE my credit cards so I like how the benefit of the doubt is on my side.
ReplyDeleteYou had a few stressful days.
ReplyDeleteOK, good to know. We get alerts when our credit cards are used on line or by phone, and we can verify that they are legitimate. So far we have escaped any credit card fraud, but we will know now that it is important to pay attention to alerts.
ReplyDeleteYikes! Glad to know you found out this fraud before you had any terrible repercussions. :-)
ReplyDeleteit's a crazy world any more with emails, phone calls and scams to watch out for...
ReplyDeleteSorry that happened to you. But as with the false alert, there is the good that they caught it! Wishing you all the best, Dear
ReplyDeleteThat's amazing that they warned you. I wasn't warned when someone used my card for sports purchases in Ohio, $2500. I was looking at my card charges online. sigh. They refunded me, and we cancelled that card. What a pain, though.
ReplyDeleteWhat bothers me are the trolls who go after people like this. I cannot imagine.
Maybe the state will have to give all of us some sort of a token rebate for their careless, alarming mistake. Haha... Yes, I know I'm dreaming.
ReplyDelete