I use my Capital One credit card for virtually everything and then pay my balance off every week.
Last night at 9 pm while watching TV, I got a text alert from Capital One asking if I had made a certain charge. It was definitely a place I had not been to in years (and my physical card was in my wallet), so I responded "no" and was given a fraud alert number to call.
After spending 10 minutes on the phone with a fraud specialist, it appears my card had been "skimmed" and the number was being used multiple times at multiple places in New York state (thousands of miles from where I live).
The agent immediately froze the card, credited all charges, and opened up a fraud report. Case closed.
If the exact scenario had happened with a debit card, no immediate credit would have been given, and I would have had to wait for a bank to complete an investigation before getting any of my money back. This sometimes takes weeks or even months, depending on the bank.
Hopefully, this anecdote will help out someone that frequently uses their debit card for purchases.
ETA: The number I called was directly from the capitalone.com website after I logged on to check my transactions. Thanks to those who pointed out to verify any number you call first.
Submitted May 25, 2019 at 03:07PM by SkelterHelter68 http://bit.ly/2EAGF3I
