Thanks Big Brother

I received a call from "Unknown" on my cell phone this afternoon. I don't typically answer my cell phone at work, and rarely answer calls from unknown numbers no matter where I am. I must have been itching for a distraction.

It turned out to be someone from my bank. Of course I was suspicious of someone telling me they were from my bank. I waited for the questions fishing for my personal information.

She said she was calling because there was some suspicious debit card activity, and she wanted to see if the charges were legitimate. She said someone had made charges yesterday to PayPal, Yahoo Personals, Skype and PC Shield. Not me. She said she would cancel the card, send me a new one, and remove the charges from my account. The only information I gave her was verifying the street address she had was correct.

After the call was over, I jumped online to check out my account. There were indeed seven bogus charges totaling about $210. Not sure how they got a hold of my information. The card they used isn't even the one I am currently using. For some reason I have two different debit card numbers. The numbers alternate with each new card I receive. It actually works pretty well because I get the new one before the old one expires, and the new one shows up about the time the magnetic strip gives out on the old one.

I'm not sure if it was the different card number that tipped them off, or if it was just the rapid online charges (four to the same company). Whatever it was, I'm glad someone (besides me) was paying attention.