My 17 yr son has had own bank account since he was 15 along with his Visa check card. The day before school was to end for the summer I was reviewing his account online as I usually do on a weekly basis to make sure he isn't making frivolous purchases. There were 7 holds on his account from Verizon Wireless and 2 charges totaling 129.00 had posted. He was at work and I had no way to reach him ( cell phones prohibited ) so I called the CU and had then cancel the card so no more charges could be made. We are under contract with Suncom, but I asked him if he had used his card online or gone to a Verizon store, he said no.
My banks card services rep gave me the number for Verizon's Fraud department. When I called the guy asked where I got his number. I told him my bank retains names & phone numbers from fraud departments they have had previous fraud transactions from. I asked for the money to be credited back and he said I would have to go through my banks fraud department. I asked if I gave him the transaction number if he could look up what phone number these purchases were applied to. He said I can't give you that information that would be a violation to our customers privacy. I was appalled with that explanation. He went on to tell me the police is the only one that could obtain the customers information. So then I asked him "why" Verizon don't ask for the 3 digit security code since every merchant I pay by phone, online etc asked for the security code. He said Verizon & other companies are working closely with the FCR to reduce these charges. I asked him for his name and direct number should I need to call him in the future which he kindly gave me. However when he called my banks card services he jumped down her throat and told her to never give customers the fraud department phone numbers to the banks customers.
I asked where someone may have had access to his card number since the only place he uses it is Taco Bell, Walmart & gas station. He said a few students were talking about Visa cards and he said he needed to get a new one since his has several cracks in it. One student had him to pull his card out to examine it. She snatched the card from his hand and said here I'll show you a magic trick and put a piece of paper over it. He didn't see what she did but other students said the girl took a pencil over the face and transferred the numbers to the paper. I few days later all these charges showed up on his account. We had to go to the bank and fill out debit fraud papers and file a police report. While we were at the bank they tried an additional 7 times to make other purchases.The bank has done a provisional credit for the charges and the police has this girl as a suspect. The last day of school she came to school with a new Verizon phone & a new digital camera.Don't know the likely hood of them prosecuting her but I hope they do to teach her a lesson. As for my son, he learned a valuable lesson as well unless you are making a purchase keep your card in your wallet!
