alfreda89 | Perhaps they forgot to close the back door....

from a friend's LJ, for warning and sharing...:

"Another $2,000+ credit card fraud attempt hit my WAMU account this morning.
That's the second in about six weeks.

Thing is, this time it's against the new credit card number issued to me after
I closed my prior account due to the previous fraud event. The new card has
sat in my desk drawer with the little sticker still on it, not activated or
used in any way. No telephone shopping, no Web sites, no POS transactions.

Which means that the thief either broke into my house, copied down the info on
this one credit card without disturbing anything in my office and left again;
or WAMU's credit card data is insecure on their systems. There's simply no
other way the number could have gotten out except a hack against WAMU.

When I tried to explain this to the fraud agent, she wasn't interested. Not in
the script. So I talked to customer service and closed the account
permanently. There's no point in having another card re-issued if their back
end is insecure. She wasn't interested either. Also not in the script.

I very strongly suggest that if you have a WAMU credit card you close it
immediately. They are not able to keep customer financial data secure, and
they aren't interested in hearing from customers about the problem."

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

When I spent about three months transferring, closing, rolling over, or otherwise laying claim to the various accounts my mother had active (after she passed away), the AIG account she had through WAMU was by far the biggest pain to deal with.

First, WAMU told me they couldn't do anything about transfers without Mom's approval. It took me a while to convince them, even with a death certificate, that she couldn't easily give them that approval, since she was deceased.

Then, WAMU told me I'd have to discuss it with the AIG representative. He's based in Dallas and only drives through Austin a couple of days a month, and doesn't have a reliable schedule, but it would have to be in person, and no, they couldn't notify me when he was in. I'd just have to keep calling every day to see if he happened to be there and rush in immediately if he were.

BS. After much ranting, and an escalation to an officer, I got the number of the AIG rep, who tried to tell me the same story. I offered to drive to Dallas. He finally backed down and let me mail him a copy of the death certificate and several other documents.

Next, I was told that I could only close the account during certain windows of opportunity. I apologized for Mom having been so short-sighted as to die out of season, and informed them that they were, in fact, going to accept this as an extenuating circumstance and get my money the hell out of that account. Now.

Then they lost the death certificate.

It took me over six months to get the money from the account.

I will NEVER do business with WAMU or AIG again. For any reason.

'Nuff said. And then some.

Oh -- and I forgot to mention that when they sold Mom the idea of this special account, instead of the CD she went in to purchase, they neglected to tell her that it wasn't insured. She, being a banker, was horrified, but was too ill by that time to do anything about it. She did tell me to get the money out of that account as soon as I could, and that "good banks" don't do business that way. Ayep.

Russ suggests sending a description of the problem and all relevant documentation to the credit-card company. WAMU may not care, but Visa/Mastercard sure will!

Also, tell your friend to run a credit report immediately and see if there are any credit cards on there that she doesn't know about, or anything else that looks fishy. If her personal information has been compromised, identity theft is a real threat.

*Sigh* I don't work for WAMU. But I do work in the industry. And she may be right. Her data may be compromised. But here are still other possible explainations here and I hope she isn't taking this course without considering them. Has she shredded all the docs that came with her card - or is someone fishing in her trash can? Variations of mail theft are the biggest piece of the fraud pie chart. That and people you know getting into your info. She can blame WAMU and she might be right, but if it were me, I would also be wondering if anyone had been in my house. Including friends of friends, repair people, and friends of my kids.

Chances are, if the corruption of the card number is from the source, that source isn't WAMU. Almost no one processes their own plastic anymore. It's all outsourced. So closing her account isn't going to help that. (But it's one way to deal with the fact that they made her feel like they didn't care about her concerns.) WAMU may also have outsourced the maintenance of their card records too. That's a bit less common, but still happening. I hope she doesn't get wrapped up in the idea that WAMU is the only possible culprit and miss other issues. Particularly since this is the second occurance. When hacking and data compromise occur, they are usually pretty random. That two different card number for the same person would be involved is a bit odd. Maybe she's just had a run of bad luck. But I hope she's checking her credit reports and has considered a fraud alert. JMHO.

If it makes it any easier, a friend's mother died, after leaving her lawyer/judge daughter to handle the estate. The woman left most of her stocks to charities (who could not seem to get the stuff taken care of themselves) and Pay On Death amounts from various banks (the grandkids live in a different state. The banks say the kids must appear in person for the POD to be executed...)

You get the picture. I am wondering just how to leave things to avoid so many of these traps.

Yes, there is almost always a catch, isn't there?

Since this woman has already been through this once, I trust she's watching things. It's time for us to get through congress something that makes the watch on the account default -- not something you have to pay extra for.

CORRECTION: "She" is a "he". Not gender biased, apparently, and my friends are running two female and two male having had trouble.

Edited 2008-06-16 04:08 (UTC)

I two-way cutting shredder is a small, but real, comfort in this world. I will get off the lists for credit I haven't applied for as soon as the taxes are done.

*Sigh.*

Definately a good idea. I've gotten so paranoid I actually burn some of that stuff. But then I hear all the really bad horror stories.

My sister is on all of mom's accounts with survivor rights the same thing spousal accounts have.

Good idea --

In some states setting up a revocable trust for your assets is a way to streamline the estate problem.

It's a He, actually, who originally posted this notice in his LJ. Just to set the record straight... (and proof that it's not a gender thing)

My folks are in AZ -- they've done that.

Perhaps they forgot to close the back door....

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