MENA Daily Chat 1.0

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

Did you make a police report, also report that to the fraud department at SSA and also contact your 3 credit bureaus at www.annualcreditreport.com.. make sure you get your free report each year just to check to see if there's anything on there that shouldn't be.. I'm so sorry about the robberies and glad no one was hurt..

Livie when did you sneak in.. How are you doing

Hey Jenell! Speaking of robberies and credit card fraud dh's debit card info was stolen recently and they spent nearly $800 on our joint bank account. I don't understand how someone can do that when we set up our account to not have overdraft protection and opted to go with that new law that passed where we set up our account to decline transactions if there is no money in the account to cover the cost. That way we don't get an overdraft fee by spending what we don't have. So how could these charges be authorized without the money in our account with the way we have it set up is my first question. We only just found out when we were declined at the grocery store for a $10 purchase twice. Then we knew something was up. My fraud protection has caught this before and called my cell phone to see if I authorized purchases but since this was his debit card we weren't called for some reason? He just joined my account in April if that makes any difference. He didn't have a SS# or a cell phone at the time but shouldn't they have called me?

I also wanted to let you know that the haunted house seems normal right now. There hasn't been any kind of paranormal activity since I arrived here. No lights turning themselves on and off, no doors opening and closing on their own, not banging sound day and night coming from the creepy little closet at the top of the stairs, no whirring of manually operated bicycle battery lights all on their own. It's quiet like a normal old house so far. I wonder if the spirit went on vacation with the family this time?

[Mommy2ZaidnSalma 11]

Olivia...Opt in/Opt out (the law that was passed) only affects one time point of sale or atm withdrawals. Was the transaction not one of those? Im assuming you filed a claim with your bank and got all your money and overdraft fees back? That sucks but sadly happens on a day to day basis

[JeanneVictoria 55]

Good morning! Another beautiful morning! Had a little rain last night!!

Olivia, sorry what's happened. I do hope you can have a fast resolution. If I remember right, Tammy

sure had one heck of a time. I don't know if hers was completely resolved or not. That's a bummer!

Seems like we follow the guidelines for fraud checking so I don't know how someone is able to do what

they do to peoples accounts.

Morning Tammy, Jenell, Andrea, Kelly, Amber, Mandy and Charles. Hope your weekend is going fine.

Take care everyone and have a great day!

[FaithfulandTrue 6]

Hey Jenell! Speaking of robberies and credit card fraud dh's debit card info was stolen recently and they spent nearly $800 on our joint bank account. I don't understand how someone can do that when we set up our account to not have overdraft protection and opted to go with that new law that passed where we set up our account to decline transactions if there is no money in the account to cover the cost. That way we don't get an overdraft fee by spending what we don't have. So how could these charges be authorized without the money in our account with the way we have it set up is my first question. We only just found out when we were declined at the grocery store for a $10 purchase twice. Then we knew something was up. My fraud protection has caught this before and called my cell phone to see if I authorized purchases but since this was his debit card we weren't called for some reason? He just joined my account in April if that makes any difference. He didn't have a SS# or a cell phone at the time but shouldn't they have called me?

I also wanted to let you know that the haunted house seems normal right now. There hasn't been any kind of paranormal activity since I arrived here. No lights turning themselves on and off, no doors opening and closing on their own, not banging sound day and night coming from the creepy little closet at the top of the stairs, no whirring of manually operated bicycle battery lights all on their own. It's quiet like a normal old house so far. I wonder if the spirit went on vacation with the family this time?

Habibi had somebody tamper with his account like that but it was only 29.00.. we live in Birmingham and the person that did it was in Northport.. we disputed the charges and they gave him his money back.. back in 2007 I had the car dealer charge something they shouldn't have and I disputed the charges and they(the bank) gave me my money back immediately, even before I received the form to do it.. I'm not sure if when you put your husband on the account with you that they added that feature for him too.. sounds like they didn't have you tried talking with the bank manager.. they need to investigate to see how that happened.. sounds like it was the banks fault.. make sure you do the credit reports.. I would probably wait for a couple of weeks and do one for Transunion, then in 4 months do one for Experian, and then in 4 months do one for Equifax.. that way it won't miss anything... I am sooooooooo sorry that happened to you.. identity theft is really on the rise especially now the way the economy is about the house, I'm glad all is quiet there.. I would NOT be able to stay there if it were like it was before that would be complete overkill for me... I pray you get your money back soon Olivia, I really do

[FaithfulandTrue 6]

Good morning! Another beautiful morning! Had a little rain last night!!

Olivia, sorry what's happened. I do hope you can have a fast resolution. If I remember right, Tammy

sure had one heck of a time. I don't know if hers was completely resolved or not. That's a bummer!

Seems like we follow the guidelines for fraud checking so I don't know how someone is able to do what

they do to peoples accounts.

Morning Tammy, Jenell, Andrea, Kelly, Amber, Mandy and Charles. Hope your weekend is going fine.

Take care everyone and have a great day!

Hey Jeanne how are you doing??? Is the weather better there???

[FaithfulandTrue 6]

Good morning MENA!!! I pray everyone is doing great I really want to get my camera and take pictures of these beautiful trees but my side still hurts it really hurts more with the coffee I just had I think I need to lay off of the caffeine.. they even sell caffeinated water caffeine is a drug dog gone it, it's even in some orange sodas that some people may give to their kids ... I even get headaches when I try to stop drinking iced tea... what a world Hey ZaidsMommy Everyone else, hello

Edited October 16, 2010 by FaithfulandTrue

[~ameriptian~ 54]

Happy Caturday MENA!

Today is World Food Day! It's a day to spread the awareness that some people and children in some places of the world do not get access to all varieties of food and eating 3 meals a day to them is a luxury. Spread the awareness of the importance of eating healthy and being thankful for being able to eat and survive whenever you get hungry. Also, do not forget to donate the canned/frozen/packaged food you are not going to eat someone who might eat it.

Today is also my mother's birthday and we are surprising her on Skype today. I baked her a cake (that we eventually are going to eat lol) and the kids made her cards that we are going to show her on webcam, it's a birthday party on two different continents. Thank God for Skype!

Later today I am going to try cooking roast duck and stuffed eggplant for the first time. Let's see how that goes! LOL

We got done with half of Halloween shopping yesterday.. Got the kids costumes and now Mommy and Daddy are thinking about what they are going to be for Halloween. It's funny that our AOS interview is the morning after Halloween...I do hope we don't forget anything and get enough sleep that night..

What's everyone's plans this weekend and for Halloween?

Olivia, I am sorry about what happened with you. I hope you get everything sorted out soon.

Jeanne, Don't you love the weather now?! I love the morning breeze without having to turn the AC on. It's just so good!

Hope everyone has a great day!

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

Olivia...Opt in/Opt out (the law that was passed) only affects one time point of sale or atm withdrawals. Was the transaction not one of those? Im assuming you filed a claim with your bank and got all your money and overdraft fees back? That sucks but sadly happens on a day to day basis

It was four separate transactions and this all just went down in the last 48-72 hours in Mesa, AZ. The first charge of $20 cleared. We don't have any overdraft fees, yet. I think this is because we notified the bank within two days of the suspicious activity happening. The other three charges which were much larger were pending when we called into the bank. They never showed on my online account I only found out about them from when we called about why our cards were declined. Two of the larger purchases were for Kmart? Hopefully opt in/opt out was working then when they tried to make their purchases. That might be the case with the Kmart charges. One was significantly larger than the other so maybe they tried to lower the amount by saying ok I won't take this or that and tried again to see if the card was declined. We filed a claim over the phone but it's in the beginning and the activity is under investigation. Yesterday I received an email with our reference number and a request for us to fill out formal paperwork by the card carrier. Until then the account is held up. Luckily my first paycheck from my work didn't come when it was supposed to or I would have lost that as well. The first paycheck is paper instead of direct deposit. Until I sign up for direct deposit it will remain paper. I'm wondering if we can either open a new bank account together or if I'm able to cash my paycheck at my bank without problems since our account is frozen.

Last night I was reading up on what to do when this happens. Like you said it happens everyday and I read thieves prefer debit cards but we don't know how much of our information has been compromised. Waleed wants to open a new bank account where we store the majority of our money and have no debit cards attached to it and we don't use it for spending like a savings account. But when we need something we can take money from it and put it into our active account.

I wanted to know how this could happen and I read that there are electronic devices that easily fit inside someones pocket and can capture the information on someones card and then a duplicate card can be made from that. These are some sophisticated criminals. Also when you give your card to the waiter at the restaurant they can write down your information and use it or sell it online. That one surprised me but Waleed thinks that a waiter stole it so now we're not eating out anymore unless we use cash. I also read the information can be captured online from a non-secure website but he swears he didn't use it online anywhere but newegg.com which is supposed to be a secure website and that was months ago when we bought a router for the house.

We haven't decided what to do yet as discussing this matter for too long seems to be very stressful for us both. We may cancel our debit cards and go only with ATM cards dealing in cash. I did read something that I liked and that was if we know we purchase at a certain place a lot that instead of using debit cards we could purchase a gift card for that store. Dh seems to like this idea as well for our budgeting and it doesn't compromise our information. We may open a new bank account and do like he wants were it's our real account and the other account is a limited dummy account. We may each get a prepaid credit card and use that for purchases so it's not coming directly from our bank account. We can also get a pin only debit card but I'm not sure I understand everything about that option.

The irony is this all went down just as we were figuring out our new budget with my new job so we would know what we could spend and how much to save for his USMLE exams. With the debit card compromised right at this time it brought up a whole plethora of issues about money and security with it and our identities all the various options we could choose from.

Good morning! Another beautiful morning! Had a little rain last night!

Olivia, sorry what's happened. I do hope you can have a fast resolution. If I remember right, Tammy

sure had one heck of a time. I don't know if hers was completely resolved or not. That's a bummer!

Seems like we follow the guidelines for fraud checking so I don't know how someone is able to do what

they do to peoples accounts.

Morning Tammy, Jenell, Andrea, Kelly, Amber, Mandy and Charles. Hope your weekend is going fine.

Take care everyone and have a great day!

Good morning Jeanne. I've never had a problem before like this with my account and I feel dh was targeted somehow.

Habibi had somebody tamper with his account like that but it was only 29.00.. we live in Birmingham and the person that did it was in Northport.. we disputed the charges and they gave him his money back.. back in 2007 I had the car dealer charge something they shouldn't have and I disputed the charges and they(the bank) gave me my money back immediately, even before I received the form to do it.. I'm not sure if when you put your husband on the account with you that they added that feature for him too.. sounds like they didn't have you tried talking with the bank manager.. they need to investigate to see how that happened.. sounds like it was the banks fault.. make sure you do the credit reports.. I would probably wait for a couple of weeks and do one for Transunion, then in 4 months do one for Experian, and then in 4 months do one for Equifax.. that way it won't miss anything... I am sooooooooo sorry that happened to you.. identity theft is really on the rise especially now the way the economy is about the house, I'm glad all is quiet there.. I would NOT be able to stay there if it were like it was before that would be complete overkill for me... I pray you get your money back soon Olivia, I really do

Thanks for the tips Jenell and personal story. Waleed wants to go in and talk to the bank manager that we changed my personal account to a joint account with. It's Saturday though and he won't be there so maybe next week? I hope for a quick resolution as well.

Happy Caturday MENA!

Today is World Food Day! It's a day to spread the awareness that some people and children in some places of the world do not get access to all varieties of food and eating 3 meals a day to them is a luxury. Spread the awareness of the importance of eating healthy and being thankful for being able to eat and survive whenever you get hungry. Also, do not forget to donate the canned/frozen/packaged food you are not going to eat someone who might eat it.

Today is also my mother's birthday and we are surprising her on Skype today. I baked her a cake (that we eventually are going to eat lol) and the kids made her cards that we are going to show her on webcam, it's a birthday party on two different continents. Thank God for Skype!

Later today I am going to try cooking roast duck and stuffed eggplant for the first time. Let's see how that goes! LOL

We got done with half of Halloween shopping yesterday.. Got the kids costumes and now Mommy and Daddy are thinking about what they are going to be for Halloween. It's funny that our AOS interview is the morning after Halloween...I do hope we don't forget anything and get enough sleep that night..

What's everyone's plans this weekend and for Halloween?

Olivia, I am sorry about what happened with you. I hope you get everything sorted out soon.

Jeanne, Don't you love the weather now?! I love the morning breeze without having to turn the AC on. It's just so good!

Hope everyone has a great day!

Thanks Aya! Happy Caturday to you as well!

No plans for Halloween right now. Dh flies out the day of your interview and comes back Dec. 16.

[JeanneVictoria 55]

Hey Jeanne how are you doing??? Is the weather better there???

Hey Jenell, i'm doing fine thanks! Weather is nice in the mornings, but

still hot during the day. Should cool down more by December.

[And_Sam 44]

Happy Caturday MENA!

Wow all the stories of stolen ids/debit cards!!

That is such a scary subject!! My hubby wonders why I am so protected over my identification!

Well I ended up taking my cat to the vet this morning. She needed to be updated on her vaccinations and she had been licking the hair off of her belly. At first I thought it was my son shaving her belly But it never would grow back!! Well come to find out, she is allergic to something and it is making her tummy tickle! That is why she is licking it all the time!!! So $178 later she had her shots and also a cortizone shot to control the allergies. Now to figure out what she is allergic too!!

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. We are off for our weekly soccer game!

Stay cool/warm depending on how the weather is!! It's awesome here!!!!

[Amber & Ahmed 133]

Hello everyone. I usually read the post, yet I hardly every reply. Today has been such a wonderful Indian Summer day here. I woke up cleaned the house and got dressed and went walking with the kids to the library. I love love love to read! I am studying to become an English Professor so libraries are like going to a funhouse for me. We all enjoyed our afternoon at the library and finished our trip there with a halloween puppet show, in which my son Josh was pumpkin numero 2! Maybe I am biased but I do believe he was the best lil pumpkin ever!

Last night Ahmed and I finally tried out Skype for the first time. I really enjoyed Skype, yet my Ahmed says he prefers Yahoo, so we ended up back on Yahoo. Still it was nice to see my hubby after nearly 7 months of just pictures I got to see my beautiful husband!!! Really I did not realize how much I truly missed him. Overall it was like we were together again and as we say "it is better than nothing" I wonder how did all of you help the time to go faster faster? It seems I spend a lot of time just watching the time go

Today is Saturday so it means one thing in our household FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT!!! We watch movies and munch on junk food... YUMMO!!! I am baking cookies for tonight every once in a while I catch one of the lil darlings trying to score a cookie as it cools on the counter! So here's hoping the cookies make it to the movie night feast of junk food!

I wish all of you a wonderful evening and best wishes!

Amber

P.S I think staying in the haunted house is pretty cool!

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

I really like this two hour break between work on the weekends, especially when I'm house sitting 5 minutes away. I like coming home for lunch.

Andrea I hope that the poor kitty gets well soon and you are able to solve what it is allergic too.

Amber welcome to posting in MENA more! When dh was abroad he preferred Yahoo as well but now that he's stateside it seems he's on Skype all the time to his family & friends around the world. Go figure?

The house doesn't seem haunted this time. Better touch wood though just encase. The last two times were scary but the last time especially was crazy scary.

[moroccogirlny 100]

Isn't it a great dance!

Unfortunately I have some bad news that killed my Friday dance.

We went to the grocery store and tried to buy a measly $10 worth of groceries and we were declined twice. When we got home we called the bank and then we were told that someone in Mesa, AZ was using my Husband's debit card spending up to $800 on it in a day so they froze the account. We had to go through a series of security questions and file an inquiry claim. They cancelled his card and reissued a new one but now we have to dispute all the charges from this person who stole his card information. It really sucks because this is our joint bank account that was affected. The one we pay bills with and now we don't have our money because his debit card information was stolen and that money was spent and pending under investigation.

This has never happened to me before on my account and I just don't understand how someone could get his debt card information or how he could be targeted by a thief after he jut arrived in this country.

I'm hoping that this is an isolated incident and someone only stole his debit card information and not his identity. He barely just got his GC and we barely just applied for his SS #.

A lot of this has been happening in NY, it's called ATM skimmers NY Times ATM Skimmers They can duplicate your card.

Also a lot of debit fraud comes from purchases at restaurants, grocery stores and gas stations.

If possible, it's best to use a credit card. You're fully covered.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

A lot of this has been happening in NY, it's called ATM skimmers NY Times ATM Skimmers They can duplicate your card.

Also a lot of debit fraud comes from purchases at restaurants, grocery stores and gas stations.

If possible, it's best to use a credit card. You're fully covered.

Thanks for that article! I've been reading about the technology and how sophisticated it was but now I know what to look for. That dipper reader used as a skimmer would have completely fooled me. We've been using Redbox a lot and now I wonder if it could have happened there with a skimmer? Dh still thinks it was a straight up thievery from a server at a restaurant. We discussed more about what we're going to do with our budget and bank account last night and it looks like we're doing away with the debit cards after this happened to us. We have learned so much from this experience.

Happy Sunday MENA!

[JeanneVictoria 55]

Beautiful Sunday morning to everyone!

Jenell, sure hope you are feeling better by now and can take those pictures of the trees!

Morning Andrea, Charles, Olivia, Aya, Amber, Morrocogirl, Tammy and Sandy!

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. Ours has been quiet, but I have now introduced

myself to the series The Tudors and i'm lovin' every episode!!! I love British history, and was

excited to see many of the castles and areas i've been to. I have only 1 more episode in the series

and can't wait to see it. Love the actors...they are brilliant in the series.

Here's hoping your day will be an excellent one filled with happiness and love.