How much does your purse cost?

I recently had my purse stolen from a local restaurant. It happened in a flash. I turned my head for about 2 minutes and had stepped only about 3 feet away. When I turned back around, my purse was gone. A few people even saw the event - a man picked up my purse awkwardly with two hands and carried it off causing the witnesses to note how odd he looked. The restaurant's cameras caught him running away with my purse and climbing into a car. They could even see the license plate! But because no one could actually describe in detail what he looked like, the police could not track down the owner of vehicle.

By the time I replaced everything, it cost nearly $1000! Here's an estimated breakdown...notice I didn't even have designer purse or wallet!

Purse and wallet - $25
Cell phone - $300
Car keys - $279 (Keys had to be programmed at the dealer!!)
Digital camera - $200
New locks for my house - $50 (Dad did the labor for free. Thanks Dad!)
Cash - $70
Misc stuff (makeup, photos, etc.) - $50
Estimated total: $974

Fortuantely for me, my Onstar service paid for towing to the dealership so that the thief couldn't come back and steal my car. In addition to these costs, I spent hours that night cancelling all my credit cards and several weeks replacing credit cards, drivers license, etc. Reloading all my contacts into my new phone, waiting several hours at the dealership getting my keys replaced, hours driving to and waiting at the DMV for my new license.

I had no idea what an enormous hassle and expensive ordeal a seemingly simple loss would be! And I'll never let my purse out of my sight again.

Beware - New Credit Card Phone Scam

We recieved an alert from our contacts at other credit unions that a new, very tricky scam is being conducted by phone. The bottom line to remember is that a ligitimate financial institution will never call to ask for your account information, because they already have it! Never give account information to anyone who contacts you.

This scam is pretty slick since they provide YOU with all theinformation, except the one piece they want. The scam works like this:

Person calling says, "This is (name), andI'm calling from the Security and Fraud Department at VISA. My badge numberis 12460. Your card has been flagged for an unusual purchase pattern, andI'm calling to verify. This would be on your VISA card which was issued by (name of bank). Did you purchase an Anti-Telemarketing Device for $497.99 from a marketing company based in Arizona ?"

When you say "No", the caller continues with, "Then we will be issuing a credit to your account. This is acompany we have been watching and the charges range from $297 to $497, justunder the $500 purchase pattern that flags most cards. Before your next statement, the credit will be sent to (gives you your address), is that correct?"You say "yes".

The caller continues - "I will be starting a Fraud investigation. If you have any questions, you should call the 1-800 number listed on the back of your card (1-800-VISA) and ask for Security. You will need to refer to this Control Number. The caller then givesyou a 6 digit number. "Do you need me to read it again?"Here's the IMPORTANT part on how the scam works. The caller then says, "I need to verify you are in possession of your card." He'll ask you to "turn your card over and look for some numbers." There are 7 numbers; thefirst 4 are part of your card number, the next 3 are the security numbers'that verify you are the possessor of the card. These are the numbers you sometimes use to make Internet purchases to prove you have the card.

The caller will ask you to read the 3 numbers to him. After you tell the caller the 3 numbers, he'll say, "That is correct, I just needed to verify that the card has not been lost or stolen, and that you still have you rcard. Do you have any other questions?" After you say, "No," the caller then thanks you and states, "Don't hesitate to call back if you do", and hangs up.

You actually say very little, and they never ask for or tell you theCard number. But after we were called on Wednesday, we called back within 20 minutes to ask a question. Are we glad we did! The REAL VISA Security Department told us it was a scam and in the last 15 minutes a new purchaseof $497.99 was charged to our card . Long story - short - we made a real fraud report and closed the VISAaccount. VISA is reissuing us a new number.

What the scammers want is the3-digit PIN number on the back of the card. Don't give it to them. Instead, tell them you'll call VISA or Master card directly for verification of their conversation. The real VISA told us that they will never ask for anything onthe card as they already know the information since they issued the card! Ifyou give the scammers your 3 Digit PIN Number, you think you're receiving acredit. However, by the time you get your statement you'll see charges forpurchases you didn't make, and by then it's almost too late and/or moredifficult to actually file a fraud report. What makes this more remarkable is that on Thursday, I got a callfrom a "Jason Richardson of Master Card" with a word-for-word repeat of theVISA scam. This time I didn't let him finish. I hung up! We filed a policereport, as instructed by VISA.