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As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I do some product reselling both to generate miles and points as well as a profit generator. So I keep a pretty good eye on my online accounts. This morning, when going through my email, I noticed an order from Walmart.com that I wasn’t expecting
Actually my first thought was that my wife had made this order without talking to me. That seemed odd (normally we usually run anything over a few bucks with each other), but it has been on my list to buy the family a new computer and I’ve been slacking, so I thought maybe she finally got fed up with me! 😀
Then I saw the Colorado pickup address (I live in Ohio), and I thought it might have something to do with my in-laws, who live in Colorado and maybe with my wife’s birthday (which is upcoming).
Then I quickly realized it looked like fraud. You can even see the pickup person and store listed! (I redacted the person’s actual name)
While I was still going through my email, 4 more fraudulent Walmart orders came in!
Calling Walmart
I wasn’t surprised that it was all technology stuff that is probably a bit easier to resell. I called Walmart and was able to cancel all 5 of the orders without a problem. I was surprised that the “brilliant” criminal didn’t even try to change my Walmart.com password, since that would have made things a bit harder.
Checking with Amex too
Next was to check with American Express, because that was the card that was billed (it was saved into my account). Sure enough, 5 pending charges were there.
Given that those orders were canceled, I would not expect them to convert into actual charges, but if they did, I’m sure it wouldn’t be that hard to get them removed.
Filing a police report?
The lady at Walmart customer service actually suggested I file a police report, though I’m not sure where I’d file it. I’d have to call Colorado, right? What I REALLY want to do is use my miles to fly out to Colorado, stake out the Walmart and when they come to pick up the fraudulent orders, ATTACK! 🙂
Anyways, it was a minor hassle to deal with this, but generally speaking I am actually not super concerned about fraud / identity theft, though maybe I’m just being naive? I have had excellent luck working with banks and credit card companies when I see unauthorized charges. I think one of the big keys is paying attention to your accounts and catching any unauthorized or fraudulent charges early. In this case, I had one email when I woke up this morning (that must have been placed overnight), and then early this morning, when they saw nothing was done, they placed 4 more orders. I’m sure if those had gone through they would have tried to hit it even harder.
Have you ever been hit by online fraud or identity theft? What did you do to combat it? Should I file a police report?
Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
I got a fraudulent charge on one of my CC’s a few months ago. It was for Nexflix (which I have) for about $13.50. It seemed like an odd amount- Netflix is $8.99/month. Luckily, I only had a few charges on this card, so it stood out. Also, it read “Netflix- Japan”. I called the CC company, who said they were having “many” fraudulent charges for Netflix…they also said they had recently declined four other charges on my CC that were not mine! Why they did not contact me or send me a new card, I do not know. I learned a great lesson- always check the vendor AS WELL AS the amount charged- not just those over $100.
I’ve dealt with fraud with both American Express and Chase. Both banks have made the process exceptionally easy. In every instance they alerted me to the problem. I like getting the push notifications on my phone. The emails sometimes I don’t see for a while. As soon as you hit “no” that the charges aren’t yours, your phone rings. Easy peasy.
That’s been my experience as well
File a police report. Two choices. March down to your local police station and file a police report. Or CALL the Grand Junction, Colorado police department and file a report over the telephone and send them the information that you have (screen shots, etc.) electronically. This criminal actually published a pick-up name and where they were going to pick it up. There’s a chance, albeit small, that they can catch the folks that did this to you.
About 8 years ago I got hit big time. I logged into my Chase account and there was another credit card showing. I assumed my son at college did this but he had not. I got my credit report and there were about 10 cards taken out in my name. My credit report was now showing the crooks address and not mine. I filed a police report with the local police an even though the theft was in a near suburban city, the police would do nothing. He said he spends his day just taking reports. At the time I lived in one of the highest taxed areas and just another reason to move from there. I suggest you check your credit report.
Right – that’s kind of what I’m figuring as far as filing a police report will go
I’ve had it happen a couple of times. Mostly it has been large travel related purchases that originated in another country. I’ve never had an issue getting it taken care of with my credit card companies.
That’s why I’m a pretty big advocate for always using a credit card when paying for things and keeping your debit card at home. I know there are times where that won’t work but it’s so much easier to deal with a credit card company than it is to work with a bank when it comes to fraudulent charges.
I think you should file a police report. Maybe they’ll do nothing, but that would be really disappointing. If someone stole your iPad and you saw them and they dropped something with their name on it, would you still not report them?
I’m surprised that by now there aren’t online fraud teams at almost all police departments. ??
I was just charged over $500 on my mastercard, and my account is now $7.24. I had received a letter from Fingerhut in April, saying their database has been breached and my information was compromised. They froze my account and suggested I contact Police about Identity Theft. I called my local State Police, and was told that unless I was robbed they could do nothing. I called yesterday to report that I was stolen from, but was told that because all three people/companies that took all my money in 24 hour period were international, so they can do nothing. Now I’m filing with FCC, FTC, FBI, and Attorney General. My PC has all the latest protection on it, and I’m not sure how my credit card info was stolen. I have no-one at home that could use it, or know even the number. I’ve had a new card sent with a new number after the April letter. Took them a couple months to access the new one with new password, and code. Crazy… I’d like to see these Russians and Chinese get a real job with their hacking know-how!
Yes 2017 and there is still no online fraud teams! Just happened to me 11/25/17…2 red flyer HP laptops for pick up in leolminister, ma. By the time I received the email it had already been picked up for a total of $635.38 from my atm/debit card that was saved to Walmart.com. I have been drug through the coals! It’s day 10 since this has happened and right before Christmas…Wal-Mart.com has flagged my account but no refund at all. I have cried for 2 days! I never thought this could happen to me. With all the fraud activity with Wal-Mart.com you would think a multi billion company would get a better system. Their online system is continually being hacked to this day. And absolutely no one at Walmart.com wants to take responsibility for a seriously detrimental fraudulent cheap system that has ripped millions of their costumers off. Wow!
I have alerts set on all of my cards so I immediately get a text if a charge over $1 is made. Every time I use the card, my phone dings as the card is swiped.
Several years ago my husband used a card that hadn’t been used in four months. He used it at a winery in Southern California, and the next morning his card was used at a Target store in Tennessee. I called that Target and asked for Security. The security guy asked for the authorization number and went directly to that transaction on the video. He said a couple swiped the card and it didn’t work, so the clerk pulled out a form and had them sign for the purchase. They had made a fake plastic card with my husband’s name and number and no activation of the magnetic strip.
Amex voided the transaction and we heard nothing more about it, but Target Security had their images and knew whom to watch out for.
You might want to contact Security at the Walmart where your card was used. They might be interested in catching these guys when they come to pick up their purchases. It might make their day!
I had someone hack my ebay acct and my email associated only with that account when I was on vacation. I didn’t have a smart phone and no internet access for the 2 weeks we were gone. When I got home I had to call the email provider (he had changed password) and ebay to get it straightened out. It was someone from Nigeria that had ordered about 25 electronic items from the UK. Other than getting a lot of nasty emails from ebay folks that were upset I didn’t pay, there was no real loss.
surprised that the walmart security would not be on watch for that criminal and then have them arrested when they attempt to pick up the order.
glad that you were able to shut it all down quickly.
My wife’s and my identities were stolen and used to file a fraudulent 2014 Federal tax return last year. No money was lost. We filed a police report with our local PD, since we needed the report number to put a 7-year fraud alert on our info at the 3 credit reporting agencies.
A fraud alert is different from a freeze, and I’m not sure that we chose the better option. With a fraud alert, whenever you apply for a credit card the bank must call you to verify before issuing it. Chase waited ~30 days after we applied before calling when we applied…the extra attention and questioning is not good for churning.
Having your identify stolen has one slight benefit…you know that all your information is out there and will be forever, so you don’t have to worry that it might happen.
I had a pretty traumatic one 2ish years ago, back when I still used debit cards. A crook cleaned out all my bank accounts and left with me $12. I was quite zen about initially, until I saw what s/he bought… $1200 of skateboard shoes and World of Warcraft expansion packs. I honestly wanted to shoot that person’s ass and break his/her fingers so s/he can’t do anything s/he liked for one month
Ah – nothing like crook “judgment” 🙂 “You bought WHAT?!?!!?”
lol just dont use online shit anymore man… coz when we get u when gonna chop all ur monies..
I had my Walmart card used in Sri Lanka I have a very weird name. These people took trips got courtesy cars hotel inns etc. I made a police report. I called Walmart back they told me I would not be charged for these amounts. I got a bill yesterday telling me I owe 68.00 no the hell I don’t. I paid my bill in full and said now this is paid in full write it down. I’m not paying another dime and told them that and now I get another bill. Who do I call? The BBB on this?
I’d contact your bank / credit card company