A skimmer in our midst

Last Friday my husband and I along with another couple had dinner at a local restaurant. We treated and used our credit card to pay the tab.

Last night I got a call from the fraud unit of our bank informing me that they were questioning some $300 worth of iTunes charges that started occuring on the card the day after our dinner. We canceled the card and will need to deal with that PITA, but at least it was caught.

Now, I have no way of knowing for sure that the skimming happened at that restaurant, but I do know that we rarely use the card and that was the only place where it was used recently and out of our sight for a period of time. For that reason I'm not going to name the restaurant - I did contact them by phone. Maybe if they get other calls they can put something together.

Folks, it's the time of year where this type of thing is rampant. Keep an eye on your plastic. Check your account balances and try to visit establishments where you can swipe the thing yourself.

Thanks for the heads up.

I think this should not be too hard to trace back to the thief. The music gets sent to a person whose identity Apple will know. Investigator will follow that lead quickly I suspect. To me this now begins to sound like a novice thief.

Yeah, it would be quite easy to nail them. I don't know if the fraud unit of the bank will bother for that amount of money though - and I suppose that's what the thief is counting on. In the end the rest of us just pay more to cover the overhead of the thieves - sigh...

Did this happen to you up here? If so- maybe you could tell all of us which restaurant it was so more of us don't get our identity stolen.

I would also contact the restaurant- the manager could probably nail it down to one or two employees who were processing the credit cards that night. If the restaurant will not cooperate- tell them your going to spread the word around.

If you make them look real bad- they will take these types of reports more seriously I think. If it were me I would also contact law enforcement and file a report - request to meet the sheriff at the restaurant. Mnay times there are more than one person working together in these scams.

As a rule- I do not use a credit card at restaurants, and I have never had this happen - but you never know!

Yes - it did happen up here. I'm really reticent to name the restaurant because although I feel fairly certain that that is the only place where this could have happened I have no way of proving that without any doubts. I have contacted the restaurant and the manager there was very responsive and cooperative. I like the idea of notifying the LEOs, but again, without any sort of proof I think I may be wasting their time. I think at this point maybe it's better to let the restaurant deal with it - perhaps we're not the only ones and they've received some other calls.

I think we're going to be following your lead and not using plastic at restaurants for a while - for the half-dozen or so times we actually eat out in the course of a year!

This is why in many countries they have a portable swiper they bring to your table.

That sux.

I had that happen but thank heavens it was with a company credit card. I had a bunch of long-distance calls to Europe and the Middle East. I had eaten at a Mediterranean restaurant and it took a long time to get my card back from the waiter. This was before skimmers.