I am an extremely careful people when it comes to using my credit card. I'm fully aware of tactics that fraudsters use to capture card numbers, so I keep my eyes open and try to be extra careful. So when I got a call from Citibank, telling me my physical card had been used in Spain this morning with a "travel agency" for $1075, I was pretty surprised, considering I haven't been to Spain for a few years.
Now I get to tear my hair out to try to figure out where exactly my card might have been compromised. I recently went to San Francisco. Maybe at the BART terminal where I got my BART pass? But I checked the card reader against other card readers at the station. Maybe they were all bugged? It's really the only place I used my card recently that wasn't online or at a restaurant that I frequent.
I used to scoff at people who had their cards compromised. "How dumb can they be?" I thought. It just goes to show that no matter how careful you are, credit card fraud really can happen to anyone who uses plastic, even occasionally like me.
Thanks to Citibank for looking out, and for calling my cell as soon as they thought something was up. Now if I can just get them to NOT deny my charges at Fashion Island (where I shop frequently), so I don't have to call them to authorize another compulsive purchase and look like an idiot in front of fellow shoppers.