Credit Card Fraud
08-28-2009, 08:02 AM
#11
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Aug 2006
Position: Triple Capt
Posts: 608
On a recent DoD charter to Germany the non-contract hotel used my personal credit card to pay for the 4 night room stay -- not cool. They boofed up the company credit card billing (which I gave them at check-in and check-out) as well as my personal card so I was stuck with a $700 personal charge for the room. I disputed the personal charge with AMEX and had to resend them the company credit card info. Then it took two weeks for the folio to arrive via snail mail to the US so I could get my expense report filed before getting those nasty-grams from crew travel audit.
Potentially this could have been real ugly; stuck with a $700 personal charge and then billed (read payroll deducted) by the company for THE SAME $700 company charge if the hotel in question never sent or was tardy with my hotel folio.
WATCH OUT!
Potentially this could have been real ugly; stuck with a $700 personal charge and then billed (read payroll deducted) by the company for THE SAME $700 company charge if the hotel in question never sent or was tardy with my hotel folio.
WATCH OUT!
08-28-2009, 08:10 AM
#12
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jan 2006
Posts: 2,838
Why does this plan protect you any better? (I'm really asking)
From my uneducated perspective, it seem like once you settle your bill with your own credit card, aren't you in the same situation as if you had just given your own card for incidentals at check in? Either way, the hotel has your credit card info and that's where the thieves got it from, unless you used it somewhere else in AMS.
Thanks.
From my uneducated perspective, it seem like once you settle your bill with your own credit card, aren't you in the same situation as if you had just given your own card for incidentals at check in? Either way, the hotel has your credit card info and that's where the thieves got it from, unless you used it somewhere else in AMS.
Thanks.
Dine and dasher.
I'd rather the Corp Credit card # be on file than my personal one.
08-28-2009, 06:58 PM
#14
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Mar 2006
Posts: 3,333
Apparently, even Bernanke himself isn't immune to ID theft... 
Bernanke's other banking problem: Identity theft
James Cullen
Aug 26th 2009 at 5:10PM
Some critics of recently reappointed Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke argue that he was too slow to realize that the financial system was teetering on the brink of collapse during 2008. But Bernanke might have had another, more personal banking issue on his mind at the time, Newsweek reports: his wife Anna's purse was stolen in August 2008, and the thieves used its contents to access the couple's joint checking account.
A court affadavit filed in June shows that 10 people are charged in the fraud, which used the Bernankes' bank account to inflate the value of other accounts that then had money withdrawn from them. The 22-page document identifies a victim known as "B. B.," who had $900 stolen from his account, but another complaint against one of the alleged members of the ring used Ben Bernanke's full name.
The thefts affected more than 500 people in Washington, D.C., and Chicago, where the ring operated. Anna Bernanke reported that her purse was stolen from a D.C.-area Starbucks (SBUX) coffee shop.
The Bernankes are hardly alone in their conundrum, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center, which estimates that identity theft costs consumers and businesses more than $55 billion annually. Some 650,000 complaints of identity theft are registered annually, another source reports. Concerns about the crime have dramatically increased in recent years, as the amount of personal information stored online -- and vulnerable to hackers or security breaches -- has grown with online commerce.
The ringleader of the thefts was a 52-year old Maryland man, Clyde Austin Gray Jr., who has pleaded guilty in the scheme, which cost 10 banks $2.1 million. And as Bernanke would know, that's money the banks can ill afford to see walk out the front door...
Bernanke's other banking problem: Identity theft
James Cullen
Aug 26th 2009 at 5:10PM
Some critics of recently reappointed Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke argue that he was too slow to realize that the financial system was teetering on the brink of collapse during 2008. But Bernanke might have had another, more personal banking issue on his mind at the time, Newsweek reports: his wife Anna's purse was stolen in August 2008, and the thieves used its contents to access the couple's joint checking account.
A court affadavit filed in June shows that 10 people are charged in the fraud, which used the Bernankes' bank account to inflate the value of other accounts that then had money withdrawn from them. The 22-page document identifies a victim known as "B. B.," who had $900 stolen from his account, but another complaint against one of the alleged members of the ring used Ben Bernanke's full name.
The thefts affected more than 500 people in Washington, D.C., and Chicago, where the ring operated. Anna Bernanke reported that her purse was stolen from a D.C.-area Starbucks (SBUX) coffee shop.
The Bernankes are hardly alone in their conundrum, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center, which estimates that identity theft costs consumers and businesses more than $55 billion annually. Some 650,000 complaints of identity theft are registered annually, another source reports. Concerns about the crime have dramatically increased in recent years, as the amount of personal information stored online -- and vulnerable to hackers or security breaches -- has grown with online commerce.
The ringleader of the thefts was a 52-year old Maryland man, Clyde Austin Gray Jr., who has pleaded guilty in the scheme, which cost 10 banks $2.1 million. And as Bernanke would know, that's money the banks can ill afford to see walk out the front door...
08-29-2009, 04:05 PM
#15
Part Time Employee
Joined APC: Jul 2006
Position: Dispersing Green House Gasses on a Global Basis
Posts: 1,918
Why does this plan protect you any better? (I'm really asking)
From my uneducated perspective, it seem like once you settle your bill with your own credit card, aren't you in the same situation as if you had just given your own card for incidentals at check in? Either way, the hotel has your credit card info and that's where the thieves got it from, unless you used it somewhere else in AMS.
Thanks.
From my uneducated perspective, it seem like once you settle your bill with your own credit card, aren't you in the same situation as if you had just given your own card for incidentals at check in? Either way, the hotel has your credit card info and that's where the thieves got it from, unless you used it somewhere else in AMS.
Thanks.
I once had the same problem as Magenta Line, I gave them my personal credit card at check in and the hotel billed a week long stay on my card. It took almost four months to fix the problem and this was at a domestic hotel.
08-30-2009, 06:16 AM
#16
Tri-tanic operator
Joined APC: Jul 2006
Position: Doggie
Posts: 2,382
Speaking of hotel charge issues ... domestic.
I once stayed at a hotel enroute on vacation, so it was only one night. Charged the room to a credit card and away I went, no problem.
A full year later to the day, they charged me again for a room.
I disputed the charge and did not have to pay. I was flying that day and wasn't even near their location.
Apparently they keep records of credit cards for longer than they should need to.
I once stayed at a hotel enroute on vacation, so it was only one night. Charged the room to a credit card and away I went, no problem.
A full year later to the day, they charged me again for a room.
I disputed the charge and did not have to pay. I was flying that day and wasn't even near their location.
Apparently they keep records of credit cards for longer than they should need to.
08-30-2009, 07:42 AM
#17
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Apr 2006
Position: MD-11 Captain
Posts: 4,304
On a different but related issue ... I was once on a Paris layover, out drinking with the boys. It was my turn to buy the round so I gave the lady bartender my Visa card (there were Visa/MC stickers on the cash register). A few minutes later a man came to speak to me (seemingly the manager), he said he could give me a significant discount if I paid cash ... I did. A few weeks later my Visa bill arrived in the mail, it had been charged also, I assume the manager just put the cash in his pocket?
Interestingly, when I called Visa to report the fraudulent charge, they gave me a bit of static about it. I explained that this was no different than a stolen credit card number. The charge was eventually removed from my bill
Interestingly, when I called Visa to report the fraudulent charge, they gave me a bit of static about it. I explained that this was no different than a stolen credit card number. The charge was eventually removed from my bill
08-30-2009, 03:14 PM
#18
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Mar 2006
Posts: 3,333
Speaking of hotel charge issues ... domestic.
I once stayed at a hotel enroute on vacation, so it was only one night. Charged the room to a credit card and away I went, no problem.
A full year later to the day, they charged me again for a room.
I disputed the charge and did not have to pay. I was flying that day and wasn't even near their location.
Apparently they keep records of credit cards for longer than they should need to.
I once stayed at a hotel enroute on vacation, so it was only one night. Charged the room to a credit card and away I went, no problem.
A full year later to the day, they charged me again for a room.
I disputed the charge and did not have to pay. I was flying that day and wasn't even near their location.
Apparently they keep records of credit cards for longer than they should need to.
A few times I noticed it's easier to check into my room and then call the reception with the CC information. That way I don't need to explain anything and simply give them a credit card number for incidentals...
Then I can always log online and cancel a specific number if I get suspicious... I use Bank of America but I'm sure most CC companies have the ability to create a random "safe" CC number.
Someone mentioned using ATMs instead... A while back one of our pilots was staying in Shanghai and he withdrew some money from the ATM located in the hotel lobby. Come to find out, the Yuan bills were fake and the hotel management asked him to contact the local bank and the bank officials told him the hotel was responsible... Not sure if it ever got resolved but I remember reading about it in our union paper.
I prefer to use cash but have learned to make sure the bills are in great shape and not too wrinkled. God forbid they find a tiny tear in one of your bills! I remember the money clerk at the Quingdao hotel refusing to exchange my captain's $100 bill because one of the corners was tore off. Otherwise, the bill looked brand spanking new but they kept saying "your money is broke!"
Heck, maybe they were talking about our Federal Reserve Bank in general?
08-30-2009, 04:58 PM
#19
...Whatever It Is!
Joined APC: Jul 2006
Posts: 4,680
Speaking of hotel charge issues ... domestic.
I once stayed at a hotel enroute on vacation, so it was only one night. Charged the room to a credit card and away I went, no problem.
A full year later to the day, they charged me again for a room.
I disputed the charge and did not have to pay. I was flying that day and wasn't even near their location.
Apparently they keep records of credit cards for longer than they should need to.
I once stayed at a hotel enroute on vacation, so it was only one night. Charged the room to a credit card and away I went, no problem.
A full year later to the day, they charged me again for a room.
I disputed the charge and did not have to pay. I was flying that day and wasn't even near their location.
Apparently they keep records of credit cards for longer than they should need to.
About 11 months later I get a charge on my corp Amex card. FedEx was no help and the expense report folks practically accused me of fraud. I ended up getting a copy of the folio after disputing it through Amex and they charged the Capt's room to me almost a yr later! It went a way!
From that point forward, I have never left my personal card with a hotel for incidentals, though I will pay using my debit/check card at check if I don't have the cash.
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