I Was Robbed.
It's not quite what you think, people. I was violently mugged (which has happened to a few people I know, sadly)... No... I am a victim of ATM fraud.
Yay!
(Sarcasm.)
I went to Whole Foods tonight to buy $15 worth of groceries. I took out my debit card to pay for them. The machine rejected my card.
"You must have reached your limit," the whore-bitch cashier said to me.
"Um, look," I told her. "That's not possible. I have plenty of money in my account. Enough to cover $15 of groceries. But I'll give you cash to be done with you."
After I collected my groceries, I walked to my bank's ATM in the grocery store. I put my card in, punch in my pin... And the ATM spits my card back out and tells me to call the bank.
"Okay..." I say to myself, worried.
I get home, call the bank and get asked a long series of security questions. I come to find out that in the past 24 hours, someone made a series of withdrawals from my account using my ATM card number and pin. And they managed to get out $1100 across all the withdrawals.
ELEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS!
The bank saw the withdrawals of large amounts, and deactivated my card. So I now have to go into the bank tomorrow, give them my old card, and sign off for them to start the investigation. They should have the money back into my account in a few days. But what a pain in the ass!!!!
Argh!!!
I have to give my bank props, though. They saw the odd transactions and tried contacting me right away. But they didn't leave messages on my cell phone. And I screen all my calls, which means I never pick up. So if a message isn't left, I just don't call back.
But the bank went ahead and deactivated my card in the event that this was fraud. So that's why it didn't work when I went to buy groceries.
Lesson: Even if you do all you can to protect your pin and ATM number, someone can still steal it. Make sure bank with a legitimate bank who will help protect you when shit like this happens.
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