Tweet
Last month... I received a letter from the Sears CITI Bank Security Unit that was apparently a warning about "..Suspicious Transaction Activity..." and I mistakenly shrugged it off as the usual efforts of yet another credit card mill trying either to get me to have me get another card...or to consolidate any CC debts I might have (so they make even more money as time goes by...). Too bad... I should have read that damned letter more closely and called them right away.
The mail comes later in the evenings where I live...so I didn't figure out the problem lurking in the background until my wife opened the bill and with a plaintive voice asked... "Hunnnnneeee....did you make any $500.00 purchases out of Houston, Texas ...it looks like a department store..." I instantly went [ "Dear"- in the Headlights"] while my mind was redlining, trying to think of an answer. I suddenly came to my senses and just said, "No...let me have a look at that bill..." and all the while her hawk-like gaze was on me... I could not have been more surprised if she had asked, "Hunneee...there is a young woman down in Texas standing in front of a department store on TV right now and ...she is holding a beautiful baby and Hunnneee it looks so much like you, "Dear"... Were you down in Houston last year..."Dear"...?" Anyways... all kidding aside, I was certain the purchase was some kind of clerical error and promised to call the Sears Security office ASAP...and then I remembered the letter they sent me from last month.
Well...this morning...just before I cut up my Sears CITI Credit Card up into a pile of Ukulele picks...I called Sears Security and determined that from September 12th, 2015 on...somebody had used all of the secret information about my card necessary to make nearly $4,000.00 worth of purchases all over the place and did all of this in a very short period of time, including around $90.00 at a Houston Starbucks. The call-taker assured me that the $500.00 or so listed on my monthly statement would be removed, including the interest.
The problem here though is that THEIR system must have been hacked and NOT because of me losing a credit card. Before calling them I did come Googling and according to all of the contemporary news about any possible breaches of the Sears, CITI and probably many other systems has been thoroughly hacked but in order to prop up their shareholder confidence on the stock market where investors are all over them like a rash to the cash so they can cash in on the high interest rate cash cow money flow that all credit card companies suck out of the economy. All I could find on these sites was a lot of "Bravo Sierra" (BS) with expressions like, "Well...all we know is that these rumors keep circulating that our systems have been compromised but that has not happened...AS FAR AS WE KNOW..."That comment was from their published security site people...so WTF does that mean? I know what it means to ME... Last month, I had Sears CITI a credit card with a Zero Balance that suddenly bounced to around $500.00...with Sears Security Unit knowing this and then apparently disallowing the other $3,500.00 worth of purchases and not once during our communication did the subject of THEIR being hacked ever come up!
So... If you have a Sears CITI Bank Credit Card... Check your monthly statement over very carefully... I can't be the ONLY victim in their CC database! They have been hacked.. for God-damned sure, whether they want to admit publicly ...or not!
The mail comes later in the evenings where I live...so I didn't figure out the problem lurking in the background until my wife opened the bill and with a plaintive voice asked... "Hunnnnneeee....did you make any $500.00 purchases out of Houston, Texas ...it looks like a department store..." I instantly went [ "Dear"- in the Headlights"] while my mind was redlining, trying to think of an answer. I suddenly came to my senses and just said, "No...let me have a look at that bill..." and all the while her hawk-like gaze was on me... I could not have been more surprised if she had asked, "Hunneee...there is a young woman down in Texas standing in front of a department store on TV right now and ...she is holding a beautiful baby and Hunnneee it looks so much like you, "Dear"... Were you down in Houston last year..."Dear"...?" Anyways... all kidding aside, I was certain the purchase was some kind of clerical error and promised to call the Sears Security office ASAP...and then I remembered the letter they sent me from last month.
Well...this morning...just before I cut up my Sears CITI Credit Card up into a pile of Ukulele picks...I called Sears Security and determined that from September 12th, 2015 on...somebody had used all of the secret information about my card necessary to make nearly $4,000.00 worth of purchases all over the place and did all of this in a very short period of time, including around $90.00 at a Houston Starbucks. The call-taker assured me that the $500.00 or so listed on my monthly statement would be removed, including the interest.
The problem here though is that THEIR system must have been hacked and NOT because of me losing a credit card. Before calling them I did come Googling and according to all of the contemporary news about any possible breaches of the Sears, CITI and probably many other systems has been thoroughly hacked but in order to prop up their shareholder confidence on the stock market where investors are all over them like a rash to the cash so they can cash in on the high interest rate cash cow money flow that all credit card companies suck out of the economy. All I could find on these sites was a lot of "Bravo Sierra" (BS) with expressions like, "Well...all we know is that these rumors keep circulating that our systems have been compromised but that has not happened...AS FAR AS WE KNOW..."That comment was from their published security site people...so WTF does that mean? I know what it means to ME... Last month, I had Sears CITI a credit card with a Zero Balance that suddenly bounced to around $500.00...with Sears Security Unit knowing this and then apparently disallowing the other $3,500.00 worth of purchases and not once during our communication did the subject of THEIR being hacked ever come up!
So... If you have a Sears CITI Bank Credit Card... Check your monthly statement over very carefully... I can't be the ONLY victim in their CC database! They have been hacked.. for God-damned sure, whether they want to admit publicly ...or not!