Hackettstown resident victim of debit card scam
Called my bank, which is a prominent bank with nationwide presence and a branch in Hackettstown, after several unauthorized transactions occurred on my debit card on the same day May 25, 2019. Most of these transactions occurred in Gas stations located in Roselle and Newark area of NJ. When I contacted the bank, the bank immediately placed a restriction on the account and cancelled the debit card. I'm thankful for my bank for starting a fraud investigation in this matter and for returning part of the money associated with these unauthorized transactions. They said they would return the remaining amount after the investigation concludes. I learned after a few days that a colleague of ours who also used their debit card at the bank’s ATM in Hackettstown also noticed unauthorized transaction on their account around the same date. Now, I'm beginning to think that this was not a coincidence and that others who used the branches may be in a similar situation. I do not want to alarm anyone or name the bank since it is a well-known bank and I have been its customer of the bank for 20+ years and nothing like this ever occurred. It was even more puzzling when the bank informed me that these unauthorized transactions were pin-less transactions. I'm at a loss as to how this can occur since I always had to enter my pin whenever I used by debit card. Has anyone experienced something similar?
lildrummerboy Not naming the bank defeats the entire post. Who cares? The bank certainly does not care if you state you had an unauthorized charge. They are taking care of it as they should.
Greg 
CraftBeerBob 
Roywhite Pay cash at gas stations from now on.You got double swiped and scammed.Liars and thieves thrive on people like you.Never trust an ATM in many cases they have been fitted by criminals with small scam devices that will make a copy of of your card information.You have to protect your chip card from walk by scammers also.They have devices that can scan and steal the information from your chip just by being close to you. You can purchase a secure wallet that will prevent walk by scammers.
murofContact your bank and ask them to conduct an investigation. Also file a police report and ask them to investigate, including pulling video. Hopefully the police will find the individual and prosecute. I would not wait too long, as surveillance video gets written over after a period of time.
Jonathan Stone When you use your Debit card , don’t use it as a debit... Use it as a credit , this way you don’t have to put your PIN number in.. And when you use it as a credit you have to sign.... I never use it as a debit....
Havaclue 
Whip I see this all the time, customer in front of me at any Quick Check, WaWa, Shop-Rite, CVS, or anywhere I go using the pin on a debit card with a Visa or Mastercard logo on it. Push the yellow button on some or enter on the others and no pin required. I don't know why anyone would defeat the encryption of the chip card by manually entering a pin number. Unfortunately it happens all the time. Don't people understand the function of the Visa or Mastercard logo on the card?
MK This happened to my wife a couple years ago, at the BOA ATM in front of the convenience store on Rt57 (in front of Weis plaza)
JeffersonRepub https://lifehacker.com/when-should-i-use-credit-and-when-should-i-use-debit-wh-862086499
"Depending on the bank, using credit instead of debit can offer you some anti-fraud protection that credit cards offer"
skippy Why are you not saying the name of bank?
Stupid post then. Why bother.
Seriously, your protecting the bank ??
Whatever
Hackmom "When you use your card on credit card mode...do they hit you with a cash advance fee?"
Obviously you should verify the terms of your card with your bank, but as a rule the answer to this question is no. I've been using debit cards for as long as they've been a thing, and have changed banks probably a minimum of 5 times. Never has any of those banks charged a cash advance fee (or any other per-purchase fee) for using the card in credit mode. Nor have I ever heard of a bank doing so.
Monty Skippy's article is spot on IMO and it basically says, "buck up spanky and learn how to manage a credit card IF you want extra security." Yes, it's harder than direct withdrawals from your checking with a debit, you have to live in a "time warp," where you make the actual payments a couple of months after purchase. You have to "manage," what you spend. But the websites are pretty EZ to keep up to speed with what you have done.
My ccard also is nice in that to dispute a charge, almost for any practical reason including "the product sucks," it's just a phone call or a quick on-line note and the ccard company does the rest. Just got double billed for $4,000. Five minutes and the ccard company is 1) on the hunt 2) will credit my account in 48-hours (before they complete the dispute, and 3) basically I can just sit back and watch them do that do that they do so well.
With over 40 years of credit, I have paid around $10 in interest, usually by oversight. I have been "scammed," a half dozen times with the only effect being some shock and getting a new card, usually overnighted. And folks have been thwarted over a dozen times as I have gotten the call saying there's an erroneous charge being attempted.
I get over $600 per year in rewards $$$ to basically spend anywhere. I like to convert them to bagels or trips.
The only biggee is creating a list of autopayments because the ccard company does not automatically transfer those to the new card.
Have never used a debit card, I think they are more dangerous.
strangerdanger strangerdanger, good post. Agree with all of it. Never use my debit card for anything other than withdrawing cash from an ATM. Credit cards, when used responsibly, and paid off in full, reap benefits that you cannot get from a debit card. I just saved 50% off the cost of my husband's father's day present because I transferred cash back rewards from one of my cards to my Amazon account.
My parents taught me how to use credit cards when I left for college, and thankfully my husband is like-minded.
Tracy That’s all I use i, my Debit card.. I have never had anyone steal the number... But, I have had someone steal my credit card number and they changed a great amount of gift cards on it in California.... If they want to steal money from you!! They are gonna do it...... They are thieves and there are so many ways they can steal from you!!!
In 2018 my debit card and 2 of our credit cards all had fraudulent charges. All were handled quickly by the banks (3 different banks) and a new card issued. I got the feeling this is the new way of doing business!
I never use my debit card anywhere other than the same ATM, and no one knows my pin. It started with a small charge for an international call, then a day later a slightly larger charge. They were testing my awareness. It may have been skimmed, but I think it was probably the outdoor ATM at the bank.
I use cash always for gas. One cc for in person charges and a different cc for online charges- try to use paypal with 2nd level temporary pin required whenever its an option. And check my statements carefully each month.
Not sure how much more can be done. Some countries are phasing out cash as much as possible. It's the wild west and you have to protect yourself.
As a side note it burns me that credit agencies collect information about us and use the credit score to affect our lives, everything from interest rates to car insurance rates.. yet we are the ones accountable to make sure their information is correct.
hktownie @bug3:
Sorry, I misunderstood the question. I don't know the answer to that, except to say that I don't ever recall an ATM that gave me a choice between debit and credit. Pretty sure when you withdraw cash it's always debit, but I could be wrong.
You should tell us what bank, and do us a favor in changing card numbers or using another ATM, or withdrawing money w/ a teller.
help us out in this area by informing us what institution you are having this problem with. you won't get sued by the bank!
Hackresident My mom's BOA debit card was used in Katonah NY at Sam's club on May 31st. (all for purchases of energy drinks and such) Interesting fact, Mom passed away earlier that week and was buried on the day of the purchases. I can honestly say - it was not Mom making those purchases. Have not heard if there was a bank breach. No clue how the #s were obtained as the card was not used and was in my possession.
cthy1213 I only use my debit card at my bank for cash - otherwise regular credit card with email alerts for all gas charges and charges over a certain dollar amount - so problems so far
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