I waited on hold for almost an hour with one bank to get to talk to someone. The representative informed me that there has been a marked rise of fraudulent usage this last quarter. One bank I used the debit when on my flying travels early September, a couple of extra charges in Salt Lake airport and more in Atlanta. That bank shut my card down whilst sleeping behind a Delta airlines kiosk due to being bumped and missing flights, thus stranded overnight. When I couldn't buy a coffee in the morning, I just switched to a different card, and wrote off the issue with the first, thinking it was just a reader error. It turns out the bank was flooded with charges that night and shut the account down until I contacted them. (One charge was over $1500 at Nordstroms near Athens GA) The second bank the showed signs of odd charges, a dollar here or there, some obscure charges simply labeled "service charge", software companies billing $20 over and over. So I had to shut it off and change account numbers. Also, I used my Discover card for various business purchases, and I guess there was a chip reader along my travels and that card was 'skimmed'.... Through that someone gained access to auto payments associated with that account and ordered a new phone from my carrier, etc. In anticipation my financial advisor suggested cancelling all accounts and getting reissued numbers and cards. So, here we are! I got some cash by closing two local bank saving accounts so I can still buy stuff during the interim. It was also suggested changing tax ID numbers and possibly my social security number.
Could it be there's too much information in those chips? Perhaps the system is too well integrated? Whatever is afoot, it's another strong argument for cash in my mind. An associate of mine in Homeland Security has a gadget that can skim cell phones if they have their Bluetooth radio enabled, and he suggested I get a shielded wallet so my cards can't be read by near field scanners. WTF? I guess the more convenient we make it to access our funds, we make it easier for everyone else too...