i've been a bit worried recently about paying my taxes: now that i'm freelance, taxes are no longer being withheld from my paychecks, which means that instead of the phat refunds i used to get, this year i'll owe money... and i could owe a few thousand. plus i need to get started making quarterly payments to the irs, and the information on irs.gov can be hard to decipher. but now it looks like i have another financial problem to deal with.

i had a dentist appointment this afternoon, so i logged on to my bank account to verify that i had enough money to pay for my cleaning, and suddenly noticed i had hundreds of dollars less than i thought i should. when i took a closer look, i found these four debit charges, which i most certainly did not make.

i checked my wallet and my debit card was still there, so whoever made these charges didn't physically steal my card, but still i was concerned. i called the bank, and got through to an actual human reasonably quickly. but the person i spoke to wasn't that helpful. she said that they can't cancel the charges while they are still "pending"; once the payments have posted, she told me, i can dispute them, but until then, unless the retailers contact the bank and cancel the transactions from that end, i'll just have to wait until the charges post. i kept waiting for her to tell me something useful, to maybe suggest that we should close out my debit card and issue a new one with a new number, but she never did. (she did ask whether i still had the card itself, and when i said i did, i guess that was sufficient.)

eventually (after my dental cleaning—no cavities), i called back, and explicitly told the person i spoke to that i was concerned someone might have stolen my debit card number. this new teller quickly helped me out by cancelling my card and issuing a new one (though i'll have to wait a week or more to receive it, which will be a pain). so i think the worst is over, and i should be protected from liability, so i should be able to get most of my $700 back. still, the whole ordeal is rather unsettling.¶

From the pic you showed on your blog..its my guess your account is thru Chase Bank.. because thats exactly how my acct looks online. anyhow.. I had a debit on my acct this morning for a total of $25, which was done with my debit card.. but like you I STILL HAVE MY CARD.. how are people doing this?? The bank immediately closed my card and refunded my money.. but still I wonder.. how are thieves doing this??? ¶