How the hell does this happen

[rob.mwpropane]

I’m in the far out suburbs, not Sh*tcago itself.

I didn't mean any offense by it.

We're really fortunate, and I'm very grateful for where we are. Is see it slowly starting to change though (hence the locks).

My parents live about 20 min north and their house doesn't even have locks. Never has in 25 years.

 

[ps444mike]

ok been hacked a few times. one time with my credit union cc which i never used. the credit union called me and said we canceled that card an sending you a new one. guess somehow, they used the cc number and charge airline tickets in Russian and then 15 min later charged food in Ohio. I told her it was a fast flight. lol

our company card all been hack. I think it was from Home Depot that's the only place we all use our cards.

now on my personal card any charges over $10.00 I get a text alert.

 

[lexvil]

OMG. <face palm>

When you live in the boonies locking the house just ends up costing for repairs to the house, thieves can just smach windows/doors or just crash through the wall, no one will hear or see it.

 

[BRT]

And just where abouts do you live (street name and #'s specifically)!

I'm in the same boat, we don't normally lock our house except at night and extended vacations... it's a moot point though, Amazon was giving away smart locks that connect to your wifi and you can lock / unlock with fingerprints or smartphones, so now I'm sure we'll lock more often. I'm just glad I don't have to carry keys.

@formernuke, sucks about your card, but at least you caught it.

We don't lock ours at night or for vacations. I'm on day 35 away from home right now. I am certain that 100's of people who already are in our hometown already know that we are gone, and when we will be back. If the house were locked it would be simple to break a window in a door.

 

[BRT]

Are you f’ing kidding me? You deliberately leave your house unlocked and carrying keys would be too much of a burden?

Terrible place, the USA.

 

[BRT]

When you live in the boonies locking the house just ends up costing for repairs to the house, thieves can just smach windows/doors or just crash through the wall, no one will hear or see it.

They could cut through the wall with a chainsaw and back a moving van up and it is unlikely anyone would notice,

 

[tursiops]

I am quite sure that VISA and AMEX have two-factors-authentication operational also in US. They are both US-based companies, it would make no sense that they set up this safety protocol working all around the world, and not in US.
I suppose it is mostly a cultural fact. Watching films or TV series coming from USA; I always wonder how most people there lives in houses with very limited protection against intrusion: glass doors, windows with no external shields, gardens without ralings and gates, etc...

I would not want to live where I had to have external shields on my windows or gardens with railings and gates. No wonder you have 2FA on everything.

 

[Angelo Farina]

I would not want to live where I had to have external shields on my windows or gardens with railings and gates. No wonder you have 2FA on everything.

It is just different habits. If you look at crime statistics, in Italy the number of crimes per million inhabitants, per year, is substantially the same as in US. Our Crime Index is 44.85, and the USA has 47.70. So slightly LARGER.
See the data here: Crime Rate by Country 2022
However, making it harder to commit crimes helps reducing the number of crimes, on one side, and increases the reporting ratio, on the other side. If you leave the apartment open and the the burglar just steals some pennies on the desk, there is a high chance that the crime is not reported.
If instead he has to break steel curtains for entering the house, sure the crime will be reported (as this is required for having the insurance covering at least partially the damage).
In substance, living in homes decently protected against intrusion contributes to keeping the real crime rate low.
Same for two-factor authentication on any card payment.
We have a motto here, "the occasion makes the man a burglar"...

 

[scubaozy]

My credit card information was stolen once. I booked a diving holiday through a reputable company using my cc. Next month I found that there was an activity just over 500€ and I think someone tried to send money overseas using my cc and western union.
I reported this to police and to the bank, the bank took care of damages. Roughly a month later I got a message from the travel company that, they have a contractor for the payments and this contractor company lost some of the data so, for damages, I need to get in touch with their contractor. Since my damage was taken care of, I did not bother with this.
About a year later, I got a letter from Polizei and they told me case closed, they have not found anything . Moral of the story is CC or bank insurance is your best bet. You have no control over who is storing your data where and how long. 2FA is useful but my bank did not have it back then.

 

[agilis]

We have contactless. Usually done directly with the smartphone, the plastic card is considered quite obsolete here. However also the plastic card is contactless, the magnetic band was unsafe.
But if two-factor-authentication is enabled (as here is mandatory, in practice) you still have to authorise the transaction with your texted auth number, or with your fingerprint on your smartphone...
My knowledge is that in the US systems similar to our Secure-3D two-factor-authentication do exist.
For example, see here the Safekey 2.20 feature for AMEX: SafeKey
VISA has a similar scheme: Secure Online Shopping
Of course it appears that most people are not using it, or perhaps they do not even know of its existence, but this does not mean that it is not possible to enable it.

Suppose you don't have a smartphone? I don't, and don't want one. A waste of money, I think. I use a small 20 year old flip phone that stays in my vehicle except when hiking, strictly for emergencies and convenience calls. I do not text at all, strictly voice calls. I use a full-size desk computer for everything else. Requiring multiple validations suggests a deeply criminal environment.