A $6 Burrito Nearly Cost Me $600

Okay, so first of all, let me note that at least part of this is my fault.

I know that, and I accept that. But I did freak out a little, and you probably would too, if you were in my spot. Story time.

So last week, I decided to save some time and money by stopping by a local franchised establishment for some grub. I used the little kiosk thing, and it was easy. Got me a breakfast burrito and carried on with my day. Checked my account online on Sunday, did some check balancing, all was well. Or... I thought it was, anyway. The hammer was about to come down. That next Monday, I got a call from my bank's fraud department.

Yep. Someone had gotten my information from my card and was trying to get me to pay for all kinds of crazy things. Like two hundred dollars to a gym I've never heard of in Daytona crazy. Like, Door Dash in St Louis crazy. Like, three hundred dollars to some kind of emo music website crazy. I looked at my banking website in horror, thinking it was just predatory how quickly they moved on me. I had just checked my account the day before and saw nothing strange....and how I might not have even checked again for a couple of days if my bank hadn't called me.

Now, sadly for these scammers, I have a good bank that nipped that right in the bud. They notified me and told me that we could do a dispute and get a new card ASAP. And, also, I don't have that kind of money to steal, so ha! I ain't got it for you to take it, suckas! Well. I guess that part doesn't matter as much, but you get what I mean.

Well, while things have calmed down now (they quickly dismissed some of it, and there's only two charges that look like I'll have to dispute them - the "Shining Workout" and Door Dash), it still kind of threw me for a loop. This has only happened once to me before, when I went to Chicago in 2019. I bought one thing there with my debit card, and my number ended up going to a Red Robin in North Carolina. It's never happened here in town to me before.

I guess the lesson I've learned here is, although Sedalia can be a relatively safe place on the whole, you still can't let your guard down. I've been aware that you have to check gas pumps for safety seals, and I do, but... you gotta check everything that's outside for 'em, too. And I didn't this time. I should have. But I guess, like I say, my guard was down. It's not like I eat out often, it's not something I think about regularly. I didn't think a six dollar burrito would try to get me on the hook for six hundred dollars. It didn't, thankfully, but it could have. I would have been boned if the charges had gone through (payday is this week, bills are due, going on vacation this weekend).

Have you ever dealt with something like this? Has your banking information ever been compromised or stolen? What did you do?

Bankingly yours,

Behka