Discover Card Security Breach?

[Jeanie]

Wow, some people just make me sick..AMAZING!!

On Saturday, I was out shopping and had made several purchases with my Discover card. When I was checking out at Menards with a rather large purchase, my card was declined. I had just used the card 3 two hours earlier, and I knew that there was no way that I had exceeded my credit limit. I immediately called the number on the back of the card, and after punching in part of my account number and other identifiers, I was immediately routed to the Fraud department. The rep there was able to tell me all the purchases that I had made that day, and was aware that my card had just been declined. He advised that my account was on a security freeze because it was believed that my account number had been disclosed and that my account needed to be closed immediately and that new cards were being issued and I would receive them in a couple of days. I really wasn't given any choice about the matter.

The rep attempted to authorize the purchase that had just been declined, but after two more failed attempts, I was embarrassed enough that I just pulled out my Visa to charge it there.

When I got home, I was unable to access any of my account information on the Discover web site - they had definitely closed my account.

I was on the phone today for ~45 minutes with the Discover Fraud department trying to get an answer as to where this supposed breach occurred. Most of this time was sitting on hold waiting to be escalated to a supervisor, and then the manager. The manager agreed to submit a request to the head office for an explanation on the security breach. As I told her, I believe that I have a right to know where this breach occurred so I can decide whether I want to continue to do business with that vendor.

Time will tell whether I get a response. In my conversations, I got the impression that this had happened to a lot of people. I won't be surprised if there is a news story about it in the next couple of days.

Really odd, because I am paranoid about ID theft.
I got an email at 4 AM from Discover fraud dept.
Thought it was spam. Several hours later, they called and left a VM.
I called the main number, and as soon as I entered my credentials, got transferred to the fraud dept. They said they detected possible fraudulent activity. I looked online and saw nothing. They said the transaction hadn't had time to post online. It was for a Yahoo service of some kind. I asked them what made them believe it wasn't legit. They were evasive and ambiguous. They were d a m n anxious to close the account though.

I'm fairly certain they had a breach of some kind, because the only way to make an online purchase these days is to know the security code. Chances are, they had a rash of similar fraudulent purchases from a common set of vendors. That would explain why they flagged an otherwise innocent-looking transaction.

[Jeanie]

What I am thinking is there are people calling/emailing you Discover Card holders and "saying" they are Discover and getting your info (such as cc#, ss#, name, address, etc.) to "close" the acct. or they are calling in to close you acct. themselves so they can either get a new card at a "new" address or open a totally new card. There are SO many possibilities to this..I just hope you all weren't a victim in ID theft..Keep us posted here as to what has been going on..

You should NEVER EVER give your info to anyone. If it's the issuer they already have it. If they want to verify your identity they'll ask some specific questions. They never ask your SS# or other sensitive data.

I just received a new card in the mail today. They had not contacted me stating that they were going to do this. Instead they just sent me a new card with a new number. The pain part is is that they will not transfer over any automatic billing after 13 months so I must contact my providers and let them know of the change in card number. I called them wanting to know why they re-issued a new card. They stated that there must have been a security breach somewhere- some vendor's files became compromised- so that anyone who had used that vendor received a new card. Great! I don't know WHO that vendor was so how am I supposed to know whether or not I should trust doing business with them again. Once this happens, they should give full disclosure. This should be a consumer's right.

We just received new Discover cards even though our current ones do not expire next year. Has anyone heard about a major security breach?

[Jeanie]

I don't think I will trust Discover Card, I will stick with Capital One!

~Jeanie

Regarding my Discover Card...I think their security is compromised at the highest levels...
1) I left Virginia for P.R.C. (China) in Feb. 2008
2) Before leaving I called and advised them I would be out of the country until July.
3) I placed no charges on my Discover card since leaving the U.S.
4) My wife opens all credit card statements and calls me.
5) She called in late April or early May and said, "Discover wants $36.24."
6) I found this funny since (a) I left my Discover card in my dresser drawer in Virginia Beach and (b) I made no purchases on the card since February.
7) Sometime there after my wife opened another "reminder" from Discover and I thought it was time to see what was going on.
8) I got to the Discover account services site on line. I signed in using my customary user ID and password. It asked me a security question: "What is your mother's middle name?" I would never have used this as a security question because my mother did not have a middle name!
9) I got to the page that showed account activity and several hundred dollars were charged since May 15.
10) Using their internal communication email (I had never left the site at this point) I advised them of the fraudulent activity.
11) I never received a confirmation for this email.
12) I closed the site. I tried to re-open the site later in the day but could not.
The message was "mistake in the user Id or password" I was effectively being locked out of my account.
13) About a week later I tried to reopen the site to email the little buggers.
14) Again, could not access my account. I tried to re-register..to no avail.
15) I then tried to email them every way I could imagine. Nothing.
16) I called my wife and she called them. They told her they would put a hold on the account.
17) I have tried their "international" hot line 800 number to their fraud department...but, hey this is China.
18) Re-read that part about how I first got through using the very same user Id and password and then couldn't...all on the very same day.
19) Something is rotten in the state of Discover.
China Guy

[Jeanie]

Nothing seems to be secure these days!!! Hope you get it fixed with no problems..

~Jeanie