Wednesday, December 08, 2004

F**k Romania!

Well, it's happened again. Someone has robbed me using my debit card information. It's happened to me twice before with my credit cards, but they generally correct it quickly, and it I can live without my credit cards for a while. This time, however, someone in Romania started making charges and cleaned out my checking account.

Fortunately, the bank noticed (charges in New York and Romania on the same day might tip me off, too), and now it's being investigated. I should have my $911.20 back within a couple weeks - and you can bet your sweet bippy I'm nervous, in case there's some bureaucratic problem with that.

However, in the meantime, holiday shopping's going to be a bit stiff. I've got a wee bit of savings, and my good ol' trusty Amex, fortunately, but the whole thing makes me feel more than a little ill. Not because I'm mad at myself for not being careful enough or something - heck, this happens to a lot of people a lot of the time, and I'll just take my debit card offline for some of the automatic payments for which I've been using it. Rather, because, what the...? I mean, Romania? How the heck did that happen? And why didn't they go pick on somebody with thousands of dollars to spare in the first place?

Well, I have a very good chance at getting my money back, but the bank directly told me that it's generally impossible to find out who did these things and how. Maybe some poor family in Romania is getting a much-needed stove now (maybe if I'm lucky they'll send me some goulash), although I doubt it. The only problem in these cases is the cumulative effect on the rates the banks charge, and, if I am fortunate, a temporary spending cap for me.

Maybe this is God's way of telling me to stop buying ornaments, already...?

1 comment:

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