Son of a B#$@^!!! I didn't think it could happen to us. All the nice little safety precautions we take to protect our credit cards and credit account information. Several nights ago we received an automated message from my wife's bank that there has been some unusual activity on her account. We logged online to find that someone had made a $3,000 transaction several states away, earlier on in the day!

They also TRIED to use the card again for another $600 transaction, but the alert had already been made, so the credit company wanted the merchant to call in that purchase for identification. We were stunned, nervous, and pissed! Luckily everything was handled quickly and smoothly. We took care of the matter online and on the phone. That money was credited back onto our account, and closed immediately.

We then issued a fraud alert to all three credit bureaus over the phone. We don't really understand how it could've happened. My wife's card wasn't stolen, we haven't been on vacation out of state for a while, and we hadn't made any online purchases recently. A co-worker seems to think that the magnetic strip on the card had been taken with a recent purchase.

We just received the new card with a new account number in the mail. It's been sitting on our desk for a few days now without being touched or activated. I'm not one to say credit cards are evil, but they can be a pain in the ass sometimes...