Credit Card Skimming

Hi all. Just joined this board. Has anyone had any trouble with Credit Card skimming in Phuket (Patong). Thai BF (Australian) used his CC at only one place in Patong and is now 30,000 baht poorer. The bank has traced the charges to Phuket. Love your board :flower:

[Brad the Impala]

I've used a credit card quite a lot in Phuket and Patong, I was there for six months last year, without a problem, but I probably only used it in the larger venues. Where did your bf use it? I expect that he will get all his money back anyway.

[TrongpaiExpat]

Skimming has not been a problem for me but one of my banks seems to think every time I buy something at MBK that I no longer have my CC or it has been skimmed and they put a freeze on it.

When I first moved here, I had to buy a lot in a short time and again and again the card got froze. I had to call, write and e mail every day.

The last Citi Bank security person I spoke to said the problem is that I am using the card in Thailand and that is the number one fraud country in the world for credit cards.

[Lunchtime O'Booze]

actually I try my hardest to never use a credit card in Thailand but you have to in hotels. I've never experience "skimming" but I've had mysterious charges appear from no-where months after. Credit card fraud is getting worse all the time-I think it's probably totally out of control but they must actually make so much profit they can absorb the losses.

welcome Brizlink !! (sounds like the name of a freeway !! :albino: )

[Marsilius]

A massive credit card fraud has been uncovered in the past week or so in the UK (according to the front page of todays Times, millions of people may be affected). Customers of the T K Maxx chain who used their credit cards there over the past five years or so may find them compromised by a data theft at the company's HQ.

Thankfully, because I always tell my card provider whenever I am abroad, they were able to spot someone trying to use a replica in Korea, of all places.

I now have a new card and have suffered no losses - but anyone who has shopped at T K Maxx since about 2002 is well advised to check their recent credit card transactions.

[bao-bao]

Skimming has not been a problem for me but one of my banks seems to think every time I buy something at MBK that I no longer have my CC or it has been skimmed and they put a freeze on it.

The last Citi Bank security person I spoke to said the problem is that I am using the card in Thailand and that is the number one fraud country in the world for credit cards.

While buying traveler's checks before my first visit to LOS my bank suggested I give them the dates I'd be traveling so the fraud department wouldn't wonder why my ATM was being used halfway around the world. That may be a prudent thing to do with a credit card, also, and check your fraud responsibility on the card(s) you intend to take before you go.

Keeping receipts, noting expenditures and checking those against the statement is best, but not all that easy to do for those on the board with a nightlife philosophy somewhere to the left of "whoopie"

I only take one credit card and my ATM when I travel, anyway - and unless there's some need for me to be carrying either with me they stay secured at the hotel. For me, it's rather like going into a casino in Las Vegas - I don't carry any more than I can afford to lose and not feel bad about!