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Check your debit and credit card accounts for illegal activity

Chelsea Police logo 2(Chelsea Update would like to thank the many residents who contacted me about this situation.)

There are widespread reports across the community of debit and credit card hacking situations from residents in Chelsea.

Even Chelsea Police Chief Ed Toth is not immune to the hackers.

He said Friday morning that more than $300 was illegally charged to his credit card at stores in Michigan.

“Yup, even the police chief is not immune,” he said.

He said something like 56 million credit cards have been comprised across the country, so it’s a widespread problem.

And, locally the compromised debit and credit cards haven’t taken place at just one or two banks, according to folks posting on the popular local Buy it or Sell it Chelsea yahoo group, it’s been happening to folks with accounts at a number of different national and local banks.

Several local banks have changed their debit card policies and others have contacted folks whose accounts may have been compromised.

Toth says no one should point a finger at any of the local stores because at this point, there is no way of determining who is at fault.

So, what should you do?

Toth says check your credit card and bank accounts for any fraudulent charges and if you find any, contact your bank and fill out a fraud report.

“If these aren’t people going into stores in Chelsea  (with stolen credit card or debit card information) then it’s outside the Chelsea Police Department’s jurisdiction,” and that’s where your banking institution can get involved.

He said he’s contacted the Washtenew County Sheriff’s Department to see if they have gotten any reports, and so far, he said, they have not.

He said these hackers try to get gift cards over the Internet with the stolen information and according to the charges found by folks on Buy It or Sell It Chelsea, many of them have reported small amounts in stores in Florida, Texas, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio.

“We don’t know who is doing it,” Toth said, but if these hackers are using the stolen information in person, then perhaps they have been caught by surveillance cameras and the FBI can get involved.

He also sent a link to this story, which may help in thwarting these criminals in the future, but there is a cost involved in installing these machines.

Toth said if residents have any questions to contact the police department.

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13 thoughts on “Check your debit and credit card accounts for illegal activity”

  1. I also went to the Chelsea Police Department this afternoon to talk to Chief Toth about this.
    Showing him the number of responses by our community to the post I made in the Buy it sell it Facebook group (283 as of 2:30 this afternoon) we agree that there has been a local spike in the number of compromised accounts.
    There seems to be 2 issues here: 1) a cyber-based attack (large-scale and highly organized) as stated in the article and 2) potential skimming or system hack through a local merchant.
    It is the local spike that has me concerned. One way to address it would be to assemble a local task force to review bank statements of those of us affected over the past few months in order to identify any patterns.
    If we are able to identify a pattern, the Chelsea police will better be in position to investigate.

  2. I was one of the victims of this latest fraud incident. My card info was used at two businesses in Amarillo, Texas, on Friday 1/9. Luckily Key Bank flagged them as suspicious and contacted me immediately.

  3. I was also a victim of this last week. The charges were made in some dumpy city in IL outside of Chicago. So now I am without my bank card for 7-10 days :/ (charter one)

  4. I found it interesting that both I and my next door neighbor were hit on the same day a week ago.

    Although not related, we both have same last name, address all the same numbers except theirs ended with one, mine with seven. We were both hit at the same Michigan-based chain store, her at a Royal Oak location, me, at Allen Park. Neither of us ever shopped at any of those locations. Both of us had our banks somehow determine the over $200 transactions were fraudulent, and the activity was declined.

    I called the store manager in my case to request to see the video on the terminal during the timing of the declined activity … but guess what? I was informed that it would be a violation of the perpetrator’s right to privacy. They can use my personal and private credit card information, but I can’t see what they look like when they’re trying to impersonate me?

    As long as criminals have all the rights and protections from being unduly compromised in their innocence, we might as well live with or fingers crossed … hoping we don’t get seriously compromised in identity theft or massive loss in other security breeches.

  5. Just received a call from my bank and card was used in Texas at a Walgreen. They were able to stop prior to being charged. So thankful that banks are on top of this. The only thing I did recently in Chelsea was use an ATM on January 9th.

  6. We had an unauthorized charge on our debit card on January 15 to a Meijer store in McHenry, Illinois. Sounds similar to what happened to Michelle Romanowski. PNC bank reverses the charge with a “provisional credit” that becomes permanent once their investigation determines the charge to have been fraudulent. They cancel the debit card and issue a new one.

  7. If this is a widespread problem, then why has it happened to 11, of the 12 Chelsea people I’ve spoken to about this? Why hasn’t it happened to anyone else I know outside of town? And… The biggest question… Why is it that Polly’s is still trying to operate on dial-up. No folks. This is a Chelsea problem.

    Do not use your credit cards at Polly’s as it is most likely the problem.

    And… The real question that I’m sure all of us in town would love to know. What is being done to address this Chelsea-specific problem??? It’s time to stop saying no one is at fault, and admit that we need help with this!

  8. The Polly’s stores in Jackson are also on dial up. The systems don’t seem to be the same at all of the stores. If Polly’s is the link, there should be people in Dexter, Jackson and other surrounding communities experiencing similar charges and I would hope that law enforcement would be able to make that connection.

  9. We got hit with two transactions on Jan 19 for a total of $780 at some sporting good shop in Dearborn. There was also a 0.00 transaction at a Fedex facility in Royal Oak the same day. The small transaction is probably just a test. TCF already had new cards on the way. Yes, we frequently use Polly’s in Chelsea. Really frustrating.

  10. Both mine and my wife’s cards have been used fraudulently in the past week. Her’s at the Carpenter Road Meijer and mine at a small pizza store in Jackson. Both of us use predominantly cash, and I have never used my debit card at any merchant in Chelsea (cannot speak with authority on my wifes usage though).

    I did read an article a few weeks ago that suggested that it’s a relatively straight forward task to fake a card, if you know what you’re doing. As one person pointed out already their card was identical to their neighbor’s bar the last digit – in theory with the correct knowledge you could spoof 8 other card numbers by changing the last digit of that particular card number.

  11. So mad at myself. I ran into pollys Sunday for a quick shop and stupidly used my credit card. Yesterday I heard from my bank that my card had been used in Georgia and Texas. Aargh!

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