In Reply to: unauthorised charges from Dec/Jan trip posted by molly_baker on Thursday, 5. March 2009 at 10:55 Bali Time:
most likely. When you pay a bill or hand the card over to any sales assistant they could easily swipe it through a 'reader' (bogus) & claim the reader isn't working (or whatever) and bingo, they have a copy of your card stripe. They then copy it onto a blank & use it for fraud, or simply use the number to order goods/services etc. Or they just record the number directly from the card i.e. write it down (incl. the CVV code) Easy peazy....
Beats working for a living haha!
That's why many banks/societies these days automatically TRF your card to a new account & issue you a new card if you show any activity from a 'high risk' destination. Last time I went to Malaysia they replaced my card immediately on my return (without asking), cost them $20 - $30 in admin. costs but much better than $$$$$$$ in fraud.