One of the banks I used called me last week and left a voicemail message. When I listened to it, the message said that my U.S. dollar credit card had been compromised and that it would be cancelled in the next few days as a precaution. There weren’t much more details beyond that.
Sadly, this isn’t the first time something like this has happened to me. I’ve had at least two debit cards cancelled and replaced because I used them at a place that had compromised security. The banks never tell you any details though. They always refuse to tell you which business it was or how it was compromised.
This time around I called the bank anyways just to make sure there was nothing I could have done to prevent this. When I got a real person on the phone I was informed that I did nothing wrong and that my new card would be sent to me in a week or so.
As you might expect, I mainly use my U.S. dollar credit card in the United States. The odds are likely it was compromised during my last trip south when I was in Los Angeles. I used that card to pay for stuff everywhere: restaurants, bars, shops, and the airport. There’s also a chance that my card was compromised in any of my other trips. It might have been my trips to Hawaii, San Diego, or even London that did it.
Luckily, I haven’t noticed any weird charges on my account. So this remains a minor inconvenience while I wait for a new card to come in the mail. It’s a good thing this isn’t my main credit card that I use at home. What a pain it would be to lose that!