My CC has been compromised

[vickibee]

Had a call from M & S Money to say someone had been trying to fraudulantly use my card for online purchases. The card is in my possession so I am not sure how this can happen
can anyone in the know explain how someone can access my info? The only thing I can think of is paying insurance at a call ctr, are the staff dishonest and using info later? M & S didn't give out any answers but I am so glad it was spotted. Also how did thay know it wasn't me using the care?
Thanks in advance

It can happen anywhere you use it, I had mine cloned in a petrol station, my husband had his cloned somewhere on Oxford street. The card does not need to leave your possession to be cloned and is not necessarily the call centre staff.
I believe from the report on the prosecution in the petrol station the staff on duty that day didn't know, it was someone who called to put in a new chip and pin machine, took a while to track down the person responsible and even then they rarely get the gang leaders behind it.

I've had this before as well. Card had never left my sight and I think it had been cloned somewhere or copied online. The last time it happened the CC company was fully on the ball & alerted me to the fraudulent transaction because the payee (online pharma - probably Viagra ) was on some kind of list.

I occasionally cancel cards and get fresh ones sent out as a security measure.

I cannot use my card now until the new one arrives about 10 days or so. I am so glad they realised it wasn't me. I could have had a hefty bill!

The plastic card is only a physical representation of your credit card account. There are, unfortunately, plenty of ways in which someone could have got hold of your credit card number, expiry date and so on, without being in possession of the bit of plastic.

M&S are probably looking for patterns of behaviour. For example, I got a fraud alert on one of my cards when I booked two hotel rooms in rapid succession (thank you, Holiday Inn, for not allowing me to book one wheelchair and one non-wheelchair room in the same transaction!). This could easily have been someone at the booking centre re-using the card details whilst they were processing a real transaction for me, so it got picked up. It was completely legit, of course, so I was happy to confirm the funds to go out.

Sudden, large purchases on sites you don't often use will flag up a warning, as will locations - it is notoriously now quite difficult to use your credit card legitimately in Amsterdam as many issuers block transactions unless you specifically tell them you're going there first. (Likewise Hong Kong I think).

Check your account regularly in case any transactions slip through the net.

apparently it was only for a small amount, 30.00 on O2 online and 16.00 on paypal, perhaps it was a test to see if it could go through and would try bigger sums thereafter.
Another thing I thought of is that you use a false card to buy online you would need to give a delivery address so you kind of give yourself away?
It has got me a bit nervous now and will check my account more often.

Mine was cloned in a petrol station too. The cc co spotted unusual transactions and contacted me. The fraudsters usually start with a couple of low value transactions first. Mine was for takeaway and then a mobile top up, then they went for a laptop of over £1K.

I wanted to know if they ever caught the s but due to data protection the cc co was unable to tell me.

I think they commonly try small amounts first to see if it has already been reported. DM's details were taken from a travel insurer's database (they wrote to her to say security had been compromised ) and a Premier Inn transaction was highlighted.