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Man Gets His Credit Card Number Stolen, Ends Up Confused When He Upsets The Thief By Canceling The Flight That Was Booked Using It
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Man Gets His Credit Card Number Stolen, Ends Up Confused When He Upsets The Thief By Canceling The Flight That Was Booked Using It

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Having one’s credit card hacked might be a nightmare for many, but imagine one’s surprise when, in addition to that, they receive a complaint about why they canceled the flight that was booked using this very card. Should they apologize for the inconvenience that the hacker suffered as they had “a family event to attend”? This was the mixed-up situation that this Redditor found himself in. Other Redditors stepped up, trying to solve this mysterious yet ridiculous-sounding situation.

More info: Reddit

This man had his credit card hacked, but the story did not end here

Image credits: Thomas Kohler (not the actual photo)

After he canceled the flight that was booked using his hacked card, he received a complaint concerning this very flight

Image credits: AshesfallforAshton

Image credits: Dylan Agbagni (CC0) (not the actual photo)

Image credits: AshesfallforAshton

A man who had the unfortunate experience of having his credit card hacked by a stranger noticed that it was used to book a flight via Priceline. Intending to speed up the process of getting a refund, he canceled the flight reservation and this was what led to an unexpected email two days later from what seemed to be the hacker himself.

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The email contained the same personal details as the flight reservation – the picture as well as the phone number were matching. The email sender was inquiring why the flight reservation was canceled, disrupting his plans of attending a family event. 

The man’s story got 154k upvotes on Reddit. Many people shared their experiences of finding themselves in a situation where they witnessed injustice and were simply left to watch it happen in real time.

Other people were giving their observations about this man’s incident and providing a possible explanation of what might have happened. These explanations came down to two main versions, either the hacker wasn’t smart enough to recognize the email belonged to the card owner or the person booking the flight and sending the email was not the hacker, but just another victim of his.

The hacker asked why the flight reservation was canceled, disrupting his plans of attending a family event

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Image credits: Henrik Berggren (not the actual photo)

The card was also used to buy 12 tickets to a dinosaur museum. Luckily, the man blocked it right after

The original poster himself ruled out the former possibility, claiming that it seems to him the hacker “knew what he was doing”, as he found him to be working in technology in addition to having a criminal record. On the other hand, he admits he might be wrong here, adding that his card was also used to buy 12 tickets to a dinosaur museum. Luckily, he managed to block the card before the cybercriminal could finish buying their order from Grubhub and a Mid-Evil website.

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Some people were hopeful the hacker would be even more “inconvenienced” after he gets charged for the fraud. Unfortunately, the original poster shared the screenshot showing that the case reached a dead-end in between the police fraud department and the police station, neither considering it to be their responsibility. 

The latter option was backed by a user under the user name gcf19, who found himself in a similar situation when his flight was possibly “sold” to a third person. As well as the user under the name Weed_O_Whirler, who shared his experience of getting in contact with a person using their Disney+ account, only to find out it was a third party who was not aware they were using a stolen account.

Redditors shared their takes on the incident

Image credits: AshesfallforAshton

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jacquelinewilliams avatar
Nice Beast Ludo
Community Member
10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Police do NOTHING EVER. Someone broke in my house. Stole $250 and all my medication. Called police. They investigated. They dusted for prints. We could see two GIANT handprints on the sides of the file cabinet that had the lock Busted out. Twice the Size of my hands or my husband. Call them a few days later told we have to PAY THEM $75 PER FINGER PRINT if we want them to run it. Then we got accused of running a scam. The cops Said we were just filing a police report to get more medication. Freaking RIDICULOUS USELESS

yaojielun avatar
Jay Son
Community Member
10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The only reason I ever involve them in a theft is for insurance reasons.

Load More Replies...
susan_45 avatar
Susan Bosse
Community Member
10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Years ago, my mom dropped my debit card at Walmart. Someone found it, spent $75 TWICE at sonic and then made a credit card payment with it. Idk whatever happened after I made my police report as I got my money back. Never heard anything from the police.

writevalda avatar
ValdaDeDieu
Community Member
10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Don't get why the police - with all the funding and equipment in the world - did not follow up on the clues and do an investigation. UNACCEPTABLE.

Load More Replies...
dtamburrino avatar
KittyGotClaws
Community Member
10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I just has my credit/debit card hacked for the SECOND time. Both times was for over 1,000. Last time someone stayed at an Airbnb in San Francisco. Left an 415 800 number. Looked it up -- some scammer. The bank refunded my money, but I'm getting sick of it! Look into your bank account every month, people!

yaojielun avatar
Jay Son
Community Member
10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

if you use a card that is linked to your bank, like a debiit card, it's a good idea to get at least one more account so you can spread your money and keep more amounts in the bank that you use the card with. Problem is, if your debit card number is used, banks are often not responsible to refund you the stolen money. Alternatively, get a rewards credit card and pay everything with that instead so your debit card is not exposed to the world wide web. Just make sure to pay it off every month (I made it a thing to do it weekly so you don't get any interest charged :)

Load More Replies...
Load More Comments
jacquelinewilliams avatar
Nice Beast Ludo
Community Member
10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Police do NOTHING EVER. Someone broke in my house. Stole $250 and all my medication. Called police. They investigated. They dusted for prints. We could see two GIANT handprints on the sides of the file cabinet that had the lock Busted out. Twice the Size of my hands or my husband. Call them a few days later told we have to PAY THEM $75 PER FINGER PRINT if we want them to run it. Then we got accused of running a scam. The cops Said we were just filing a police report to get more medication. Freaking RIDICULOUS USELESS

yaojielun avatar
Jay Son
Community Member
10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The only reason I ever involve them in a theft is for insurance reasons.

Load More Replies...
susan_45 avatar
Susan Bosse
Community Member
10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Years ago, my mom dropped my debit card at Walmart. Someone found it, spent $75 TWICE at sonic and then made a credit card payment with it. Idk whatever happened after I made my police report as I got my money back. Never heard anything from the police.

writevalda avatar
ValdaDeDieu
Community Member
10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Don't get why the police - with all the funding and equipment in the world - did not follow up on the clues and do an investigation. UNACCEPTABLE.

Load More Replies...
dtamburrino avatar
KittyGotClaws
Community Member
10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I just has my credit/debit card hacked for the SECOND time. Both times was for over 1,000. Last time someone stayed at an Airbnb in San Francisco. Left an 415 800 number. Looked it up -- some scammer. The bank refunded my money, but I'm getting sick of it! Look into your bank account every month, people!

yaojielun avatar
Jay Son
Community Member
10 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

if you use a card that is linked to your bank, like a debiit card, it's a good idea to get at least one more account so you can spread your money and keep more amounts in the bank that you use the card with. Problem is, if your debit card number is used, banks are often not responsible to refund you the stolen money. Alternatively, get a rewards credit card and pay everything with that instead so your debit card is not exposed to the world wide web. Just make sure to pay it off every month (I made it a thing to do it weekly so you don't get any interest charged :)

Load More Replies...
Load More Comments
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