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                 The computers … they know! They know! Part II
                                        
I received an automated call from my bank (a credit union). It was the Credit
Card Fraud Dectection Unit asking me to verify a transaction for $1.00 at a
gas station on September 22^nd. I had no idea what date it was (turns out—it
was earlier today) and I did hit a gas station earlier this week. But gas
isn't 7¢/gallon (I mean, I do live in Boca [1]) so I knew it wasn't me.

I declined that transaction and was then informed I should call and talk to a
representative to resolve the issue. It turned out there were two
transactions today—the one for $1.00 at a Sunshine gas station in Miami, and
a second transaction for $0.00 (the representative called it “an
authorization for billing”) at a Citgo gas station in Houston, Texas! [2]

Oh my …

A new card is on the way, but again, I find myself a bit uneasy [3]. It's
wonderful that my credit union is looking out for fraudulent use of my card,
but … it's another set of computers watching over me.

[1] http://www.ci.boca-raton.fl.us/pages/
[2] http://www.houstontx.gov/
[3] gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2016/09/22.1

Email Sean Conner at sean@conman.org

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