How a Stranger Used One Text Message to Steal My Entire Digital Life -- Time

[AZJonnie]

46. No, because only if you respond to a text in the scenario I described with a 'no' I didn't make the charge

that's when your card gets suspended in a way that causes them to disallow all further activity on the card. If you say 'yes I did' then the merchant tries the card again and it will work, and the card is then not further suspended.

I suppose yes if the thief is hanging out nearby and scraping phone numbers and texting everyone 'hey did you make this purchase' in a manner that's professional-looking enough to trick the card holder, and that real cardholder is the only one who replies 'yes I'm trying to make the purchase' + the business is 'in on it' such that they're using a counterfeit payment terminal that will pretend to decline certain purchases such that the in-store criminals they're working with get the chance to perpetrate the text scheme, then yes, in that case, the criminal then adds knowledge of the phone number associated with the account.

So I'll stipulate that if the text comes in when you're at a small store that feels like it might be really sketchy generally, that's a higher risk. But that's not going to happen at, say, Costco or another similar large corporation. And you'd have to get pretty unlucky with "timing" because that's highly illegal stuff and the credit card companies will blacklist that business and report them to authorities pretty damn quickly, and they WILL act. The security of the systems by which people pay for purchases through bank cards drives the entire world's system of commerce is taken pretty seriously. A shop is not going to survive long as a business if they are actually a front for a credit card theft scheme. They'll get caught, and go to jail.

I'm pretty much saying there's one and only one scenario where, if you get an unsolicited text appearing to come from your institution (and you know your institution uses a system like this, like BofA does) that I think it's reasonable to respond to it. If others feel it's not worth the risk, I'm not faulting them for it. But you've brought me around to the idea that it carries SOME risk, esp. if you're at some sketchy outfit, like a roadside gift shop in the middle of Nowheresville.

Thanks for the talk