Credit Card Fiasco

 I wondered why the clothes I ordered from Macy's a few weeks ago were not arriving.  There were four items at ridiculously low prices but with the Macy name, I thought it would be OK.  Then my AMEX bill arrived with the charge not from Macy's but from some place in Hong Kong.  That was bad enough but there was also another charge from some place in Colorado.  I disputed the charges on my AMEX account and they credited me for the Hong Kong charge but not for the other one.  They showed me the Colorado bill with my email on it.  A little research showed that the company sold tee-shirts with rude sayings.  When I tried to call and email them, my efforts would not go through.   I wonder if they really even exist. 

I felt I learned a lesson from the too-good-to-be-true items from Macy's.  That charge of $29 was refunded.  The other charge of $35 scared me because someone had both my email and my credit card number and what would be charged next to me?  It could be a lot more than $35!  So I froze the AMEX card--and then I cancelled it completely.  

Cancelling a card means that one needs to check the automatic monthly charges.  Two of ours were donations to Passport 13, our local PBS station, and Doctors without Borders.  I contacted both of them and changed the charges to another credit card.  Then there was my default card for Amazon which gets used a lot!  I cancelled my Kindle Unlimited account and changed the default card for my 99 cent Kindle purchases and I guess for the Amazon Prime charge when it comes due. 

So what else should I cancel?  I think I cancelled the Apple charge for extra storage--only 99 cents.  When I tried to cancel a Microsoft 365 charge, I was told I had to pay $1 for Tech support--which would be refunded or I could get support for $55 a year.  Forget it!  I was not going to give anyone else my credit card numbers.  When Microsoft finds out my AMEX card is no longer valid, they will cancel my account. I tried to let them know ahead of time.

I found this whole experience frightening--to know that someone has my information and is using it.  But the AMEX account is now closed and the Visa card we have is with a local bank so I feel more secure about that.  If that becomes a problem, Jim has another credit card we almost never use except for flights.  

We need credit cards in this era of ordering online and rarely using cash.  But there are dangers and they scare me.  I hope it is all settled now and there will be no more unusual activity on my cards.