Ripoff

“What, pray tell, is this world coming to?”I asked the bank fraud guy.
“This is the fourth time my credit-card number was stolen. I’m not complaining. You poor guys are being taken to the cleaners.”
“Hacked purchaser site, card photographed; yada-yada-yada.”
“And if not for the fact I reconcile my credit-card statement every month it would have gone unnoticed.”
It’s only $14.40.
“Which you guys have to eat. Plus overnight me a new card.
First time was eons ago: $1,600. You froze my account, and justifiably.
Second time was a few years ago. $400 or so. I tried to buy groceries with that card, and it bombed. Again you froze it. At least I had enough cash to buy those groceries.
The third time was four months ago per my doing. Maybe 30 smackaroos charged to ‘Google-Purchase’ (whatever).”
The other night I pored through my most recent credit-card statement, and noticed a totally unknown charge to Amazon-Prime. “I don’t have no Amazon-Prime account. I know what ‘Prime’ is, and I refused it. I never buy from Amazon-Prime (gasp).”
I called the bank.
“Let me switch you to our fraud department,” the kindly service-rep said. (Don’t expect that from Microsoft. Yer lucky if the techies speak English.)
And so it began. Wheels churning; fraud reaction at full boil. “We’ll overnight you a new card. Your old card is frozen.”
A few hours later I headed for an eat-out I planned to charge to my card. My wallet was empty. I hit an ATM on the way. I needed cash to pay the restaurant.
I actually withdrew $100; which allowed me to buy groceries the next day.
I could say something here about our current prez. Like anything goes, survival of the fittest, guile and cunning to offset the thieves. Supposedly “collusion” isn’t a crime. Which I guess it isn’t, but that doesn’t justify it.
Meanwhile someone is running away with $14.40 worth of merchandise, for which my bank gets to pay — (ultimately those paying interest, which doesn’t include me, since I pay in full.)