So after I arrive home from work today, I stop by the mailbox to pick up my mail. However, in addition to the usual pile of ads etc., I get my credit card bill - the bill from my one and only credit card that I never use. In fact I don't think I've ever used this particular credit card. I had a problem with an online retailer a few months back (1and1.com sucks) where they were incorrectly charging me repeatedly for services I did not have. I had to cancel that credit card and get a new one issued in order to stop them. For quite a few months now, I've been on a strict 'no credit cards' policy. If I can't buy it cash (or debit card) I can't buy it. I get pissed off at myself when I get a credit card bill in the mail, even if it's only for a few bucks.

Since I never use this credit card, imagine my surprise to get a bill from that credit card. I certainly couldn't remember charging anything on it recently, but occasionally I might forget that I ordered something, so I opened it up to see what I had forgotten that I charged. On the bill I see a $297 charge from "TWC*Maine". Hmm, you'd think I'd remember buying something for 300 bucks! Of course I can't remember ordering something at that price, so I called the number. It turns out that "TWC*Maine" is short for "Time Warner Cable of Maine". Considering how I live in Florida, have never been to Maine and don't know anyone in Maine, this was clearly not a valid charge. I talked with a representative at Time Warner Cable and explained the situation. I gave them as much information as I could regarding the fraudulent charge. After hanging up with them, I called the credit card company and disputed the charges. They of course cancelled my card (again) and will send me a new one.

What I find funny about this is some moron with Time Warner Cable in their house decided to use my credit card. I suspect this joker decided to buy himself a new DVR for his house or something and charge it to me. Now I'm sure Time Warner keeps track of these things. I'm sure somewhere there's a record of who charged my credit card to pay their bill. This has got to be a trivial thing for Time Warner to track down and prosecute this idiot.

What's disturbing about this whole incident though, is how my card got charged to begin with. This card that got used fraudulently was only about 2 months old, since I had just got it to replace the other credit card that 1and1.com was incorrectly charging. Plus, I don't believe I've ever used this card! I don't know how someone could have gotten their hands on it. Did Chase (the credit card company who I have this credit card through) recently have some big data breach and my card got stolen as part of this breach? That's the only thing I can think of. I've never used the card. I never lost the card, I never lost my wallet. I don't know how else they could have gotten a hold of it.

Of course I'm not concerned about the money. It's an obviously fraudulent charge and I reported it as such. This means I don't have to pay for it since I never bought it to begin with. I'm just concerned on how this happened in the first place. That card number should not have been out there.