I checked my American Express app because Hertz was doing their normal screwy pre-bill stuff and I just wanted to make sure it worked out correctly. It almost always does, but Hertz is weird sometimes--they'll go ahead and issue my billing rental contract early, showing extra charges for extra hours, and they pre-authorize more than the charge anyway, and I end up with 3 "pending" charges each time. It's not a big deal; it works out in the end, but I have to kind of check it.
Anyway, I noticed a $270 charge to walmart.com "pending."
So I start investigating. Not in my regular inbox, I find a Walmart email to me (my fault--I have a "Vendors" folder so I don't have to look at all the crap stuff they send unless I order something, and I don't look, well, unless I order something. Mistake on my part).
It's an X-box that has been ordered, and the person picking it up is "Joseph Lopez." No telephone number given. It's from my Walmart account.
Here's what saved me.
My AMEX account billing address was incorrect. I didn't realize, I inadvertently changed it when I ordered the last thing.
Talking with Walmart folks, the order was placed from my account, so they told me I needed to immediately change my password.
Funny thing is, the location for it to be picked up was the Walmart I always use. So was the hacker local? Or did they just screw something up? Or was it more nefarious than that--just making that order to see if it worked, and somehow stealing the credit card information?
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