Angry, Broke and Violated

I am at a loss for words. I have never been so angry in my entire life. I have been spending hours on the phone, just trying to get this figured out.

So I was online checking our bank accounts, when I noticed a large amount of money was missing. There were 5 charges from the day before from a LUKOIL in New Jersey. This caught my attention. I had seen a few LUKOIL charges here and there, but I just figured it was Brian getting gas for work, or buying snacks. I never really paid attention to the NJ part, because I just thought that was the location of the headquarters. There had also been a week where we didn't have our Internet set up at our new house, so I was unable to check my account online then. Well, 5 large charges in 1 day definitely caught my attention.

I called Wells Fargo and reported the find. I was curious why we had less money in our account, it was unusual since Brian had just started a new job and we should have been doing great in the finances department. I figured that I had less money because we just bought a home and lots of unexpected bills and payments come up. The lady at Wells Fargo noted that there was 38 different charges in about a months time from LUKOIL New Jersey, and that it resulted in close to $2,000 being stolen from our account (in about 1 months time).

From the information that I have received on the phone, this person some how was able to get our check card number and make a fake Visa card off of it. Brian and I have never been to New Jersey, and we both have our card in our wallets, so its not like the person actually had our card. He was some how either able to just guess all of the info (highly unlikely), or someone used one of those card readers at a gas pump, steal our card info, and sell it to someone in NJ, or he was able to some how hack into our account and get it (we aren't exactly sure as to how this person in NJ was able to get our check card info.)

Its hard for me to understand how that can happen. I have always been very cautious. I shred all documents that I throw away. We have never lost or had our wallets stolen either. If the card was some how copied here in Utah (which I don't know how it would be), why would it only be sold off to just 1 person ? Why does this person in New Jersey only use it at 2 different LUKOIL locations (Wells Fargo is confused about this too*** see below***)??

I am mad, I feel violated. We are going to get the money back, but not for another week. I have been paying bills thinking that the money was in the account the whole time, which overdrafts my account and did credit line transfers. I had to contact the Credit Bureau's, Social Security, and everyone that I have paid bills to- hoping that they wont add $$penalty's on to bounced checks and late fee's. This has been a HUGE mess!

All in all, the moral of this story, be careful. I have always considered myself a careful person. This could happen to anyone.

*** Wells Fargo said that when these people strike, they usually hit a ton of locations so that they wont get caught. They also do small charges here and there so you wont notice it "skimming off of the top" so to say OR they do a bunch of HUGE charges at once, and drain your account. They can't figure out why this person has done $20 here and there, then $70 then $150.....all at these 2 LUKOIL locations***

If you have any thoughts or information that you think would be helpful to me to mention to Wells Fargo, or to contact more people about this, or to learn from this experience in the future.....please share.....

EDITED TO ADD- So I just got off the phone with the fraud department at Wells Fargo. The guy that is researching my claim had a lot of leads. He said that he is almost positive that Brian's card was copied when he paid at a pump at a Conoco here in Utah on March 12th. He said that there are card reader systems that get inserted at pumps right after you pay and pump. He said that the person managed to configure the card info and sell it back East in less than 24 hours. He then said that an employee at LUKOIL (most likely) was able to get a hold of it by purchasing the card info. The employee set up various gas cards and gave them out to friends and what not. He thinks that there are many people involved in this case. He is also shocked that Wells Fargo was not able to pick up on 38 obviously fraudulent charges in a months time. He thinks he has some good leads to narrow down the employees and individuals involved.

Be careful when you buy gas. He said cash is best. Even if you pay inside, employees can remember your card info, write it down, or check on the surveillance cameras. Plus, your card info stays in their computer systems as $1 charges until the amount pumped is verified by the end of the day.