Day 31 - (Continued) - Our Debit Card Number Was Stolen

We had excitement yesterday afternoon.  Mama logged into their checking account and saw four unauthorized charges.  They were in New York!  They were for Pathmark and CVS.  Mama immediately remembered a strange phone call that Dad received on Saturday.  It was an automatic call and he didn't listen to the whole thing.  He just said "our prescriptions are pending".  Well, for one thing, Dad doesn't order prescriptions and the second strange thing is that his phone number is newer and no one would have it.  Mama thought it was very odd, but then decided the message was probably for the person who had the number before him. Dad gets messages for him all the time. After seeing the charges, Mama immediately checked their online prescription service and nothing was pending.  She then called them and they said they have nothing to do with those companies.  She then called her bank.  They checked the account and said that they had just put a hold on it.  I guess they figured that something odd was going on since we had made charges in Texas and New York at the same time.  They told Mama that they were deactivating her debit card so no one could use it again.  Dad has a debit card and they said his will still work. We hope so because we will need to get cash from time to time. They said they would fax her a form to sign.  She spoke with the park manager who said it was fine to have them fax it here.  So, they faxed it here and then the park manager was nice enough to fax it back to the bank.  The bank said that they have to let the transactions go through and then they will put the money back in our account. The transactions are not due to go through until June 2nd.  We hope it goes as smoothly as they say it will.  Mama went ahead and transferred money from savings into checking because she has some bills that are being paid out this week and she would be bouncing them thanks to the crooks.  The crooks spent $364 of our money.  Mama thought and thought about how that phone call and the debit card theft were related and she figured it out.  They went to the phone store to renew Dad's pay as you go phone two weeks ago.  The machine said it no longer took credit cards, so they had to use Mama's debit card. That is the only time that Dad's phone number and Mama's debit card have been used together.  We don't know if the crooks have actually received whatever they bought with our money yet since the transactions are pending.  Luckily, Mama checks her bank account daily just to be sure everything is okay.  She has been using her debit card a lot because it is also a Visa card. She uses in restaurants as well as at the store.  She will get a new one whenever we return home. It just seems to be a lot of trouble to have one sent here.  The bank person was very nice and made the process very simple.  It's a smaller bank with just four locations.  I don't know if that makes a difference or not.

On a happier note, Mama thought the dinner last night was really, really good.  It was also a very easy meal to make.  Dad really liked it too, so it is definitely on our repeat list.  It is called Easy Ham And Au Gratins.
 Ingredients:
1½ c frozen potatoes, O’Brien, Ore Ida®
1 c cubed ham
1 c cut green beans, drained
10 oz can cream of potato soup
1 c shredded cheddar cheese
¼ c sour cream
Spray crock pot with cooking spray. Mix potatoes, ham, green beans, potato soup and cheese and cook on low in crock pot for 5 to 6 hours. Stir in sour cream before serving and cook until hot.

What could be easier than that?  Not much.  There are no photos.  It was good, but it didn't look "pretty" in photos.  LOL

Our weather has turned steamy this week.  It is very humid and we are actually having a rain shower right now. That was not predicted.  We have had one rain shower in the past five weeks.  We miss rain.  It has been cooling off quickly at night.  Our evening walks are usually quite pleasant.

Joey
The Greyhound Who Still Needs A Cowboy Hat