It's possible that I've been victimized as well, but I'm not sure. There was a charge last Friday for $18 to Alamo Rent-a-car on my account. I don't use Alamo. When I rent cars, I use Hertz.

I called my Chase Visa card's 800-number. They said I might want to double-check with my wife. So I did. She didn't do it either. I called back and spoke to them again. "Well, your card was swiped." (Implicit: you swiped it.) I offered that it's just as possible that somebody copied my account information to the back of a blank card. Anyway, all they could tell me is that the charge came from "Santa Clarita", but that could well have nothing to do with where the charge actually occurred. So, they said they're going to ask the vendor to produce the slip with my signature. We'll see how this pans out. I can't wait.

(If this really was some kind of theft, though, wouldn't you think the thief would go for something more impressively expensive, like consumer electronics or something?)