credit card fraud

bluee

bluee

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USAA called me a few days ago to ask me about suspected fraudulent charges on my credit card. The card was cancelled immediately. I give USAA high marks for flagging suspected fraud. They FedExed me new cards. But still, this seems to happen once every year or two. I do buy stuff online, but I don't know from where the number is getting pilfered.

Does this happen routinely to others as well?
 
Only once in my life ... so far. Got called about a retail transaction on my CC in Spain of all places. Had never been to Europe at that time.
 
Same procedure happened to me by CitiBank last week. I wasn't surprised because I'd used the card to pay for my latest book-printing order, fuel oil delivery to the house, and something else; all substantial amounts and online, local(fuel oil), and another city, all within a 24 hour period. Instead of a call, I received an email. All I had to do was confirm the legitimacy of the charges. Done deal - card still valid.

HR
 
bluee said:
USAA called me a few days ago to ask me about suspected fraudulent charges on my credit card. The card was cancelled immediately. I give USAA high marks for flagging suspected fraud. They FedExed me new cards. But still, this seems to happen once every year or two. I do buy stuff online, but I don't know from where the number is getting pilfered.

Does this happen routinely to others as well?
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A couple of times. It doesn't require on-line purchases. We had a lovely lunch in Maine overlooking the seashore. The next day someone in main tried to purchase a whole bunch of fine camera equipment with my card! I suspect there was a starving artist on the wait staff that decided the time was right to keep a copy of my credit card info.
 
It doesn't happen to me routinely but it has happened a couple times, I think.

The one time I was amazed because it was about a $10 charge from a bar in Texas. I don't know why they would flag that since, at the time, I was going to Texas quite frequently. On the other hand they didn't flag transactions from various other parts of the country, Mexico or Canada, even small towns in Canada.

I make all kinds of on-line purchases with various cards so I don't think it's that.
 
I wouldn't say "all the time", but it does seem to go in cycles. AmEx and USAA have been particularly good (AmEx produced a temporary card at one of their local offices in 2 hours one day when I was leaving on an int'l trip that night).

Sometimes it's traceable to online stuff, but the biggest issues have arisen at hotels & restaurants. I've had 3 cases now where front desk staff at hotels have stolen my ID & used it to charge tens of thousands of dollars of stuff (one even opened utility accounts and telephone accounts that I didn't learn about until a collection agency called.... they even spelled my name wrong). Collection agencies that try to collect fraudulent debt are the scourge of the earth - ended up turning one in to the State's Attorney.

That said USAA has been very proactive, especially when major credit card processors were hacked.
 
I guess I've been lucky. Never had an issue and I pay for EVERYTHING with my credit card because I get 1% to 5% back on all purchases.

I've had them call to check the legitimacy of some charges but never had any that was actually illegitimate.
 
I worked for a bank and they cancelled my card for fraud. It was fraudulent but it happen to cancel it when I took myself out to dinner. Card was declined I called and talked to the rep and said "Fantastic you cancelled my card and I have a $25 meal to pay for" so they turned it back on, let the transaction go through then I called to cancel my card about 10 minutes later. Took a couple of phone calls to get it straightened out/request new card...blah blah. The kicker of the whole thing was the cc company charged me $6 for using the customer service number too many times. I don't work for them anymore.
 
saracelica said:
I worked for a bank and they cancelled my card for fraud. It was fraudulent but it happen to cancel it when I took myself out to dinner. Card was declined I called and talked to the rep and said "Fantastic you cancelled my card and I have a $25 meal to pay for" so they turned it back on, let the transaction go through then I called to cancel my card about 10 minutes later. Took a couple of phone calls to get it straightened out/request new card...blah blah. The kicker of the whole thing was the cc company charged me $6 for using the customer service number too many times. I don't work for them anymore.
Click to expand...

This is why you always carry cards issued by multiple issuers by multiple banks.
 
wsuffa said:
the biggest issues have arisen at hotels & restaurants. I've had 3 cases now where front desk staff at hotels have stolen my ID & used it to charge tens of thousands of dollars of stuff (one even opened utility accounts and telephone accounts that I didn't learn about until a collection agency called.... they even spelled my name wrong). Collection agencies that try to collect fraudulent debt are the scourge of the earth - ended up turning one in to the State's Attorney.
Click to expand...
I see how the bad charge at a bar in Texas happened then. Someone from a restaurant got my number and name. Not sure how they knew it was fraud, though, unless they kept misspelling it. My name I mean. Wait you said they misspelled your name too. Maybe they are more careful about that now.
 
Lawreston said:
Same procedure happened to me by CitiBank last week. I wasn't surprised because I'd used the card to pay for my latest book-printing order, fuel oil delivery to the house, and something else; all substantial amounts and online, local(fuel oil), and another city, all within a 24 hour period. Instead of a call, I received an email. All I had to do was confirm the legitimacy of the charges. Done deal - card still valid.

HR
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I didn't think banks did that. I would have called them direct if I received such an email. Sounds like phishing to me.
 
Norman said:
I didn't think banks did that. I would have called them direct if I received such an email. Sounds like phishing to me.
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+1. I can't imagine any bank uses email for that.
 
B of A just sent me a letter that they are going to change my credit card number in a couple of weeks due to potential fraud. I remember reading a news item about customers' card numbers being hacked at several companies, so maybe it has something to do with that.
 
Happened to me once. I was in Mauritius (Indian Ocean) and someone bought gas with my card number in Ohio and the next day bought some stuff at a Home Depot in Florida. They got me a new card when I got back to Dubai... but it took a few days since they sent it to Dubai, Saudi Arabia. :rolleyes2:

Someone in Saudi Arabia scratched it out and wrote "Try UAE". :D
 
Everskyward said:
It doesn't happen to me routinely but it has happened a couple times, I think.

The one time I was amazed because it was about a $10 charge from a bar in Texas. I don't know why they would flag that since, at the time, I was going to Texas quite frequently. On the other hand they didn't flag transactions from various other parts of the country, Mexico or Canada, even small towns in Canada.

I make all kinds of on-line purchases with various cards so I don't think it's that.
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The charge that flagged my account was a $2 charge in the UK, and they used the wrong billing address and "other info", which I'm guessing three-digit code on the back was missing or wrong.

USAA has also called me whenever I've purchased from iTunes, Foreflight. I don't know why iTunes sets them off.
 
bluee said:
USAA called me a few days ago to ask me about suspected fraudulent charges on my credit card. The card was cancelled immediately. I give USAA high marks for flagging suspected fraud. They FedExed me new cards. But still, this seems to happen once every year or two. I do buy stuff online, but I don't know from where the number is getting pilfered.

Does this happen routinely to others as well?
Click to expand...


Got the call from USAA on Thursday, some bone head used my card to buy an airline ticket. Should be easy enough to apprehend. First time its ever happened to me. My experience was the same as yours with regard to service.
 
AdamZ said:
Got the call from USAA on Thursday, some bone head used my card to buy an airline ticket. Should be easy enough to apprehend. First time its ever happened to me. My experience was the same as yours with regard to service.
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The idiocy of that is astounding.
 
I should add that I don't recall what company called me but it wasn't USAA. I've never looked into their products as I doubt I qualify in any way.
 
It's happened to me a couple of times - actual fraud, that is, where I had to cancel my card. Neither time was caught by my bank's fraud department (who are actually external contractors), and I have had several false alarms where I get a robo-call telling me to call such and such a number to confirm activity on my card. Every time this has happened it has been one or more legitimate purchases, made by me. The only thing "suspicious" was that they were made from locations too far apart for me to have been able to drive from one to the other in the time between the transactions. The first time it happened I explained that I was a pilot and owned an airplane, after that I didn't bother since they clearly didn't care and were going to apply the same criteria regardless.

Possibly they have grown a brain, since this hasn't happened in a couple of years or so. But I always carry more than one card, just in case.
 
Both times it has happened to us, it has been with Capital One cards. They certainly handled things really well. This year was the second time it happened. Someone in Greece and Romania was making charges. They would get cash advances and make other strange purchases. Capital One kept the card open to try to catch them, but sent is a new one and cut us off from the old one. We haven't heard what happened or how they got out number, but it was evidently a highly sophisticated international ring of identity thieves.
 
One time I committed fraud on myself. I have a credit card I use only for my California expenses. Once I had just landed in the evening on an airline flight from KSFO and when I turned my cell phone on I got a message from work asking me to airline out to KLAS in the morning. When I got to KLAS I was trying to put gas in the rental car that the other pilot had rented a few days earlier and I couldn't understand why the zip code didn't work. I gave up and we went to the hotel. By the time I opened my computer I had an email from Citicard asking me to call. Ohhhh. I was using a card with a CA zip and entering a CO zip.
 
Norman said:
I didn't think banks did that. I would have called them direct if I received such an email. Sounds like phishing to me.
Click to expand...

Citi calls and emails both. Reason I know, they sent both when I gassed up two different cars on vacation within 2 minutes using a new card. ;)

Only actual fraud charge I ever had was an Amex account on iTunes. Got a new card the next day via FedEx.

Cheers
 
Following the bank's directions, we called them to say we were furnishing a new home in another state and would be making many large charges away from home. Sure enough, after one purchase it was locked. After answering all their security questions, the last one was, "What was the balance due on your last bill?" "I don't know!! The bill is back home!" Bottom line, they wouldn't reopen the account.

Was able to use a different card, but lost out on a lot of miles we would have gotten with the first card. Now we never tell them when we're going out of state and everything's fine.
 
I haven't had any fraudulent activity on my card yet but I applaud USAA and especially Navy Federal for their efforts. My Navy Federal card is my primary and they frequently call me to verify large purchases minutes after the transaction.
 
bluee said:
USAA called me a few days ago to ask me about suspected fraudulent charges on my credit card. The card was cancelled immediately. I give USAA high marks for flagging suspected fraud. They FedExed me new cards. But still, this seems to happen once every year or two. I do buy stuff online, but I don't know from where the number is getting pilfered.

Does this happen routinely to others as well?
Click to expand...


Only once.
 
Twice- USAA called both times. Once, after an trip to the UK someone used it for small purchases in Italy. Another time someone made a $1 purchase, then spent a couple thousand at an Apple store in CA.

Both times I had the card in my possession, and both times USAA called and canceled the cards.

Apparently the scammers make a small purchase to verify the number is valid, then spend as much as possible before the bank catches on.
 
Twice in last three years. USAA is excellent on handling it, but changing autopay options on multiple accounts is a pain in the buttock region.
 
Too may times to count. Once when I bought ice cream from cold stone in Tampa, and two hours later the card was being used on the east coast for assorted items. A few other times over the years. The last was a few weeks ago. Always my Sony Card which has gone through three different banks since I got it.

However, the worse was when a local neighbors daughter broke into my care, stole among other things my wallet(it was a late night after very long day and I forgot my wallet in my car). However, the dumba$$ went first to McDonalds and got breakfast, then to Murphy's and got gas, and then bought a laptop from Walmart. This was on Friday and she was in jail on Monday, not bad for the Barney Fife's whose colleagues on the east coast have not found who stole my Jet Skis last labor day despite every friggin traffic light there having a camera. Oh BTW she is spending the next four years on the expense account of the state penal system.
 
A few times over the years. Some I caught, most the bank caught. The best was shortly after I moved to Oregon in 1995. My family was still in San Jose and my wife got a bill for our American Express Optima card. A rather large bill. Hotel, meals, tools. None of them made by me. And the card had never been out of my wallet. I didn't use it. Took FOREVER to get Amex to straighten things out. They had trouble believing me when I said that all the charges were fraudulent. The last one was stuff ordered on-line and delivered to an address south of Portland. Amex wasn't smart enough to figure that the delivery address might be a good place to start the investigation. Finally got it straightened out from my point of view, then I cancelled the card.

Other times have been simply a notification from BoA that the card had been compromised (never said how) and that they were sending new ones with new account numbers. Inconvenient when I have auto-pay set up on that card. Oh well...
 
I also remember a call from Capital One when I used a card for the first time, at a car wash, one of those kinds where you use a sprayer yourself. I got back in the car and my phone was ringing.
 
If you've ever used a credit card to purchase anything on / from / through Facebook, consider it compromised.

-Rich
 
Over the last 10 years I've had the banks (CC Companies) replace about 5 cards.
Some the call to verify a purchase, no I did not charge $9 at a drug store in Maryland, I'm in Las Vegas. Card canceled, you'll have a replacement in 3 days.

I had a notice that my card would be replaced due to suspected fraud. Wait I just reserved a car rental and I need the same card for the discount. Ok, the card is good for that car, do you have another card for the rest of yor trip? Yes I do.

I've had gas card company call home, luckily wife was home. I had charged $100 in CA the same time the daughter on the card had filled her car in Boston. (College student)

Yes they are both traveling. Ok! Thanks.

I call the card company before I make major trips. I'm flying to Alaska, you'll find multiple fuel and hotel charges on this card until xx date. Ok thanks for letting us know.
 
Last year. Capital One called within minutes after the charge was placed. I got a new card. I got a new debit card too because I use it in some of the same places as my CC. Better safe than sorry.
 
So far I have escaped any fraud issues... I only have one card and use it sparingly... On cross country trips I will call the CC company ahead of time to give them a heads up for potentail fuel purchases and motel stays... Never had it denied..

Ps.. I have NEVER used my CC online.. Call me a chicken..:rolleyes:
 
denverpilot said:
When you start with an inherently insecure product...
Click to expand...

Like an airplane? And pilot? :)

I'll probably get in trouble for this but to me, it has always been interesting how people view different kinds of risk; physical vs. financial, for example.
 
Everskyward said:
Like an airplane? And pilot? :)

I'll probably get in trouble for this but to me, it has always been interesting how people view different kinds of risk; physical vs. financial, for example.
Click to expand...

Well done, sir. I say the same thing to people at work who are afraid of a shooter. Now that the 3ft high doors require an ID badge they feel secure.
 
Four or five times for me in last fifteen years or so. Two were actual stolen plastic (actually I forgot to retrieve the card from a cashier) that were quickly used before I noticed and cancelled the card. One guy was caught and the other not. The others were some sort of security breach somewhere. Never cost me anything.
 
EppyGA said:
Wrong gender. ;)
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Haha, of course that is true, but does it matter? I mean in the context of what I wrote?

Do people think that, statistically, men or women are more comfortable with the risk of using credit cards in various situations?
 
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