credit card locked; fraudulent charge thwarted

[duck__dodgers]

I thought that I was being paranoid by keeping my credit cards locked (not all cards offer this). And it was annoying to always lock/unlock cards around purchases

But I hit the lottery, someone failed at spending $300 at a bail company 600 miles away.

I use the chip reader as much as possible, but when people see a "victimless crime", they will find a way to get a valid number.

 

[JohnnyG]

Duck, Dodge, and Hyde!

 

[CKN]

Seeing how the banks have no choice but to reverse fraudulent charges-I don't worry about it. I have had one fraudulent charge in over 50 years of credit card use.
That was rectified with a SINGE PHONE CALL.

 

[HemiBenny]

Our cards are set to send a notification right after they're used. After purchasing anything, we get notifications on our devices within a minute or two.
Also, I pay the charges off every Saturday morning, which makes it a short list to scan to make sure the charges look accurate.

 

[RhondaHonda]

Way too much of a hassle to unlock it for each use. Mine gets compromised annually and they handle the charge and send a new card. It’s a pain to swap over all the auto pay stuff but I’d be doing that either way.

 

[duck__dodgers]

yes, nowadays reversing a fraud charge is usually easy.

25 years ago, someone used one of my cards to buy a PS2 off of eBay (when the PS2 just came out, $400 i think).

To reverse that charge, I had to send a nortarized affadavit to Citibank.

No car, living in NYC...that involved a bit of walking, lol.

 

[CKN]

Way too much of a hassle to unlock it for each use. Mine gets compromised annually and they handle the charge and send a new card. It’s a pain to swap over all the auto pay stuff but I’d be doing that either way.

This is the thing. Everyone's info is out there on the dark web (unless you paid cash FOR EVERYTHING-including a house) . It's just a matter of time.

 

[dishdude]

I have several cards I don't use and I keep them locked along with my credit reports. My debit card is also set to a $1 spending limit since I never use it. Yes I know I'm not liable for fraudulent purchases but why risk the hassle.

 

[walterjay]

Over the years I have had three fraudulent purchases on my card. It is on the card company not me. They had to eat it. Not worth the hassle of me locking the card. Never never use a debit card. They have no such protection. I know someone who lost thousands on their debit card.

 

[bobdoo]

I have notification turned on for both my cards.

I once had to call in, when amazon charged me the normal yearly charge for prime.... duh on me.

 

[Nick1994]

I only ever use credit cards, so unlocking them everyday would be quite the hassle.

Never had a fraudulent charge before. And I use them internationally too.

 

[mrsilv04]

When my credit union detects a charge that they don't like.... they'll let the charge that they don't like go on through, but then they'll lock the card afterwards. Then they start calling every phone number that they have on file with you... one after another... from a random 800 number that caller ID shows as "Suspected Fraud"... to attempt to verify with you that one charge that they didn't like. If you don't answer the "Suspected Fraud" call, then they leave generic messages on your voicemail which sound like a complete scam, as they never identify themselves as being from your credit union. I always take the text of the voicemail message and email it to the credit union, and make them verify it is legitimate or not, before even thinking about calling anyone back

After waiting on hold for 10-15 minutes to speak to the "fraud department"... even after you confirm that YES, that you made the charge... and YES, it is legitimate... that's not good enough. You then get grilled with more questions. Were you forced to make the charge? Did you make the charge under duress? Unless you answer *every* single question the way that they want you to... your card remains turned off.

The first time that they did this to me, was a $100-$150 charge to Walmart.com.... even though I spend thousands of dollars a year at Wal-Mart. That's worthless fraud detection right there. The second time they did this, I was on vacation and was buying gasoline in different states. Doesn't everyone buy gasoline every day in a different state when they're on vacation? The third time they did it, just last month. I treated myself to a new $300 phone from Verizon.... when I've used this same card to pay Verizon for my monthly cell phone service for YEARS. Bravo.

They're a bunch of idiots, and they've just about lost my continued business over it.

 

[alarmguy]

I thought that I was being paranoid by keeping my credit cards locked (not all cards offer this). And it was annoying to always lock/unlock cards around purchases

But I hit the lottery, someone failed at spending $300 at a bail company 600 miles away.

I use the chip reader as much as possible, but when people see a "victimless crime", they will find a way to get a valid number.

Your credit card hit the lottery. One great thing about credit cards is you’re not responsible for fraudulent charges so the credit card company protected themselves from a loss. You never need to worry

 

[alarmguy]

Seeing how the banks have no choice but to reverse fraudulent charges-I don't worry about it. I have had one fraudulent charge in over 50 years of credit card use.
That was rectified with a SINGE PHONE CALL.

I’ve had a streak of a few years in a row at least 2 twice a year of credit card fraud on various cards. No problem ever except wondering how it got compromised. Not my problem and the issuer sends you a new card with new account numbers, most/many times they would overnight it or two day FedEx it to me.

 

[RaymondP]

Just wish they would follow-up with the fraudster and share their id and consequence but guessing they don't bother in the majority of cases. Would like to learn how they got my CC number to conduct a successful transaction.

 

[alarmguy]

Just wish they would follow-up with the fraudster and share their id and consequence but guessing they don't bother in the majority of cases. Would like to learn how they got my CC number to conduct a successful transaction.

I think many times it is card skimmers in restaurants from your friendly waiter or waitress
If it ever happens to you, think back a day or two before the fraud if you used your card in one.
I used to wonder myself but didnt care much.

One time (2 days after using my card at dinner) a motorcycle place actually searched for me and found my phone number. He had an order for 2 motorcycle helmets and thought something was "off" about the transaction. He was right, I didnt order them, the total he told me as almost $1000 ... again, it didnt matter to me other than to wonder how they got my information.

The most detailed transaction ever and the one time in my life I was asked to sign an affidavit was ATT cell phone service that I did not subscribe too. They had my name, address, everything with some tell tail problems to me. They listed my address correctly but used Ave instead of lane and a couple other things that I pointed out to my card issuer. Anyway, I guess ATT didnt believe me because my card issuer asked me to sign that it wasnt me. No big deal, the consumer doesnt take the loss, except again, where did they get that info. I want to stress to others other than that, I could care less, you are not responsible for any charge on a charge card that isnt yours, plain and simple. It's been some time now since it happened to me, clearly there was a "leak" someplace years back.

Ps. NEVER use a debit card only credit cards if you want full protection and no hassle.

 

[y_p_w]

Over the years I have had three fraudulent purchases on my card. It is on the card company not me. They had to eat it. Not worth the hassle of me locking the card. Never never use a debit card. They have no such protection. I know someone who lost thousands on their debit card.

I’ve had several credit cards cancelled after multiple fraudulent charges. Most recently I received a text message from my bank (knew it was legit) asking if it’d made a specific purchase from Bloomingdale’s and I answered no. My card was cancelled immediately and it took a week for a new card to arrive.

Once (90s) it was several Southwest Airlines tickets that were called in with my credit card number. The charges were reversed because it clearly not me and because the travel agent didn’t ask to see the physical credit card when the physical tickets were picked up.

I’m sure someone stole my mail and intercepted a credit card once.

Another time I’d found several charges at gas stations from Ohio to West Virginia. Obviously I never made those charges. I’m guessing someone got the number and other info and used a card encoder on a blank. Easy enough to use with pay at the pump. But these days the smart card (chip and contactless) communications are impossible to replicate.

The one thing I’d think is better is if cards can be picked up at a local bank branch, although all the permutations of rewards cards might be a bit difficult to handle. I got a new bank account where my debit card was printed onsite. I think the chip and contactless algorithm are fixed but unique to the card. That might help with some card fraud from theft of mail.