Again and again. Tiresome.

[LoboGunLeather]

First call of the day. Credit card security department (verified legit) inquiring about unusual activity on my account. Big dollar transaction for a new cell phone in California, little bitty 37-cents (trial run?) charge in another state. Neither of these are authorized.

So, current card is now cancelled and 7 to 10 business days to get a new card out to me. Sincere apologies for the inconvenience, etc, etc, etc.

I am very happy they are looking after my account. The small inconvenience of waiting a few days for the new card is not a problem. But this seems to be happening more frequently all the time. I get the security calls to inquire about a charge, or I scan my monthly statement and find that a little fraud has taken place.

The scammers must be busy as they can be! If it is happening to me a couple times each year it must be happening to a lot of other people.

Back in the 1980s I was a fraud and forgery investigator. Pre-internet and very few people had cell phones. Investigations took time, travel, shoe leather. Today, I would be lost in the woods wondering what the heck was going on. The crooks can make it halfway around the world before I can get my shoes on.

 

[ladder13]

It’s happened to use numerous times. PITA changing all recurring charges.

A little bit of moaning gets a new card expedited, sometimes next day, or by the second day for sure.

Just had our number stolen while in FL. Thief was caught in NC, about an hour from us, his second arrest. He had a bunch of blanks and a machine in his car to make bogus cards.
They caught him speeding, dumb ***.

CC companies will NEVER divulge how they know these things.

 

[The Last Standing Knight]

The scammers tend to hang up on me these days....

...and often after a long silence followed by a naughty word.

I answer the phone "Thank you for calling the church of satan, would you like to sell you soul today?"

(That's the only clean one I can post)

 

[mckenney99]

Yep, been in the same spot several times and it sucks. Last time was 2 days before I was to leave town to attend a firearms training class and the card provider refused to overnight me a new card. Required a trip to the bank to get enough cash for all my anticipated expenses. Found that the hotel (only one available) does not make it easy for guests to pay with cash.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

I pay my credit cards online usually as soon as the charges are posted.
But I look at the charges before I pay.
I have had 3-4 bogus charges in the last year.
Filed a protest, all were removed.
None were real large, just like yours a couple were small.

 

[NYlakesider]

It’s happened to use numerous times. PITA changing all recurrent charges.

A little bit of moaning gets a new card expedited, sometimes next day, or by the second day for sure.

Sometimes is a BIG word! Its a "possible maybe" if it will work at all times.

That's the reason I have two different CCs, one gets infected I can get by on the other till the new one arrives.

 

[ladder13]

I’m amazed by how soon the CC companies notify you. They’ll never tell you how they know the charges are bogus.

 

[Pig Hunter]

The part that bothers me is they just write off the fraud and it costs us all more in the end. My wife's Walmart account was hacked and someone was going to to pick up groceries in another state. Instead of having the cops pick up the thieves they just canceled the order. By nickle and diming the charges they aren't felonies and the perps probably send kids to pick up the stuff so nothing gets done.

 

[bigwheelzip]

But once in a while, the white hats prevail.
I'd previously posted about mail thieves that stole cash from one of our accounts. Our local PD jumped on it, IDed the perps, rolled it into a joint federal investigation, and now the four miscreants are doing time in a federal pen. Another year and a half before they finish the sentence.


Sent from my motorola one 5G using Tapatalk

 

[Onomea]

Plus 1 on having a back up credit card.

And thanks for the reminder to scrutinize statements.

 

[F4phantom]

I have found that if you pick up the phone and don't say anything for about 10 seconds the call will disconnect. If a live person wants to talk to you they will speak up. Works 99% of the time. Darn that 1%.

 

[LoboGunLeather]

I’m amazed by how soon the CC companies notify you. They’ll never tell you how they know the charges are bogus.

Probably another one of those no-humans-involved functions, computer algorithms identifying anomalies or patterns, everything compared to account history and card-holder profile, automated phone call/text, then the human operator speaks with the card-holder for verification.

Hundreds of millions of card-holders, probably a billion active credit card accounts, scammers operating in organized interstate (and international) transactions, probably using computer programs themselves to send out hundreds or thousands of attempts every day, everything routed through multiple internet portals and anonymizer programs, and new accounts and methods applied daily. Huge operations.

 

[Gunhacker]

I’m amazed by how soon the CC companies notify you. They’ll never tell you how they know the charges are bogus.

I worked for a major national bank in the IT department for 40 years... not even internally, could I find out the exact details from the unit responsible on how it's done, other than ours was a very sophisticated artificial intelligence driven fraud detection system. I also know that the same system was being used for the detection of potential money laundering activity too.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

The card company phone call comes in with no name attached, so I don't answer! That got the card canned after the first night of the 2 week trip! The wife's card worked fine without answering the call. Some card companies (maybe some employees!) seem to dislike normal healthy users! 10-14 days to get a new card? Ridiculous!! One of the banks has New Cards at every branch and you are back in business in about 45 minutes. American Express has a stolen care replaced on the next business day anywhere in the world! Membership has its privileges!

Ivan

 

[nodpete]

The last time I had my card hacked, we had lunch in a restaurant in IL.(It was us for real) The next day a transmission replaced in Texas, a day later a dinner in California. Meanwhile I had used the card in IL. again so when I called Citi bank they stopped everything immeadiately and sent me a new card that day. I had the new card for about a month and got gas at a local station and the next day I got a charge for a motel in Tennesee. So another new card, that was 3 cards in a little over a month. Fingers crossed that was about a year ago, nothing since. Citi Card is really good about getting you a new card, usually in 2 days.

 

[GypsmJim]

I’m amazed by how soon the CC companies notify you. They’ll never tell you how they know the charges are bogus.

Its out of character for you, or you live in Boston and the charge was made in LA.

I got gigged a couple of times for valid charges when on vacation. Now i notify the card company ahead of time and all is well.

 

[quikdraw67]

Wife's card always seems to be the one hacked. It last happened in January. 1st the little $1 charge to see if it will go through, and then the big ones.

She's not tech savvy at all. I check my cc online at least once a week to look for anything suspicious. So I set it up so I can log in and look at hers (it's a joint account, but it was hers before we got married. I rarely use it. ).

So far, so good.

 

[ladder13]

Its out of character for you, or you live in Boston and the charge was made in LA.

I got gigged a couple of times for valid charges when on vacation. Now i notify the card company ahead of time and all is well.

I only notify my CC company when going overseas. They seem to know where I am in the states. I’ve travelled dozens with no issue.

 

[swsig]

I was visiting my son and his wife in Kansas City, and bought a couple of items as housewarming gifts for their new home. The first item, a sofa, was purchased in Store A, the second, a television, a few minutes later in Store B. By the time I'd gotten to Store B, my credit card had been frozen due to the large "out of town" purchase at Store A. I had to call the credit card company to authorize the second purchase. It was a bit inconvenient, but it was good to know my credit card company was on the ball.

 

[Bullet Bob]

I just got a second credit card for this very reason. Disputed a charge on my original; card killed and new one mailed. No problem, but I did think about how inconvenient it would be if I had needed one while the new card was in transit. So I got another one, and set up autopay for my phone bill with the new one, and put it in the safe. That way it won't be inactivated due to non use, and I'll have it if the situation comes up again.