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.

 

[llowry61]

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.

I will be retiring from a major CC company in May after 31 years. There are a number of ways we know when there is suspicious activity. The small charge then large charge is a dead giveaway and indicates a less than sophisticated fraudster. Where it gets interesting is how the security guys figure out who is doing it and how quickly they do so. Usually, they can pin down the location of the breach based on analyzing which cards have the suspicious activity and what they all have in common. I have had it happen to me on multiple occasions and twice with my company issued corporate card! The crooks are good, but this is one area all the CC companies work together to fight. It is all of their best interest to do so. I feel bad for the merchants who are often the ones left holding the bag since we charge-back the purchases.

On another note, as BWZip states, we employ a large number of field investigators and they work with local LE to prosecute whenever possible.

 

[Rustyt1953]

My one and only time...in 1988 I took the family to Cocoa Beach. The cabanas were pre-paid. When I got to the Hertz rental counter they informed me that my Discover card had no remaining balance. I had been hacked.

Fortunately I had a money belt stuffed with hundreds. I burned up some long distance phone charges trying to straighten this out. It didn't get resolved until after we got back home.

It was still a lovely trip but the feeling of being violated gnawed at me.

Now we keep an emergency CC with a $300 notify ceiling that we rarely use and do everything else with a debit cards.

 

[fiasconva]

My wife's card was hacked twice, both times after she used it at a T.J.Max. Card was used within minutes in Florida and the other time in Calif. The CC company did the usual and cancelled the card and sent us new ones. But both times it was right around Christmas so we had to use another company's card until the new ones came in after Christmas. Good thing that wasn't our only card. We've always felt this was an inside job by one of the employees.

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

Driving home late at night running out of gas, I stopped at a 24 hour gas station of a national brand, I put my premium card in and got my gas, but could not remove the card (this ain't right), several attendants could apparently not remove card either. Pliers screwdriver. no go. They told e that they would fix the reader and mail it to me. Ha Ha! I called the credit card company and cancelled it for a new one while they were working on it, then they said it was now "no good" and with a smirk opened a panel, pressed a button and gave the cancelled card back to me. They are out there.

 

[Doug M.]

My wife's card was used a few years ago at a Walmart about an hour from Atlanta. The address on the card at the time was near Spokane, so it was clearly bogus. We got a call within 20 or so minutes from card security on a Saturday night. Not know the number, my wife ignored it and then got the voicemail. We went to work, and I actually called the local PD in Georgia while she was on the phone with the card folks.

I was pretty impressed with the card security folks; whatever their algorithm, it is pretty sophisticated. We did a statement via email to the local PD. Although we never heard more, that's not a shock. In general, the single offense is hard to prosecute and disproportionately expensive. It is the aggregate frauds that really stack up the penalties; I filed on a pretty sophisticated group at my previous job, and it took over an hour to read the charts to the defendant.

I did have one card that got flagged a couple times. My rate of travel across the US seemed odd to them (900+ mile days) and they flipped out.

 

[outta_ammo]

We do as much as possible—which turns out to be most of it—with Apple Pay to reduce exposure on our actual cards. A couple of taps on my watch, and I'm on my way, and the merchant never touches my cards.

 

[irish132]

Happened to me once with a personal card and twice when I was managing a Government Purchase Card (GPC) in the USAF. The company for the personal card called within minutes of the transaction, left a VM to call them back. I verified the number on their web page and was also unable to log into my online account. Called them and they said they locked everything, the card and online access. New card sent and had great service.

Both times with the GPC I always kept a close eye on my accounts. One I was an Approving Official for one card holder. Checked the account and noticed a charge for the ITunes store. Funny since the card holder was deployed overseas and his card was locked in his desk back home. Had to go through my Contracting office to get the card locked since they were the administrator and the bank wouldn't lock it when I called since I was not the card holder. Eventually got taken care of but there are a lot of checks and balances for a Gov. card.

The second time I was the card holder for the GPC. Noticed a charge for Little Tykes in New York. First call was to the CC company and got my card locked and referred to the fraud department. Next step was going to my Comptroller's office since I know she checked every GPC transaction for weird stuff. Third call was to Contracting so they were aware. Just a guess, but I am assuming there are enhanced penalties for hacking a Government Purchase Card.

I am just glad the card companies seem to be on top of this. Still need to check all open accounts regularly and even lock accounts when you know you will not be using them in the near future.

 

[Golddollar]

A few years ago somebody charged airline tickets in Chile, South America, on my VISA card without having the card present. The charges went through with nobody blinking an eye. I have never left North America in my life. Luckily since I had advanced from total Luddite to semi-Luddite I had developed a habit of checking the card charges every day on the issuer's web site and caught the charges immediately instead of waiting for the statement to come. I called the Customer Service department and told the issuer I was very displeased about its total lack of response to such blatantly bogus charges they let slide through without asking me whether I made the purchase.

Since I advanced to semi-Luddite, I went to the web site for every credit card I had and checked the box to notify me about every charge made without a credit card being presented. I learned my lesson, happily not the hard way.

 

[Beemerguy53]

I've been hacked several times, but the most memorable (because of the inconvenience) was in 2015.

My son and I landed in Munich for a ten-day trip in Germany and Austria. I used my Capital One Visa card at the rental car counter in the Munich Airport, and again at our hotel in Nuremberg. The next morning, I got an email alert from Capital One: seems somebody used my card for airfare to London.

I called them, and they were going to cancel the card immediately, but I didn't want to use my backup card because of the foreign transaction fees. (Capital One doesn't charge those fees.) They agreed to keep the card active until I returned home, but in order to use it, I had to create a new password, and call Capital One before each transaction, using that password, in order for them to approve the transaction.

There's a special place in hell for these scammers...

 

[Old Arkansawyer]

Several years back I used my card 5-10 times per week. Going over my
statement found a charge for $91.00, then pulled the last month's statement and saw another $91.00. A little searching on my part and
located a phone number, called it, and talked to an answering service in
California, nice lady at answering service said that account had moved to
Utah.
My credit card called the Utah number and got company abx or some
such. Woman at abx said they had shipped me products, me on the 3
way call said, "she is a boldfaced liar", at which time my cc lady said
she would handle it.
I emailed the DA in Utah with all the info, 3 weeks later sent an inquiry,\
never heard back. Figured the DA was in on the scam.