Man, about 1x a year - I get hit with a purchase on one of my credit cards that I didn’t make. Sometimes, it’s even on a credit card that is locked up and I don’t even carry or use…
Today, I got an email about a $149.50 purchase I just made at Lord and Taylor. I thought maybe the email was fake, so I went to my credit card website and logged in. Sure enough, it’s there.
I called to dispute it, and I will get a new card sent to me with a new number…
Wasn’t me buying anything at Lord and Taylor
However - they like me a lot this year, it seems. Just 2 months ago, I had a $7 purchase on another card that I didn’t make - a donation to starving kids in Africa (that was a weird fraud charge).
Had 2 fraudulent charges from Amazon Markets. I called them up and they told me the first name on the account charging it, and I told them I had no idea who that person was. Had to get a new card…came in about 2 days but a pain to go through all the sites and update my payment info!!
I wonder if the credit card industry will ever run out of credit card numbers with all the fraud and new card members?
What sucks is that these fraud charges go thru. But, MANY, MANY times - I am in line at my local grocery store. The one I shop at EVERY week. Spending about the same amount every week. They stop that one (that really IS me), and I have to call the company.
That is embarrassing - to be in line, everything bagged up, and the card is declined. One particular time, I only had that 1 card on me. The charge would not go thru. They had to put everything into the fridge (the entire cart) while I went outside to call. Plus, my son didn’t help when he says “you didn’t pay your bill.” And, I look behind me and there are many, many people waiting behind me, and not happy that I am holding up the line. And, they hear my son say that. So embarrassing. I got it squared away, and the charged me and it went thru afterwards. But then, it took 20 min to go get someone to go find my cart full of groceries. That is SO annoying.
Yet, they don’t stop legitimate fraud.
I bought a new computer recently. EVERY TIME I buy one with a credit card, whichever card I use, the card security holds up the purchase EVERY time. The day BEFORE I bought the computer, I called the card company and told them I would be buying the computer. I even told them the amount it would be. Still flagged.
But people in other countries can use my card with no problem… People that are not me…
I suggest you should have a phone call with your bank/CC company and ask them the very question you just brought up. Assuming the bank would co-operate, one solution would be to have a CC you NEVER use online for anything, and thus have them decline any online charge, while generally allowing charges you make in your home city/area/state.
I really miss the virtual numbers that CC companies used to offer. I know Discover at least had this, where you could generate a one-time-use credit card number for an online purchase. I don’t know why they took that feature away. Now, instead, I “lose” my cards twice a year to get new numbers issued.
Beyond that, I never, ever, ever, touch my debit card. I don’t even remember what color it is. I’d tell them not to issue one if I could.
Regardless, it’s a system that sorely needs an overhaul. I think the core technologies behind cryptocurrency could be adapted pretty well into a centralized system. I’d bet Visa and their ilk probably have a ledger running in some R&D lab.
I use it constantly. Everything I do online is either through Paypal or Privacy.com virtual card numbers. its a little bit of a pain to set up but once its done it alleviates the issue of someone getting your CC number. They also have 1 time use or only for a certain store. I haven’t had issues with my CC numbers getting fraud charges in years. Oh and its free
They give blanket answers most of the time. I’ve done my share of complaining over the years - and it’s just they way they are, unfortunately.
And, I have had cards compromised that I haven’t even used… Or used 1x years before… So, someone is getting hacked.
A few years ago, a local credit card processor for local merchants got hacked. Nothing you can do to protect yourself in that situation.
Hospitals here have been hacked too in our area. Ever pay a medical bill with a credit card. Well, compromised if ya did and they got hacked. It’s not on my end… Not when the card is locked up in a safe.
It’s a super pain to deal with this, but sometimes there isn’t much you can do.
Hmmm, things are pretty different here, I guess. We generally require CHIP and PIN and that seems to really cut down on a lot of fraud. I have only ever had my CC replaced once for suspect fraud. And also my bank card once as well, but I don’t know the deal on that because I am super cautious to cover my PIN entry so I think they just had a bad merchant (probably a sketchy gas station attendant) and they replaced every card of theirs ever used there whether or not there was a known risk.
I only have a debit card and Google Pay. I have not been hit by scams in years. Could be a coincidence though, because my brother got hit hard by a scammer with his debit card. This was before chip and pin however. He ended up being stuck in another state for a few days.
In Europe credit cards also have a chip. I actually believe it does make a difference.
I have never had to dispute a credit card transaction.
Lately I have switched from using my actual debit or credit cards to Google pay and apple pay.
Would use Apple Pay or chip or pin card.Before ever signing any thing .Precovid I was in the states waiting for the pad to ask for pin and someone told me curtly I need to sign. I thought how barbaric that so 1990s
I have never had a problem with tap and pay or pin purchase
Here in the US, at least where I live they have chips on some cards and no chips on others, a pin is only required if using debit (on a debit card) otherwise you just sign for the transaction if you pick to sign for it, up to a certain amount depending on the retailer you are not required to even sign and even the cards with chips aren’t completely without being swipable as they have so many problems with the chips and chip readers that if it fails several times then it just tells you to swipe it. Certainly not a perfect system. That’s what makes the 1 time use cards a lot better or the contactless payment, at least several of those still create virtual cards for the payment.
Just curious @Mistershipwreck: Do you trust your credit card company? There are the type of scammers that hit retail outlets after grabbing personal information. If it wasn’t from you, it could be from another company or marketing agency.
If they are unwilling to prevent fraud, you may be able to get them to obscure the card number or security details. Some card companies have this procedure in place to prevent these issues.
I have several credit cards. I pay off my bills every month - so, I accumulate “points” or whatever they offer. I don’t carry a balance. If I am going to buy the same things every month - and I can get something for it, why not…
The cards are from various credit card companies. I have no control over how they operate. It’s usually different cards 1-2x a year that get compromised. So many middle men or vendors get hacked, there is really no telling how the card numbers get compromised. I know it’s not on my end - like when you give your card to a cashier at a food place. The few times I eat out - I usually keep an eye on the waitress when she leaves to go run the card.
Other than keeping an eagle eye on it, there isn’t much you can do.
All of my other cards alert me if a purchase is made without the physical card. This particular card is my newest one. I signed up because I got $250 for free after I spent a certain amount in the 1st 3 months. That’s why I applied. This card has no such alert option. But, I did look at the settings yesterday and set it to text me if a purchase over $100 is made with the card. That’s really my only option with that particular card.
It’s just frustrating to have this happen 1-2x a year, on various cards (never the same one each time)
Well, it’s my experience that the credit card companies don’t make much effort to catch the people. They just consider it an acceptable loss. I have worked in the criminal justice field my entire life. It seems that unless local police stumble upon something specific. Or, federal law enforcement stumbles on something big - the card companies don’t put much effort into tracking down specific theft incidents.
So, when you call and report a charge you didn’t make - canceling your card and sending you another is about all the effort they seem to put into it as far as I can tell
From what I can piece together the scammers obviously have part of the algorithm and sequence numbers which means they can quickly validate each card. I have no idea about the name/address but if these credit card companies are easy to deal with then there may be a way to get that much information or worse yet, the merchant cannot validate anything other than the number and the CVV fields. You should not believe you have no control especially if your local state and/or authorities are allowing these scammers to use these tactics.
I can tell you most card companies I have dealt with in my country have changed their algorithms and frequently change their security mechanisms. The point of sales here all have chip+pin validation and e-wallets usually have end-to-end encryption outside of the merchant and a new sequence of numbers. I also have the option to use a different name on issued cards. Of course it helps that most merchants end up exchanging with a local bank instead of a payment processor which is where you might end up. Payment processors are notoriously difficult to deal with and not always as secure as they intend.
That is not about the laws or politics, that is your credit card companies offering you very little options even if the offers seem enticing and then you having to question whether the rewards are worth it if they do not allow you better customer service or control over your account and disclosure of information. What you should do is use a credit card company that generates a new card number for every use or for a category of purchases and then figure out why they do not give you a fraud alert even if it is pre-defined somehow.
