Fraudulent Charge on Credit Card

[MakersDozn]

Our MC payment is due on Tuesday. We were going to pay it online tonight. But we noticed a suspicious charge for $2.37 from a "miscellaneous" merchant.

The bank's customer service number was closed for the night. (Aren't these places supposed to be 24/7?) So we can't do anything until tomorrow.

Meanwhile, we noticed that each merchant on our statement has a phone number listed with it. We went to WhitePages.com and did a reverse search on this "merchant"'s number. It came up as "heavy spam activity."

We've heard of fraudsters who do this--place a small charge for a couple of dollars on someone's card in hopes that the victim won't notice it. If the charge isn't disputed, the fraudsters keep adding larger charges against the card.

We don't want to have to cancel this card. It has a 7.9% APR *permanently.* We pay in full and don't accumulate interest, but that's not the point.

So we have to wait until tomorrow to resolve this.

Laura and others

[The People]

(12-02-2013, 01:39 AM)MakersDozn Wrote: Our MC payment is due on Tuesday. We were going to pay it online tonight. But we noticed a suspicious charge for $2.37 from a "miscellaneous" merchant.

The bank's customer service number was closed for the night. (Aren't these places supposed to be 24/7?) So we can't do anything until tomorrow.

Meanwhile, we noticed that each merchant on our statement has a phone number listed with it. We went to WhitePages.com and did a reverse search on this "merchant"'s number. It came up as "heavy spam activity."

We've heard of fraudsters who do this--place a small charge for a couple of dollars on someone's card in hopes that the victim won't notice it. If the charge isn't disputed, the fraudsters keep adding larger charges against the card.

We don't want to have to cancel this card. It has a 7.9% APR *permanently.* We pay in full and don't accumulate interest, but that's not the point.

So we have to wait until tomorrow to resolve this.

Laura and others

[The People]

Sorry this happened MD. Good thing you caught it. If you place a fraudulent report you should be able to just get a card from the same company with a new number. Well that is how it works here.

A few years ago we went to Vancouver. One morning we opened our bill and there were 2 cash withdrawals of $500 each made in a city outside of Vancouver. Only I was in BC at the time. I am quite sure I know where the fraud (copying of card) happened. I didn't have to pay the $1000 which was a huge relief and it did not impact my credit or anything. Hopefully you will have similar positive result. It was not your fault.

[tweeter]

Laura and others,
About six years ago, I encountered a couple of unauthorized charges to somewhere in the UK, one for under a dollar, and the other for not much more than that. The bank, with a 24/7 customer service line, issued a new credit card with a new number, without any change in credit terms.

As for the current mess with my debit card:
1. The October claim has been settled, with the replacement money remaining in my account. I got a letter from the dispute dept. yesterday. This dept. is located in a different state. There was considerable confusion as to where I had to send my claim. It was only because they wrote to me separately that I dealt directly with them then.
2. The November claim is still up in the air. When I called my bank to report thievery, I was told to send my claim to them, rather than to the other address. What a mistake that was. I got a letter from the disputes dept. yesterday, which, instead of naming the specific store I listed in the claim (appearing on my bank statement listing), they wrote "VARIOUS MERCHANTS." Accompanying this xxxxxx, was the thr**t of taking back the replacement money if they could not resolve the situation. I would say that the origin of the mistake was the central bank, which I'm beginning to feel wants to get its money back any which way. I'd really like to see the crap that the bank sent to their disputes dept.
Anyhow, I'll send Disputes the correct paperwork, which they obviously didn't receive, along with the police report #. Will call them too. That should take care of it.

I also found out that I was supposed to have filed a police report right away, but the bank held that over my head as something I would have to do if they couldn't resolve the problem, leading to the removal of their replacement money from my account. The police dept. gave me a raft of it because I didn't file a report right away.

I've been a customer at this bank for close to 30 years. Never have I encountered this kind of incompetence, or dishonesty(?). It would be extremely impractical for me to migrate to another bank now. Otherwise, I would do so. I feel like I'm chasing molting feathers.

Hope all goes well with you,
tweeter

[MakersDozn]

(12-02-2013, 02:30 AM)The People Wrote: A few years ago we went to Vancouver. One morning we opened our bill and there were 2 cash withdrawals of $500 each made in a city outside of Vancouver. Only I was in BC at the time. I am quite sure I know where the fraud (copying of card) happened. I didn't have to pay the $1000 which was a huge relief and it did not impact my credit or anything.

Yikes. Glad that you got it resolved. We have no idea how these people got our number, but we had the charge removed from our account. The bank says it's not worth it to go after them for a couple of dollars, though.

Thanks,

MDs

[MakersDozn]

tweeter,

We got the charge removed from our account. They're not going to go after the perp or issue us a new card, though. They just said that we should be careful about checking our statements. *headdesk*

Glad that you at least got your first fraudulent charge resolved. Hoping the same for the second charge. We wish that you had the option to take your business elsewhere.

Laura and others

[tweeter]

(12-04-2013, 02:01 AM)MakersDozn Wrote: tweeter,

We got the charge removed from our account. They're not going to go after the perp or issue us a new card, though. They just said that we should be careful about checking our statements. *headdesk*

Glad that you at least got your first fraudulent charge resolved. Hoping the same for the second charge. We wish that you had the option to take your business elsewhere.

Laura and others

So, I wrote a good answer. Tried to post, and it wouldn't post. I got this message:

Akismet has detected that this is a spam message and will not be processed.
If you find this is in error please contact your system administrator.

You may return to the forum here.
_______________________________
No time to do a rewrite. Need to do laundry and get into The City to buy my nose meds. Having problem with computer. I'm typing and cursor goes to another line, or to an untraceable area, sometimes even to a desktop icon. It was happening a lot while I was writing. Been a problem for years, but now with just about every line I type.
tweets, turning computer off for a while

[MakersDozn]

(12-04-2013, 02:24 PM)tweeter Wrote: So, I wrote a good answer. Tried to post, and it wouldn't post. I got this message:

Akismet has detected that this is a spam message and will not be processed.
If you find this is in error please contact your system administrator.

You may return to the forum here.

Ah, a server fart. Sorry that you were downwind of it.

Hoping your cursor wasn't making you curse too much.

Laura and others

[tweeter]

(12-06-2013, 12:13 AM)MakersDozn Wrote:

(12-04-2013, 02:24 PM)tweeter Wrote: So, I wrote a good answer. Tried to post, and it wouldn't post. I got this message:

Akismet has detected that this is a spam message and will not be processed.
If you find this is in error please contact your system administrator.

You may return to the forum here.

Ah, a server fart. Sorry that you were downwind of it.

Hoping your cursor wasn't making you curse too much.

Laura and others

It was such a good post too. Anyhow, I got the Various Merchants terminology cleared up. See if this makes sense to you.....

You see, in the Oct. incidents (both at same venue), the bank caught one. So, there was only one transaction recorded. Hence, the merchant was named in the letter to me.
Drum Roll. In November, there were also two incidents on the same day with the same merchant (but different from Oct.). The bank deducted Both from my debit card. Explanation: if there is more than one transaction that goes thru, the term used to identify merchant will be "Various Merchants," even if there's only one merchant. Yup. Sure.

Anyhow, I've been holding to not using my newest card locally, as I regard certain stores as likely candidates. I'm using cash or credit card (official credit alert is in effect via credit bureau).
________________________________
It's regular protocol for the financial institution to issue a new card/number, at the very least. If it happens again, I would insist on that. I would also file a police report.

I don't know whether you've done this yet, but it's important in these times. You're enrolled in 3 companies at once. Get a credit report (not same as credit score). Make sure to inform that you've been frauded (my word) It will be for free. See if some darlin' is opening up a charge account or buying a car in your name. These same companies will put a credit alert on charge cards for 90 days, and renewable. That doesn't cost anything either.

I've seen the paperwork for one credit bureau. They expect me to write in a form that is comprised of little boxes for each letter and number involved in my personal information. I'm not allowed to have ink touch any side of any of the boxes. This will be impossible for me to do. I tried to take care of the process online, but they won't do it. It looks like someone has already been busy trying to wreck my life further. I wasn't in direct contact with anyone there. But, another credit bureau on police dept. list has contacted me, and I'll have a human to call there. Find out what's going on.

But, that has to wait too, cause I have a high-pressure doc appt. tomorrow. So, I have to be there at 12:30 to get a clinic card, for a 1:40 appointment (probably be seen by 2). I'll be departing house at 11am. I tried to see about the card last week, but you have to do this thing on same day as appointment.
If it were just a doc, special as he's supposed to be, I'd be okay, but this is a Medicaid situation, which I hate. It's set up so he'll be the attending. I've been referred by a colleague I saw, and liked. I'll be dealing with interns and residents, all in the business of scoring points by getting, or making up, answers that fit what is expected. If all else fails for them, the patient is at fault. Been there. done that. I can't do it anymore. I shut down, and no one knows.
I have a lot of paperwork to prepare. Not even at square one. All I can think of is donuts and ice cream. Follow this discourse with a many-faceted Etc.
in way overload,
tweeter

[MakersDozn]

We appreciate your encouragement of us to file a police report. In your case, and in The People's case, significant dollar amounts were involved. Our local police wouldn't take so kindly to us filing a report about $2.37, even if we did know for certain that the theft occurred in our county, which we don't.

Good luck with your appointment.

MDs

[MakersDozn]

Well, it turns out that the fraudulent charge on our credit card wasn't fraudulent at all. The merchant was the billing company that contracts with one of our doctors.

We had paid a bill online using our PayPal account, which is tied in with both our checking account and our MasterCard. But the checking account is the default payment source, and that was what we thought that we had used. But for some reason PayPal charged it against our MasterCard.

So the credit card issuer credited us $2.37 on "fraud" that never actually occurred. It's a good thing that they didn't think it was worthwhile to contact the merchant.

Short story long, we called our credit card's customer service in an attempt to repay the $2.37 like a good citizen, but we waited on hold for 45 minutes before giving up for lack of a human being. We'll try again on Monday, and we'll call the disputes team rather than general customer service.

*shrug*

MDs

[tweeter]

I'd say it's unbelievable. But, recent events of my life are chaotic at best. I am marinating in the world's insanity. Yet to hear of any resolution of the November ID theft incident. Yeah, I'm the honest sort too.

Haven't filed for a credit report because I'm too tired to deal with those xxxxxxx boxes. All my personal info has to be written, letter by letter, number by number, in individual little boxes, without ink contact with any part of the box. I kind of buried the papers, for now. I might have to get help to fill that thing out. It's important. Etc.

Yeah, if it can go p'tooie, it will. The world's expeditors are training machines to take over, but not to be as good as the best of them were.

Customer service will be the d**th of me, today included. No. make it the cheapening of technology and lack of control over it. On third thought, doctors.

Sending you a short email. I have a small request.
tweeter, wearing her nest as a hat.

[MakersDozn]

(12-23-2013, 07:54 PM)tweeter Wrote: Sending you a short email. I have a small request.

Just read your last two emails. Forgive our stoopid-idity, but we didn't see a request.

We got through to the fraud department at the credit card issuer. They agreed to cancel out the claim and re-bill us for $2.37, as well as snail another letter to us with a status update. Conscience clear on our part.

Happy Tuesday,

Laura and others

[tweeter]

(12-24-2013, 03:57 PM)MakersDozn Wrote:

(12-23-2013, 07:54 PM)tweeter Wrote: Sending you a short email. I have a small request.

Just read your last two emails. Forgive our stoopid-idity, but we didn't see a request.

We got through to the fraud department at the credit card issuer. They agreed to cancel out the claim and re-bill us for $2.37, as well as snail another letter to us with a status update. Conscience clear on our part.

Happy Tuesday,

Laura and others

Hi, that's because I cancelled the request, LOL. I found what I needed in My Documents file. Sorry I'm slow on seasonal cards this year.

Glad you were able to wrap up and set straight the fraud case. Good!
tweets