[Anonymous]

[BusinessTraveller]

Dear forum posters,

We are researching a feature on credit card fraud for the Dec/Jan issue.

Have you ever been a victim? What was your experience? How well did your credit card company deal with the problem? Were you reimbursed appropriately? We value your insights

[JamesMoloney5]

Five times in the last six years……four of them at merchants in Malaysia, one of which was determined to have been the KLIA Duty Free outlet…

The most audacious was when my card was cloned at a very up market restaurant in KL on December 22nd., used on December 23rd. to buy a very small amount of petrol (standard operating procedure I am told, to check the card is valid before moving on to either sell the card details, or spend with it) and then used at a department store in Sydney, Australia, on December 24th., to buy goods to the value of approximately GBP6,000!!

My card was a visa card, issued by Ulster Bank in Dublin. I noticed the fraud when I went to use the card myself in Ireland on December 24th., and the card was cancelled immediately, and within 24 hours the charge had been reversed out of my account. I received a form in the mail to complete and return, and that was the end of it as far as I was concerned. My new card arrived three working days later.

[Matinée-Allstars]

I had my Amex Platinum card details posted online (with 1000s of other cards) with all my login details, site login name and password, date of birth, address etc. A friend at work did a Google search on me and found my credit card details ! Amex were brilliant and got the posting removed promptly.

One case of a rogue transaction at a supermarket in Kansas immediately stopped by Virgin Money who contacted me.

One downside of credit card monitoring systems is that if I use my BA Amex card in Brazil it is immediately and repeatedly stopped – despite having told them in advance I am going to be there on specific dates. When you have to call the UK three times from Rio to get your card unblocked it gets a bit tedious….

I bought expensive furniture on a visa card in Ibiza and got a call 10mins later from the credit card company to check…

CC company monitoring of unusual transactions can be a pain but is very effective in practice

[esselle]

Around 30 individual transactions with internet gambling sites based in Mauritius and Malta, over a 2 day period, after which I was alerted by my CC company.

JamesMoloney5, I bought something in a KLIA duty free shop before boarding a flight to HKG a few years back; when I landed, there was a message to call the CC company, who were “just checking”, as the place had a bit of a reputation.

[Bruce98]

As a frequent business traveller, I have suffered from fraud on more than one occasion.

I am certainly not going to share the details on an open website and I would encourage others to keep stum, too.

[Binman62]

Have had several issues all of which were reversed immediately and forms sent.

Worst card was nationwide who stopped cards mid trip despite being told. They lost that account same day and the every other account. My issue was they made no effort to contact me before pulling the plug.

Amex very good and tesco also.

[Deleted_User]

My credit card hadn’t been used for a couple of months before checking out of a reputable hotel in Sri Lanka. Nor was it used for a couple of months on my return, until I received a statement with 3 transactions in Australia (about 700 €). I have never been to Australia.

My CC company handled the problem very swiftly.

[LuganoPirate]

Twice, the first time with HSBC who picked up the fraud and alerted me. Cards canceled and replacement in post with an offer to get me cash immediately through one of their banks in Lugano if I needed it.

The other time was not really a fraud. A small (but legit) payment of $120 went from my account to a publisher. I then tried to us the card to buy a plane ticket and it was declined. On calling AMEX I was questioned re the 120 and finding it was ok they informed that the payment had been made, then the card blocked! Stable door and horses come to mind here?

[Pierre]

Unfortunately, yes!
With both Amex and Visa.
– my Visa was copied at one of the following outlets: Livraria Saraiva, Richards, or the Sofitel Rio de Janeiro. In two days, my account reached 8000 Euros, when my bank called me.
– Amex was copied twice, once in Buenos Aires with expenditures reaching 1200 euros, once in Ukraine for 700 euros.
All the above was solved: easier with Amex than Visa, less confident.
Last year, Amex called me asking for the confirmation of supposedly purchased clothes in Italy for an amount above 6000 euros.

[ThomasK]

several times. Our cards are normally issued in the USA and then sent to Asia. Especially if it is expiring cards they can easily be identified by some dishonest people in postoffice. All they have to do is sign them how they would sign my name and then go shopping. Since these are replacement cards they are already authorized and the digits and numbers are the same. I had people buy Jewelry and Gold in Dhaka, Bangladesh, then they were used in Biman Bangladesh Airlines for Duty free and then in HKG. We notified the credit card company and the same happened again, 6-7000$. I think it is many times also partly fault of credit card companies that are greedy. They send out envelopes where the outside says: ” credit card” inside. How stupid is that? When I ask about it a Chase credit card representative person told me, there is NOTHING I can do its company policy to do it that way… Credit card companies always covered bill, we had some inconvenience trying to call them, waste of time. Often when we ask we were reimbursed for telephone cost as well.

[Cedric_Statherby]

I had to travel to one of the riskier parts of the Balkans a while ago and the various destinations rang every alarm bell there was with my corporate security people.

The solution we adopted with the credit card company is that they opened a new account linked to my main account (ie separate card and card number but billed on the same billing). I then used this card when overseas and closed the card down as soon as I got home.

The method worked perfectly – the debits flowed through onto my main account and were easy to handle in the usual way, but the merchants I used the temporary card at had a card number which was not valid 30 seconds after I got home.

I never heard if there were any fraudulent attempts to use the card and sadly the card company has subsequently decided that “it is not cost-effective” to offer this service again – which says it all about how much they really care about fighting fraud.

[Author]

Posts