Credit Card false Charging

[HowieE]

You would be wise to start tracking your credit card statements.

I have recently found 2 ironious charges added to purchases charged on a credit card. These charges are small and randum amounts that if not checked against the original receipt would have gone unnoticed.

In each case I contested the charge and it was removed. However when I asked the card issuer if they were contacting the vendor they replied that it was not worth the effort. My thought at that point was the caed issuer was adding a little to help the bottom line.

I canceled the card.

[Lily&Me]

I had my card hacked last month.

Citibank was on it, emailed me immediately and halted unauthorized purchases.

My Debit card and credit card are both set up to alert me immediately if there are any unusual purchases.

Depending, sometimes I have to confirm via a link in the email a purchse before they will put it thru to pay.


Maggie

[BoldAdventure]

I doubt it's the card issuer, and more likely the people who charged your card. I read about a similar incident where companies are passing the processing fees onto the customer. You ring up for 18.00 and then they add the CC's fee they're charged to your bill after the fact.

Merchants are free to do this: Credit Card Fees Take Effect Sunday - ABC News

http://usa.visa.com/merchants/mercha...urcharging.jsp

I use my AMEX almost exclusively because they forbid it.While I have a debit card, I almost never use it, as that's direct access to your bank account.

With a credit card any fraud doesn't immediately damage my access to my money. Debit card fraud could cause problems if someone drained my account while waiting for my credit union to go thru the claims process.

[moosetags]

I have had the same thing happen to me on two separate occasions over the past three years. The charges were under $10. I caught them primarily because I rarely charge amounts under $20.

In both instances I called the card company. I was told that thieves use these small charges to test the water on a card number before hitting it with a more substantial charge. The card company canceled the charges to my account, and immediately issued me a new card. On one of these occasions, we were traveling in the Airstream. They overnighted the new card to at a campground in California.

Each time this has happened, it has been a lot of trouble for us as the old account number was canceled. There were a number of vendors where we had this card on file. We had to spend half a day making numerous phone calls to provide these vendors with the new account information.

Brian

[AWCHIEF]

A few years ago while in Mexico I had a couple of charges pop up in Miami. The credit card company notified me of suspicious activity. The charges were removed. Card was cancelled and new one issued. I never heard the details or anything else about it.

[RamblinManGa]

Hi from AZ. . .I guess I'm just not as trusting as I once was because I track credit & bank sites very regularly. As careful as I try to be, I've had 1 cc & 1 debit card hijacked in the past year. . . And I have alerts set up on all, only way to fly, IMO......be careful out there, Craig

[HowieE]

Thanks BoldAdventure for that heads up

Maggie
You missed my point. My card was not hacked the total amount charged was increased on a given purchase. There are only 2 companies that can do that. The merchant and the card processor. In my case $9.63 was added to a $199.00 charge. That was by a National Camping Supply Company already known for grossly over pricing items

Additional I do know of one case, not mine, where a restaurant added a hundred dollars to a bill for a group luncheon. The charge was removed but restaurant will not see that group again.

If you cherish your money get a receipt for everything and check them against you statement. There are those out there that may want it more than you do.

Again a reminder

The bridges over the Delaware charge commercial rates for any trailer when paid by Easy Pass or equivalent.

[Lily&Me]

I understood that your card was not hacked.

Was speaking in favor of monitoring one's card carefully.


Maggie

[sparkymark]

I use my Amex exclusively because of their customer service. Also, my iPhone gets an alert on every transaction, so I know immediately when there's a problem!


Ford F-350 crew cab 4X4 diesel, 25' Jack Bauer edition AS

[wahoonc]

I carry three cards at all times. Two are personal one is company. My company card was replaced 3 times last year due to fraudulent activity. One personal card was canceled and reissued. The reason I carry two personal cards is in case one gets compromised I am not stuck waiting somewhere for a card to be delivered. I travel extensively for a living and have had so called "overnight" packages take close to a week to get to me.

FWIW my company card got whacked by Home Depot, Staples and Target... such is life.

I won't carry Amex anymore. They treated us like crap back in 2008 and I refuse to have anything else to do with them.

Best thing to do is monitor your statement regularly, I check mine on line at least once a week. Also if your card company offers any sort of fraud protection for free sign up for it. Another thing I have done is make sure both of my cards have the chip on them and don't depend on just the stripe. If the business I am using has the newer style reader I use the chip side. If you travel in the EU you almost have to have the chip if you want to use your card. Eventually US banks may get their security into the 21st century.

Aaron

[andreasduess]

Amex isn't accepted in enough places and unfair on the retailer, especially if it's a small business. Their charges are astronomical, so I refuse to support them.

But checking your statement carefully is always a good idea.

[lewster]

I joined the hacked card club last Friday. Coincidentally, I had just received my new card as the old one was expiring. I called to activate it, and the fraud department called me back in an hour to inquire about what they felt were fraudulent charges against my card.

The tip-off to the company was a $3.86 charge from some 'hotel' in PA. this was the test to see if the card was active. 10 charges for auto parts quickly followed. They were all charged back to the vendor and card was cancelled.

It is a pain to re-notify all of the companies that keep the card number on file for recurring charges, but it's certainly better than being held responsible for the fraudulent charges.....

Who knows where the source of the hack originated. I have a policy of never letting the card out of my sight (like in restaurants) and always swipe it myself after checking the machines for extraneous card reading devices. It must have been thru a data breach in the Home Depot or similar large hack.

Be careful out there!!!

[streaminwild]

If we want to get these people, Las Vegas has a ''Black Hat'' convention once a year. This convention caters to the thieves of the internet and bank accounts. It almost seems to celebrate hacking. A bit of irony, thieves aka ''Las Vegas'' stealing from thieves aka ''Hackers''.

[Skater]

Originally Posted by streaminwild

If we want to get these people, Las Vegas has a ''Black Hat'' convention once a year.

Err...what are you advocating here? It seems inappropriate. Also, if you think they gather to steal and exchange credit card numbers, you misunderstand the point of the conference.

[BoldAdventure]

Originally Posted by Skater

Err...what are you advocating here? It seems inappropriate. Also, if you think they gather to steal and exchange credit card numbers, you misunderstand the point of the conference.

Yeah that conference is about security and exposing flaws so companies can correct them. There is such a thing as ethical hacking.

[HowieE]

Originally Posted by lewster

The tip-off to the company was a $3.86 charge from some 'hotel' in PA. this was the test to see if the card was active. 10 charges for auto parts quickly followed. They were all charged back to the vendor and card was cancelled.

An interesting twist to my original issue. In my case the erroneous charge was ADDED to a legitimate transaction so checking my statement against receipts was the only way to see it.

My assumption is that there are only 2 parties that could do that, the vendor or the card issuer. Since I trust neither I match the receipts and the statement.

Hacking is a completely different issue.

[streaminwild]

Yes Bold, as with defense contractors looking for new talent. Think devils advocate. Where would a bad hacker go to see the latest technology and ideas, to stop him? Sorry HowieE for the high jack. Thanks to this thred I now know that credit cards can now charge the buyer a charge fee.

[paiceman]

Our debit cards are no longer - too easy to swipe while passing by someone with a reader plus not as much protection after the fact from vendor. We use only AmEx and a Marriott Visa, which has been electronically stolen three times in the past six months.

I got a call from an on-line retailer about not be able to reach me for a $200 purchase via email or phone being delayed. Both were false. I kept the person on and got into a series of "CSI" type questions and secured the date of the purchase and the ship to address. Went to google maps and google earth and found the house, NYC. Then went to Linkdin and Facebook and found the person via address searching. Took a bit but found it was an Russian "executive" woman living in NYC. I called the Visa company and gave them all the info. In talking with them it was apparent they were excited, but have no time to do this type of investigation on their own. I was told they have literally almost a million of these or more a week. They said they were going to follow this one as it might lead to the Russian mob whom they know are behind a lot of these electronic hacks. We now have RFID covers on all our credit cards and wallet passports as well as gun permits. Since putting the cards in these we have not been hacked.