Citicard fraud detection- WOW!!!

[ERhoosier]

I've had a citibank card for a number of years & this PM got a phone call out of the blue. Automated voice asked me to verify a strange charge made TODAY of only $9 from a merchant I had never heard of. First thought was that the call was phishing, so I hung up & logged on to their secure acct management web site. Sure enough, my card was flagged with a security alert. So I called the # on my card & got transferred to the security dept. Same story. After verifying my pre-existing password & security question(s) they said they needed to close the acct & send new cards with diff acct #. This card # theft had happened to me a few yrs ago, so I was familiar with the procedure. But back then I was the one who detected the small fraudulent charges from my billing statement. Very impressed that Citi picked up this new fraud within 24hrs of the charge. My suspicion is they had already detected a pattern of fraud involving the same merchant.

FWIW- I'm generally pretty paranoid about my CC access, but I guess it's just not possible to be 100% secure anymore

[ohyes]

We have had a similar experience with Arvest Bank. They have called three times in the last three or four years (a real person each time).

Two times.... legit charges.

One time it was for trip insurance and because i paid for it online around midnight--not my usual time to use the card. Another time it was for a payment to Kohls', first time to use card there. The third time it was a fraudulent use...somebody used the card for online gaming. Spent maybe $600 in 15 minutes? The money was back in our account within 48 hours.

This was a debit card, not credit. Perhaps that makes a difference.

We have been pleased with those alerts, whether to help Arvest or us.

We have friends who had a card stolen from their hotel room in Hawaii and used several times. They were never notified...learned of it when their statement arrived. They had neither used the card in Hawaii, nor notified the bank that they might.

[Larro Darro]

My main CC is a Discover we got through Sam's Club. It pays 1% cash back, so it is the one we use the most. I've got those calls when I messed up my zip code. My other card is a Visa we got though Lowes. It pays 1, 2 or 3% in Lowes' Rewards. Which is a coupon that has to be used at Lowes. You get 1% at most stores. 2% at gas stations, grocery stores and restauraunts, and 3% at Lowes. Most major holidays they give double points. Not sure what the reason, but from the 18th to the 28th is double points. So for the last week I have been using that card. On Tuesday I bought a rear finish mower from Tractor Supply Co for $1500. Today I spent $309 at Walmart. The fraud department called about the Walmart charge. I figured if they would check on anything, it would be the $1.5K. But I'm glad they are checking.

[Walt34]

We've received a few verification calls from the bank about cc use, all legit charges so far, but all were "out of normal pattern" charges.

Interesting side note - in one of my classes another guy worked for a company that developed missile interception software for the Dept. of Defense. An adaptation of it was going to be marketed to banks to detect fraudulent credit card use. Apparently it works.

The math of how that works is waaaayyy over my head but it's pretty neat that they can do that.

[donheff]

I have had the same thing happen. They are getting pretty sophisticated but the still lose $mega-millions. The worst is to have a CC you use frequently come a crapper on a vacation.

[Dancer373]

While out of state I was buying a tablet and the charge wouldn't go through. Citicard immediately called my cell phone to see if the charge was legitimate. They said it was out of state and not my usual buying pattern. This was good except I had called and let them know of my travel plans. They were very nice about it so I still use the card. I had gotten another credit card as it was supposed to be good for over seas travel. I called twice to let them know I was traveling to China and gave them the dates. I used the card once in China and then it was denied after that. I called the company when I got home and they said they thought it was fraudulent usage and weren't very nice about it. I don't use that card any more.

[floridanurse]

Wen to buy a Mac last year - $2000 charge from apple store.

Standing in the middle of the apple store, the guy swipes my card in his device and it declined.

15 SECONDS later my phone chirps with a txt message from BoA (re: fraud alert)

A minute later my phone is ringing and its the fraud department. I answered phone and told her I was standing in the store and charge was legit.

She verified some things and then asked cashier to re swipe. It cleared.

She said the $2k charge set off the alerts because that card never had large charges. Everything up to that point was online under $100.

I was quite impressed,

[veremchuka]

Similar thing happened to me. I was sitting at the pc on this site actually when just before 4 pm the week of Thanksgiving last year I got a call from Capital One, I have a credit card with them.

The person asked if i made any purchases at Cabelas in Nebraska or at a liquor store in Nevada and something else but I forget where but it was out west. The purchases were made just a few minutes prior to the call! I'm in the northeast so there's no way I could have been in Nevada and I never bought anything from Cabelas at that time. They immediately cancelled my card, credited me for the charges and mailed me a new card that I received in 2 days.

I have been making out of the ordinary purchases for me that are for $350 to $600 per month over the past few months at various Walmarts but Capital One has never called about those. Odd how they flag some things and not others.

I never found out how they caught this but when I did start buying online from Cabelas, a store in Kentucky and another in Indiana I called them 1st to tell them it was me doing this and to not question those purchases. No problems since.

[KM]

Same here - I have had two incidences in the past 5 years. Both calls initiated by CapitalOne. I actually check my charges every other day or so (via Quicken), so was surprised when they called.

They obviously have gotten pretty good about identifying fraudulent charges....because when we were traveling around the country earlier this year, we forgot to put in a travel alert, yet we had no problem. But then one day after we got home, I got a call because someone had tried my number at some shoe store in New Mexico?? I asked CapitalOne how they knew that charge was fraudulent - but not my charges in Texas, Louisiana, Alabama (we live in NH). Frankly - I didn't understand her explanation....but suffice to say it sounded more like it was the "way" the card was used versus "where" it was used.

Very happy with CapitalOne's eyes on my card.

[MBAustin]

We had a similar experience with our Visa through a local credit union. Got a phone call one morning this spring from an odd caller id and they started off asking questions that made me think it was a scam call. When I hesitated they gave more information (without asking me for anything phishy) and went on to ask if we had ordered a prom dress online that morning. There were 3 attempted charges on 3 different "prom" websites within about 30 minutes but all were denied because the other details didn't match up. They cancelled the card and re-issued immediately. I was impressed!