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Fraudulent charges on credit card. What to do?
07-24-2013, 09:48 AM
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#1
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 12,660
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Fraudulent charges on credit card. What to do?
Got the statement for a card we don't use often; was expecting a zero balance, nearly fell over at seeing a balance of $3995.00 from six or seven charges to Expedia.com, a couple of them reversed. Needless to say, we had not traveled anywhere!
I reported the matter to Chase. They closed our account, and said we do not have to do anything while they investigate. They will send a letter for us to sign, stating we did not make these charges.
Is there anything else we should be doing? Are there any potential hitches that could cause us to be held responsible for these charges?
Also, Mr. A. is wondering about whether LifeLock is worth it.
Thanks,
Amethyst
__________________
If you understood everything I say, you'd be me ~ Miles Davis
'There is only one success – to be able to spend your life in your own way.’ Christopher Morley.
Even a blind clock finds an acorn twice a day.
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07-24-2013, 09:57 AM
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#2
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Administrator
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: N. Yorkshire
Posts: 34,130
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I've now been through this 3 times and really you don't need to worry at this stage. Chase will reverse the charges but you'll need to sign and return the form (affidavit) within 15 - 30 days otherwise they will be re-charged to your account.
After the 2nd time we had our CC details stolen and goods charged against our card I went ahead and put a freeze in place with all 3 credit agencies in order to reduce/eliminate the chance of our id's being stolen.
__________________
Retired in Jan, 2010 at 55, moved to England in May 2016
Enough private pension and SS income to cover all needs
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07-24-2013, 09:58 AM
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#3
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Administrator
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: N. Yorkshire
Posts: 34,130
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Interesting review on Lifelock
Lifelock Review: Is Life Lock a scam? Updated 2013
Summary at end of article:
Quote:
The bottom line is that Lifelock is not a scam, it’s just that you can do a lot of what they do for free. Lifelock might be worth it if you have the attitude “well, I could do this stuff for free, but I don’t want the hassle, and I’ll probably forget, so I’ll just let someone else handle it for a small price”.
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__________________
Retired in Jan, 2010 at 55, moved to England in May 2016
Enough private pension and SS income to cover all needs
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07-24-2013, 10:04 AM
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#4
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Administrator
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Chicagoland
Posts: 40,726
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+1 @ Alan's advice. Document your communications with the card issuer. Lifelock and other credit protection services don't really offer much beyond what you can do yourself without charge, the most important is freezing your credit file.
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07-24-2013, 10:14 AM
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#5
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 12,660
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What happens when I freeze our credit files? Can we still use our other cards?
Chase is opening a new account for us. The representative said they will notify the 3 credit reporting bureaus.
Amethyst
__________________
If you understood everything I say, you'd be me ~ Miles Davis
'There is only one success – to be able to spend your life in your own way.’ Christopher Morley.
Even a blind clock finds an acorn twice a day.
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07-24-2013, 10:25 AM
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#6
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Administrator
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Chicagoland
Posts: 40,726
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When you freeze the file the credit reporting agency will no longer release your file to anyone except the businesses you already have a relationship with. This makes it unlikely that a new credit card can be opened in you name without your permission. (edit to add: current cards continue with no change)
After a recent episode with my mother's account I looked into LL and other credit protection services at USAA and Costco, but concluded freezing her credit file was enough, as long as her accounts were monitored regularly (which I do).
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07-24-2013, 10:28 AM
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#7
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: West of the Mississippi
Posts: 17,266
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan
I've now been through this 3 times and really you don't need to worry at this stage. Chase will reverse the charges but you'll need to sign and return the form (affidavit) within 15 - 30 days otherwise they will be re-charged to your account.
After the 2nd time we had our CC details stolen and goods charged against our card I went ahead and put a freeze in place with all 3 credit agencies in order to reduce/eliminate the chance of our id's being stolen.
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+1
__________________
Comparison is the thief of joy
The worst decisions are usually made in times of anger and impatience.
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07-24-2013, 01:18 PM
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#8
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 1,495
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I froze our credit reports about a year ago. Only downside is that if you go into a store where you can get a big discount on that big purchase you're out of luck if it requires opening a CC with them. Local car shop had a good deal like that on tires (saved $140) so I unfroze for 3 days. CC now chopped up, thanks.
Anyway, I highly recommend freezing your reports. I think changing our insurance would be about the only thing I can conceive that I would need them reopened for other than situation above. And, you get a pin to unfreeze over the internet for whatever time you spec. No big deal. If it stops some of the horrors I've seen on TV or other news, it has to be worth it. Frankly the ease of opening accounts (which the finance industry loves) with little verification is just what I don't want.
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07-24-2013, 01:32 PM
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#9
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 380
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To avoid the fees ( which are not large) you may have to file a police report which I did. Credit freeze from that is I think 7 years
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07-24-2013, 02:12 PM
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#10
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Conroe, Texas
Posts: 18,731
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It's amazing the frequency this fraud is happening.
I got hit three times in the last 12 months (AMEX, PeFed, Chase). It's a good thing I monitor my accounts a few times per week and have have closed several inactive cards I had.
The biggest event for me was $18,000+ in charges against my AMEX in one day in Croatia. I was in Puerto Rico at the time.
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*********Go Yankees!*********
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07-24-2013, 03:08 PM
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#11
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gone traveling
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 333
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Amethyst
I reported the matter to Chase. They closed our account, and said we do not have to do anything while they investigate. They will send a letter for us to sign, stating we did not make these charges.
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The same thing has happen to me several times over the years. Also now that I'm thinking about it, I seem to recall that all the incidents were with cards from Chase. I have other cards but don't recall any problems with any of them. Maybe it is just coincidence. Anyway, they have always handled it very professionally and quickly. In all cases they immediately cancelled the current card and sent me a new one in just a few days. (They would transfer any "non disputed" charges to the new card) Never had any questions about payments. These days, I typically check my accounts on line several times a month looking for such problems. The biggest fraudulent charge was exactly $4000 from a single charge the others that I recall were somewhere between $100 and $300.
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07-24-2013, 03:21 PM
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#12
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 586
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Since you have an account with Chase, you may want to sign up for their alerts which will e-mail you for any activity on your accounts. It may not prevent anybody from using your card fraudulently, but at least, you will know at the first instance that the card has been used and you may take further steps to prevent any more charges.
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07-24-2013, 06:40 PM
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#13
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Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 10,725
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One day, maybe the US will wake up and start using chip and pin, like the rest of the developed world.
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07-25-2013, 06:55 AM
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#14
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Moderator
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Eastern WV Panhandle
Posts: 25,346
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Amethyst
Is there anything else we should be doing? Are there any potential hitches that could cause us to be held responsible for these charges?
Also, Mr. A. is wondering about whether LifeLock is worth it.
Thanks,
Amethyst
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Retired fraud investigator here - you don't need to do anything else. The letter they're going to send you is an "Affidavit of forgery" without which they cannot prosecute, or recover funds from, whoever placed the charges. So be sure to sign and return that document.
Personally I don't bother with Lifelock or similar services.
__________________
When I was a kid I wanted to be older. This is not what I expected.
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07-25-2013, 06:59 AM
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#15
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: West of the Mississippi
Posts: 17,266
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sengsational
One day, maybe the US will wake up and start using chip and pin, like the rest of the developed world.
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+1
But, don't hold your breath. The US is far behind in this area. Shame on the banks.
__________________
Comparison is the thief of joy
The worst decisions are usually made in times of anger and impatience.
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07-25-2013, 07:20 AM
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#16
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Moderator
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Eastern WV Panhandle
Posts: 25,346
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chuckanut
+1
But, don't hold your breath. The US is far behind in this area. Shame on the banks.
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It's a business decision, and they probably won't make the investment until fraud losses approach the cost of making the switch.
That may be a while. This is info is more than ten years old, but a Visa investigator told us that their fraud losses were less than one half of one per cent of their profit. Not gross, but profit. Their electric bill was bigger.
__________________
When I was a kid I wanted to be older. This is not what I expected.
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07-25-2013, 08:39 AM
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#17
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2006
Location: west coast, hi there!
Posts: 8,809
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Amethyst
What happens when I freeze our credit files? Can we still use our other cards?
Chase is opening a new account for us. The representative said they will notify the 3 credit reporting bureaus.
Amethyst
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All you have to do to open a new account is ask the card issuer what credit agency they will need to use. Then you contact that agency and give them the PIN which is sent to you upon freezing the account. One should write that PIN down in a good safe place.
I think it might be free to temporarily unfreeze with Experian. When I got a Chase Sapphire they did it over the phone for me and made it very easy. For others you might have to coordinate the unfreeze yourself. Unfreezes can be done for differing amounts of time and each of the 3 agencies has somewhat different rules.
The worst situation was for doing a home refi. I had to unfreeze all 3 accounts but did this online.
Thankfully we don't need to do unfreezes very often.
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07-25-2013, 09:05 AM
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#18
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 3,906
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Walt34
This is info is more than ten years old, but a Visa investigator told us that their fraud losses were less than one half of one per cent of their profit. Not gross, but profit. Their electric bill was bigger.
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The cost of fraud is not covered by the card processor, instead they dump it on the merchant, who of course passes it along to all customers.
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07-25-2013, 09:37 AM
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#19
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 2,472
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I have a email sent whenever my cards are used overseas, and over $20. I have a Cap
One card only used in Mexico, but get a email with the $20 limit.
__________________
For me experiences are not good or bad, just different
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07-25-2013, 09:42 AM
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#20
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Administrator
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: N. Yorkshire
Posts: 34,130
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Quote:
Originally Posted by grasshopper
I have a email sent whenever my cards are used overseas, and over $20. I have a Cap
One card only used in Mexico, but get a email with the $20 limit.
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I have similar alerts set on my Amex card and love the feature. Penfed has no such alerts available.
__________________
Retired in Jan, 2010 at 55, moved to England in May 2016
Enough private pension and SS income to cover all needs
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