<p>I had the day off work today and our house phone was ringing like crazy all day. Naturally, I didn’t answer any of the calls and let them all go to the answering machine. (I never answer my house phone… if somebody wants to reach me they can call my cell). One of the calls was an automated thing from the Chase Fradulant Department for my parents credit card. They left an automated message stating there was suspicious activity on their account and to give them a call back at their earliest convenience. My mom called back and there was a charge on there of $25 which wasn’t theirs. They took off the charge and are issuing out new cards to my parents.</p>
<p>This happened one other time with my parents on another card where they called because somebody had charged a 400.00 camera to their card and it wasn’t them either. </p>
<p>I had capital one call me when I was in college for fradulant activity however it was actually me buying something abnormal and having it shipped to a friends house.</p>
<p>I was just thinking how it’s pretty neat that they are looking and checking into these things, but I was just curious if anyone knows what it is that sends the red flag to them? </p>
<p>I assume in my case it was the fact that the ship to address was different, it was a company I had never bought from before (an online purchase) and a very large amount of money. (Two guitars). But the fact that they caught a 25 dollar purchase suprised me. How do they do it?</p>
<p>It has to do with spending patterns. I’m not precisely sure how they do it, but it’s not perfect - I’ve been flagged for buying train tickets in Princeton, which is definitely not out of my normal spending patterns. I’ve also been flagged for paying for a cab in Toronto with my Canadian credit card, again, not an abnormal spending thing.</p>
<p>I got a call when my D made a big purchase by using her card while traveling. Since we do not normaly shop in Boston, this raised the red flag. H and I got calls when we simultaneousely (!) used our cards (same account) to buy gas - H in San Francisco, I in Seattle!</p>
<p>I never call the “Fraud Department” numbers left on my answering machine. Instead, I call the number on the back of the card, and they usually forward my call to the right department. There are fraudulent “Fraud Alerts”, too!</p>
<p>Buying gas twice in a day at the same gas station on the highway, going the same direction triggered a frozen card and fraud alert. Apparently buying gas is one of the first things the bad guys do with a stolen credit card. That and electronics. </p>
<p>Spending more than $300 at Target on a purchase that includes electronics triggered another frozen card.</p>
<p>While on the one hand it’s nice that the card companies are concerned for my (financial) welfare – or their own liability – it feels a little like big brother is watching.</p>
<p>Our credit card company flagged 3 purchases at Circuit City the same day, same time. I had bought something (electronics) there that day, but it turns out Circuit City processed the same transaction incorrectly three times when they should have processed it only once. I’m glad the company called, because I never would have known until I’d gotten the statement. The credit card company fixed the problem immediately.</p>
<p>The next time we bought something at Circuit City was D’s computer–a very large, very unusual purchase for us. The company didn’t flag it, though.</p>
<p>I have been called a couple of times. Once travelling outside our area and bought a big item and had it shipped elsewhere. The second time a hotel clerk authorized my card without swiping it in Vegas (she made an error). The authorization was pretty high. Later another clerk reauthorized without the card since they didn’t see the swipe American
Express called my home, my office and my cel. Obviously they have lots of fraudulent cards used in Vegas.<br>
There have been other times. Like the poster above, when DH and I are in different cities. When we travel and know we are going to spend a lot more than usual, the credit card company has told us to call first and have them make a note on our account.</p>
<p>They’d have a tough time finding “normal” for us. I’ve used my credit card in Europe on the same day my husband used the same account in CA when we live in MI. </p>
<p>One time my husband got upset because the credit card company called to see if two purchases on the same day were legitimate and I answered. So I found out what I was getting for Christmas.</p>
<p>The other day my son’s card called to make sure quite a few fast food purchaes were legitimiate. Apparently eating out five times in two days is not normal.</p>
<p>I’ve never had them question a fraudulent charge. Only legitimate ones. But I don’t mind that they keep trying.</p>
<p>Credit card fraud is a huge problem and I never mind when they call to check. We’ve had both legitimate and fraudulent purchases questioned. When we’re going to be travelling, we usually notify them before we leave.</p>
<p>I never thought about the whole traveling thing. I go on trips every year where I use my card and they’ve never called about it. Maybe because I’ve never bought big huge expensive purchases while traveling.</p>
<p>I now call my cc company before going on multi–state trips, like college tours or overseas.</p>
<p>I have been called and had card frozen while in Paris. Also while driving up the east coast.</p>
<p>Sometimes they are right. The $5000 plus charge to an online sporting goods store was not mine–and the card was cancelled and we were sent new cards.</p>
<p>We have had incidents with our credit cards too. Fortunately the credit card companies detected suspicious activity, placed a hold on them and contacted us.</p>
<p>Just yesterday I sent letters to Sxperian, Equifax and Trans Union to place a freeze on our credit reports. This will effectively eliminate the threat of identity theft as a credit card, loan, mortgage, etc will not be able to be completed. This tip was mentioned in Money Magazines October issue-page 77. We also opted out of junk mail by calling 1-888-5OPTOUT.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>this summer when a ton of charges from London showed up … we were on vacation</p></li>
<li><p>when I misplaced my main card and used my back-up card extensively (the big change in frequency of use)</p></li>
<li><p>a couple times for “unusual” charges … the best one led to this repsonse “No, we did not rent a hot air balloon in San Diego for thousands of dollars”</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Here are some triggers:
*buying more than $50 of gas at a gas station that’s not in your home town. (My husband had some problems the day he bought gas THREE times in 6 hours at a gas station out of town… next to the race track where he was participating in a track day–and burning ALL that gas…)
*a call from a company asking to verify charges (over the internet)… we do that sometimes for large overnight shipments
*any large cash advances while in Asia, eastern Europe, or Africa (we’ve gotten calls for all of those… once it was while my husband was in Japan, but fortunately the cash advance request came from Hong Kong)
*large purchases of easily-resold items like computers or jewelry</p>
<p>IMHO, you are safer using your credit card over the internet (as long as you check for that lock symbol to make sure it’s secure) than you are using it in person. Over the internet, there are serious rules that acceptors must comply with for security (we pay hundreds of dollars every month for a security company to try to break into our web sites); in person, who knows what happens to your card while the waiter has it?</p>
<p>The above post shows you why it’s not a bad idea to have TWO credit cards even if the credit limit on one is all you can afford. I get calls every time my husband is in Europe and charges internet use at the airport.</p>
<p>We received a similar call from Chase card services a few weeks ago. The $25 charge was a contribution to a charity. While the charity was legitimate, we had not made a donation to this particular charity.
Upon calling both the credit card company and this charity, we were told that someone was using the charity to “test” credit card numbers - once they had a hit, they would then use card for other purchases. So I suspect it was the same situation for the OP. It wasn’t the amount of the charge, which seems quite small, but the fact that it was one of many $25 charges going to the same charity. Strangely, even though I googled the charity and credit card fraud, nothing has been reported that I could find.</p>
<p>When traveling, especially overseas, I recommend using one of the AAA travel money cards, because these are cards that aren’t linked to the individual’s bank account. Also, I always call the credit card co. even if I’m traveling by car from one state to another, because you never know when they’ll freeze the card. I also informed and reassured the credit card co. that I’ll be sure to call immediately if, in fact, the card is missing or stolen.</p>
<p>When I opened an account for my D at Bank of America they told me they encouraged customers to have a second debit card to use abroad. They also said if we notified them in advance of her trip abroad they could monitor the account and see if there were unusual charges. They said the second debit card would not be linked to her primary bank account.</p>
<p>Didn’t ask a lot of questions about setting this up, but after reading this I will go back and find out more. If BOA is doing this they are probably not alone - most banks may already be doing this - you just have to ask.</p>
<p>Our card will call us when they see odd usage, once they called about my D using our card in a far away place- I told them she was visiting that location but should not be using our card and said I would call her. That was how she learned some one had broken into the home where she was staying and stolen her purse. Too bad the CCC had already okayed the purchase by the time I called back.</p>
<p>Chase nearly drove us CRAZY when my husband was commuting to a job in Detroit (for a year and a half). Every time he’d buy gas in Canada (you go through there to get to Detroit from here), or even just buy something in Michigan, they’d freeze the card - MY CARD TOO! And, if I hadn’t been home to check my messages, I wouldn’t even know until I’d try to get gas or buy something. No matter how many times we explained it to them, and they said they’d fix it, it went on and on. We finally got a new credit card from someone less vigilant. Ha.</p>