Yesterday, I booked 3 hotels in the UK and a UK train ticket. I didn’t get the usual auto call asking me to confirm the charges. OK, I thought, maybe their fraud algorithm has gotten a bit smarter and they figure that’s just a normal vacation being planned. A few hours later, I ordered dinner delivery , online, with the same card. It went through fine. However, I then went to a local bar and my card was declined. Ugh!
Apparently there’s some sort of secondary review. Normally, the dinner delivery charge would have flagged their system, but since it was under $20, it was autoapproved.
There’s nothing more fun (insert sarcasm here) than spending 20 + minutes on the phone with a connection that sounds worse than Skype with a customer service person in India or the Philippines, in a loud bar, after a few drinks, late at night. Thankfully, I’m known at the bar, so they were willing to let me sort it out and come back the next day if needed.
Anyway, just my way too mild for the pit rant. I don’t see how hotels and train tickets in a foreign country are such a high fraud activity. That doesn’t seem to be what a fraudster would likely do.