I got a call tonight from the BofA fraud center. Seems someone somehow got my CC info and ran up some charges. I told them which ones were fraudulent in recent days (they only asked about ones a few days back), and they have cancelled my card and are sending my a new one. The operator said that they would “close out my account and issue a new card”. What does this mean? Are all the charges in the current billing cycle forgiven? Are they transferred to my new account? If so, how do they know which charges are real, since he only asked about ones in the last few days?
BTW, so much for being careful, not giving my CC# out over the phone, putting all bills and statements into the paper shredder, etc. I guess one of the websites I shop at was hacked.
Seems like the best person to ask about this would be the representative at BofA.
Out of curiosity, did they tell you, or do you have a guess as to how they determined the charges were fradulent in the first place? Considering even you didn’t know about them - and like you said he/she only asked about ones in the last few days, it makes me quite eager to know what tipped them off.
I recently had a card stolen and was called by my card company to verify a charge. Since I very rarely use the card and suddenly was racking up $1100 in one day and even going well over my limit.
I didn’t even know my wallet was missing yet.
Checked my other accounts…sure enough I was apparently doing my christmas shopping.
There were larger than normal charges in other cities at the same time I was using the card here.
Identity Theft - What To Do! from the Federal Trade Commission.
What Should I Do If I’ve Become A Victim Of Identity Theft? from the Department of Justice.
I’ve had it happen twice. Once, the CC company called me to verify some charges that were fraudulent. I think they review things that are perhaps out of the ordinary based upon your previous spending habits. They said that the tipper was that someone was using the card for gambling. I don’t gamble. That was some good times there.
Second time, I got a bill from Chase with an erroneous $79 charge. I knew I hadn’t made the charge and I called both the vendor (who couldn’t tell me anything) and Chase. It took more than six months of fighting with the idiots at Chase to make it go away. It shouldn’t be that hard. Somewhere along the line they were neglecting to document all of my calls and contacts. I kept getting statements (I didn’t use that card at all) and was racking up late fees and finance charges and naughty things for the credit report. FINALLY, I got a letter stating that all negative info provided to the Credit Reporting Agencies was rescinded and the balance was $0. That was a horrible fight. Ridiculous actually, since the CC companies are bending over backwards to tell you that you’re protected from fraud and all the things they do for this purpose.
Haven’t been to check the credit reports yet. Not sure if I’m up to another fight, but I know I’ve gotta do it.
The problem I’ve faced is that several of my smaller-bank cards have been eaten up by Chase, so I’ve worked to get those particular cards to zero balance so I’ll not have to do business with them in the future. I HATE Chase credit cards. I LIKE Citibank credit cards and AmEx. So far…
Similar thing happened to me when I had started using a card that I had paid off years ago. Went to a garage to replace a blown tire and that card must have come back as “possibly stolen” or whatever the company says because the mechanics had me talk to my bank to verify that I had made those charges.
No, my card wasn’t stolen–it was really me that had been using it because I had made an error in my bank records and ended up short.
It’s called Out Of Pattern Spend and will ring alarm bells of varying volume depending on just how out of pattern it is. On of the few industry terms that is completely straightforward and comprehensible…
Confirm all fraudulent/disputed charges in writing to your cdedit card center ASAP. Let them handle the merchants. Might involve the FTC also.
My understanding is that banks have fairly sophisticated computer algorthims to identify OoPS and that these algorithms are closely guarded secrets. My credit card company has called me a number of times over the years when my spending sets off a bell (I’ve been told that I periodically go on binges of cigarettes, whiskey, and wild, wild women). Actually, one example of OoPS was buying a lot of consumer electronics and multiple trips to the gas station all in a short period of time.
Yeah. Gas stations are a part of the algorithm. Scammers like to just swipe the card at a gas station to see if it’ll authorize. No confrontations with anyone if it doesn’t, no risk of a store detective detaining you if American Express calls and says the card was stolen, etc.
Yep - risk management is a key competetive advantage because it lets you give customers higher spend limits without having your writeoffs go through the roof.
Any unattended auth check is potentially a flag - the other good one is phone charges. Run through a few cents of toll charges, and if that works then hit circuit city…
Yes - saved a bunch of people at my office a few years back when a temp worker went through purses while the rest of us were at a meeting, then went out for lunch and never returned. The thefts were discovered when one colleague’s cc company called her because “she” was doing an awful lot of shopping. A few phone calls later and we determined that 4 of us had been hit.
This is frustrating when the bank in question doesn’t contact you - a few years back, I made purchases from an overseas vendor (amazon.co.fr, I think) and my cc company decided this was potentially fraudulent. Unfortunately they never told us, and we found out there was a problem when we tried to use the card a few days later, and when a couple of automatic payments bounced. We no longer do business with that bank.
I’ve also been told that letters like this should be sent via certified mail. Also keep in mind that the address to which you mail disputes is usually not the address to which you send your payments (the correct address should be in the fine print on your bill).
Best of luck taking care of all this.
I had my wallet stolen five years ago, and I had my debit card inside. They tried using the ATM a few times, trying different PIN numbers, then went to the mall and bought a wrist watch or two, then went to Domino’s and spent $70 on pizzas. The next day, I alerted my bank. They had wrung up over $700 in 24 hours,the bastards.
It was a pain in the arse.