Credit Card Fraud (trying not to panic)

MysticX

Registered User
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193
Hi,

Discovered this morning that I have a fraudulent transaction on my credit card for a very big sum (01/09/2016) from some company in China (charged in USD). That's the only fraudulent transaction.

I consider myself pretty IT savvy and am very cautious with my credit card... I don't visit dodgy sites, respond to scam emails, check my PCs for malware etc and don't make purchases on shared / public PCs. I also keep the card with me at all times.

I have never used my credit card in a POS transaction and use it only online sparingly (hence I reckon this is a fraudulent transaction originating online). I didn't make any purchases for ages and ages until last week when I made an order off Amazon.co.uk (which knows my CC details so I don't have to enter them again) and then this fraudulent transaction occurred a few days later... coincidence?

Anyways phoned the bank this morning and they're cancelling the existing card and issuing a new one. They also said that the fraud department will be in contact with me within 48 hours.

Has anyone been through something like this? Just worried that the fraud department will say I'm liable for the fraud amount which is quite large...
 
No need to panic. They wont charge you. See previous thread from years and years ago about same issue.

http://www.askaboutmoney.com/threads/whats-the-liability-on-a-stolen-laser-card.13298/

Happened to me years ago as well, something was bought in China after I used card in the North. Dont remember how much but fraud department were very much on my side if I recall correctly. Main thing is to report it immediately and show that you havent acted irresponsibly.
 
Thanks for the reassurances guys.

I guess its the shock of it all, first time after never having a problem for 8+ years.

The thing as well is I never actually entered my CC details anywhere during that month, the Amazon purchase was purely through selecting the credit card details which they had stored there for years and years.

Made the order and 2 days later the fraudulent transaction appeared so I can't connect it with anything else.
 
If you used a home PC or Laptop it might be worth checking that your anti-virus is up to date and/or getting someone to have a look at your PC. It could be just a pure coincidence but credit card details which are sold on the dark net illegally can be for transactions that occurred a while back as well as recent ones. The fact that you have no other dubious transactions suggest your details were captured somewhere, if you had seen a smaller value and then a larger one it would suggest the fraudsters were using some sort of a number generator to try and get transactions through as opposed to buying actual cardholder details
 
Probably my usual paranoia kicking in but I prefer to enter my details with each transaction rather than agree for companies to store it in their systems.
 
It's a good point Sue.

It's a pity Amazon kind of forces you to delete the CC details after each transaction (as opposed to giving an option to store or not to store it). I got lazy over the years and finally decided to do it Amazon's way.

This may sound like a silly question but should I actually pay off the fraudulent transaction so that I don't get charged interest on it? It's a huge amount so naturally I'd hate to get slapped with interest on top of it and I have no idea how long it's going to take to resolve this (bank said that the fraud team will contact me within 48 hours but still nothing). Do banks simply add the credit back to your CC account or do they directly refund it into an account of your choosing?

Should I be prepared to fill out forms and drop down to a Garda station?
 
My card was fraudulently used a couple of years ago. AIB contacted me within hours of the transaction occuring - it did not show up on my online banking (and I check every morning and every evening). About €1000 was spent in California...The card was stopped immediately and I had no issue with having to pay the transactions and then get refunded.
Call the bank again and ask what is happening.
 
This may sound like a silly question but should I actually pay off the fraudulent transaction so that I don't get charged interest on it?

My gut instinct tells me that under no circumstances should you pay it off as the bank may see that as you having some involvement in it or a way out for them. Phone them tomorrow if you have not heard back from them. They should be guiding you on this.
 
I have never used my credit card in a POS transaction and use it only online sparingly (hence I reckon this is a fraudulent transaction originating online). I didn't make any purchases for ages and ages until last week when I made an order off Amazon.co.uk (which knows my CC details so I don't have to enter them again) and then this fraudulent transaction occurred a few days later... coincidence?
Probably. Card details are bought/sold regularly on the darkweb (20c - 5$ per card depending), so the card details could have been stolen 3 months ago and only sold last week.
Could have been stolen from a website you've purchased from with weak policies and technology, could have been an inside job at your bank (or the website, or visa/paypal/worldpay), could have been intercepted by a man-in-the-middle between you and a website, or could have been skimmed from inside your wallet if it's got a contactless chip.

Best not to worry about it. It's a cost-of-doing-business for the banks and cc companies - credit cards simply wouldn't exist if they routinely fought customers about this kind of incident.
 
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