Cycling UK Forum

I keep a regular, almost daily check online on my credit card account. Today I found 2 pending transactions, one for a transfer, and one for an Amazon Prime fee. These are for 0 amounts which are in practice someone validating the credit card number. I don't transfer out of my credit card account, and I don't do Amazon. So I've had my credit card blocked. Maybe it might be prudent to check yours?

I have an alert set up so that I receive a text message when my card is used.

richardfm wrote: ↑11 Mar 2022, 9:03am I have an alert set up so that I receive a text message when my card is used.

I have an app, offered by my credit card company that
-alerts me when the card is used
-allows me to set up security according to the type of transaction

It's currently set-up so that purchases in public transport apps are on the lowest security setting & everything else is on the highest. That way, my kids can use my card to buy bus & train tickets, and everything else requires additional security.

I suffered last year (although the card company suffered more). I got an e-mail from a reputable online web shop saying they'd been hacked but were unsure what had been taken. Thought no more about it until the card was refused by Sainsbury online. Called card company and went through transactions and quite a few thousand that were obviously not mine. All were approx £100-£150 from stores I don't use and online for delivery to a Northern Ireland address. I hope they were caught as it was lots of home deliveries so address must have been specified (supermarket, home furnishings, etc.).

Credit card company stopped the card and refunded all the transactions without argument.

What I did find interesting was that I'd always thought the CVV number on the back was meant not to be stored by the vendor (used for the transaction but not stored). But seems they can if they want and I guess the retailer that was hacked was storing the CVV number which would have been needed by those fraudulently using the card online.

Only grief from my perspective was card being stopped and new card issued and having to change all the recurring payments that were setup on the card.

Ian

Only grief from my perspective was card being stopped and new card issued and having to change all the recurring payments that were setup on the card.

One thing I've learned over the years is don't agree to a regular payment by credit card because they don't have the same protection as direct debits. Unless something has changed, the only way to stop a regular payment on a credit card is through the payee, I only discovered this through the imo scurrilous practices of MacAfee(sp?) the antivirus gang. I bought a computer with it installed as a freebie and didn't realise I had been snared by "always on" which means they keep dipping you for the fee on the pretext that it "protects" you from your own forgetfulness if you don't renew. It took me a long time to get out of this and even if I'd cancelled the card, the card company would have continued to charge me. That was in the days when the West Yorkshire consumer protection people had a helpline and a very helpful advisor told me that as the original transaction was billed in the US, it would be governed by US rules on which she could not advise.

NB I'm not talking about disputed credit card transactions. I've not had many but the card company has always sorted things out in my favour. (Admittedly with bad blood when it was the Co-op Bank, but that's another story.)

I don't have any credit cards so fraud is not something I need to worry about.

Maillot Rouge wrote: ↑11 Mar 2022, 5:08pm I don't have any credit cards so fraud is not something I need to worry about.

You sound like an ideal candidate for identity theft.

ANTONISH wrote: ↑13 Mar 2022, 9:13am

Maillot Rouge wrote: ↑11 Mar 2022, 5:08pm I don't have any credit cards so fraud is not something I need to worry about.

You sound like an ideal candidate for identity theft.

How so when I don't have any credit cards?
I would have thought that someone would need a good credit score for them to be an ideal candidate?I have no credit agreements so think I will have a low rating?

Psamathe wrote: ↑11 Mar 2022, 11:00am What I did find interesting was that I'd always thought the CVV number on the back was meant not to be stored by the vendor (used for the transaction but not stored).

It’s not if they are PCIDSS compliant. I think increasingly we will see two factor authentication for online transactions. Either via an app or card machine. Others like Amazon don’t use CVV and accept the fraud risk as they believe the extra sales exceed to cost of fraud to them.

Blondie wrote: ↑13 Mar 2022, 10:54am

Psamathe wrote: ↑11 Mar 2022, 11:00am What I did find interesting was that I'd always thought the CVV number on the back was meant not to be stored by the vendor (used for the transaction but not stored).

It’s not if they are PCIDSS compliant. I think increasingly we will see two factor authentication for online transactions. Either via an app or card machine. Others like Amazon don’t use CVV and accept the fraud risk as they believe the extra sales exceed to cost of fraud to them.

I got an e-mail from my credit card company a few days ago saying

You'll need to confirm card payments more often

Hi Ian,

In line with new regulations, you might start to see a few extra checks when you shop online. This is to confirm it's really you using your card so we can help protect you better from fraud and keep your money safe.

When we need to carry out these checks, you'll see a pop-up screen at the checkout.

How to confirm your payments

Choose from one of the following

>If you're registered, the quickest and easiest way is using the Barclaycard app - confirming it's you takes just a few taps

>Text message - we'll send a code to your mobile for you to enter on the payment screen

>PINsentry card reader - you generate a code that you enter on payment screen

It's important we have your current mobile number. .....

Ian

I use online banking with Barclays. When I check online it also shows my Barclaycard balance. The Barclaycard balance gives an option to view your statement, but this has never worked for me so I tried to register for online access. After inputting my details setting up user names, passwords. Pass codes etc it then replied that there was a problem and said try again later.
There's more to life than spending another hour inputting all this data and recording it somewhere safe to jog my memory so I won't be trying again.
And it would be no good sending a code to my mobile as I don't have one as I live in a notspot.

I've found online Visa often uses a verification system where you enter 3 specified letters from your "magic word". I had a Visa that was not registered (no "Magic Word") so I went to register and the only mechanism available was using e-mail. I regard e-mail as completely insecure (copies of e-mails passing through all sorts of servers you and card company have no control over, being stored for who knows how long, un-encrypted, etc.). So I called the company, created a fuss about their security, refused to use their e-mail mechanism, raised a formal complaint and after a bit the complaint found in my favour and I got a significant credit to my account as a "thank you for pointing out ..." - I'd lost no money, no fraud, just me refusing to use insecure security. Still not registered with a "Magic word" for that card company

What really amazed me was how their "security" was not secure.

Ian

rjb wrote: ↑13 Mar 2022, 11:49am ...And it would be no good sending a code to my mobile as I don't have one as I live in a notspot. :lol:

(Completely off-topic)being in a "not-spot" does not affect mobiles these days. I live in a complete "not-spot" (nothing from any GSM network) but have not plugged my landline in for the last 4 years and only use my mobile. "Wi-Fi calling" on your mobile means the mobile switches to using Wi-Fi to get to your network provider rather than going to GSM base station. For me it's been completely reliable; completely transparent (you have to look to see if your call is over Wi-Fi or GSM as everything just works, incl SMS and texts).

I have needed mobile (I'm emergency contact which has been used quite a bit in the past). I used to have complex apps that if somebody called landline (missed landline call) I'd be notified on my mobile (with called line ID for whoever had called the landline) if I was out so I could call back, etc. (and maybe every couple of weeks I'd be out on my bike and I'd be stopping and calling back ...

Much easier having a single number and I don't seem to get the SPAM/fraud call on my mobile (that I used to get on my landline).

Ian

Maillot Rouge wrote: ↑11 Mar 2022, 5:08pm I don't have any credit cards so fraud is not something I need to worry about.

I know someone who had fraud committed against them, despite not using cards or consumer loans. The identify thief took out credit cards in their name, using various of those 'get a credit card today' things that companies post out all the time. They took both the applications & the cards out of the post box, requested electronic statements, used the cards reasonably for a while to increase the limits, then ran up massive debt. It took the person a long time to get it all sorted out.

Unless you live by barter, you have to pay with something and cash is more vulnerable to crime in its various forms than plastic.