After working a few years in the financial sector, including fraud review, I've seen the damage fraudsters can perform within minutes to over months. Possibly months after they have your information, giving you a false sense of security. Here are a few scenarios consumers may not notice or may not see.
Monthly statement shows nothing out of the ordinary?
The local card thief may live in your community. Humans are creatures of habit, they tend to go to the same restaurants, the same grocery chains, and even the same gas stations. Those are usually close to home, work, school, and church. As we get older, we develop our preferred interests leaning toward brand loyalty. Some charges may appear not so out of ordinary. If a duplicate card has been made from information obtained off of your card, thieves could be using them right at the same places.
What to do?
- Change your pin number periodically
- Ask for a new card if you suspect fraud.
- Some banks may charge a fee for a replacement card or issue a courtesy one.
- Be predictable with same amounts of purchases, for ex: Budget $30 for gas at each visit.
Small preauthorization amounts?
Pre- Authorizations or Test amounts on cards from new merchant accounts are run to check available funds. Some merchants run these as a way to test the cards, usually in person, if you are a new customer. Most of the time, these delete after 72 hours. The amount is set by the merchant and normally an even number of up to $100. Once the pre-authorization clears, the merchant allows you to continue with your transaction.
What to do?
- Place a daily withdrawal limit through your bank or credit card.
- Notify your bank or card if you are going on vacation or out of town to reduce a fraud flag.
Small purchases
Formerly working for an online Fraud Department, we would see small purchases through the online system account, the system flagged. These are tester amounts to see if the card is still active. Generally, they are online purchases to a fake set up website ranging from a few pennies, odd numbers, or in foreign currency.
What to do?
- Look for a customer service number next to the amount on your statment to dispute the charge or review what the purchase was for.
- If it was through an online merchant like Amazon or Paypal, run a virus scan, clear cache and cookies and change your password, contact them.
- Call your credit card company to dispute it or ask about filing a chargeback.
Automatic Bill Payer Withdraws
Modern tech trendy banks offer automatic bill payer, where you can pay your bills right from home electronically rather than by check. This reduces check fraud, but if you allow a merchant to automatically withdrawal for your monthly bill, watch out!. Errors can be made and there is a human on the other end controlling the numbers.
What to do?
- Self control how much and when the money gets withdrawn after reviewing your bills.
- Periodically get a printed copy of your bill for accuracy as online data can be changed quicker. Website print outs will show a time date stamp on the printed copy.
Additional Tips:
- Be informed about your bank and credit card fraud systems, alerts, and handling as each one is different.
- Review your statements often, print occasionally.
- Limit issuing multiple cards to family members or associates.
- Change passwords and pin numbers routinely.
- Be predictable with your spending and control your spending patterns.
- Fraud review agents review patterns.
- Understand how chargebacks work.
- Provide ID upon using a credit card.
- Limit how many cards are used.
- Secure your mailbox
- Be cautious of giving sensitive info by email or phone.
