My BofA AS Visa Signature Card Fraud Caught
 

Recieved a call from the BofA Fraud department that someone was using my AS Signature Visa to attempt to purchase Swiss Airline tickets and use it for all kinds of Internet purchases.

Bank of America denied the charges and are removing anything not mine from the card charges.

Wonder if a resturant leaked out the info or if someone hacked one of my computers?

Anyone else have this problem with your Alaksa Airlines Visa?

Thanks

Robert

Since this is not specific to Alaska Airlines and is, instead, a Visa Card issue, we're switching this to FT's Other Credit Card Forum for further discussion.

Please follow at its new home.

Thanks.


____________________________
Cholula
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Co-Moderator

BofA is awful!
 

Surprised that they caught it. I had fraud on my AS Visa Signature card in April (Ryanair ticket purchased from travel agency in Madrid). Discovering this, I learned that unlike any CC issuer with which I've dealt, BofA does not have a mechanism for online reporting of fraud. Instead, one needs to: a) phone it in, b) complete a form on the back of the billing statement disputing the charge, c) complete another form w/in a 10 day window again attesting to the fact that the charge was not authorized by you, d) if one misses the 10 day window, the charge is reinstated, e) speak to seven different people over the course of two days who proceed to with the best of intentions give one the wrong information about how to dispute the charge, and f) keep calling the next number to which one is referred until one finds a person who says, "I'm really sorry, you should never had to do any of this, we will send you a form that you need to fill out and send in 42 days, and in the interim the charge is suspended." Just incredible!

To recap, I first needed to phone and inform them I: a) hadn't made the charge, b) hadn't authorized anyone else to make the charge, c) hadn't ever traveled to/from Ireland (Ryanair), d) hadn't been to Spain to make the charge, e) didn't know anyone who had on my behalf for all of the foregoing, and f) make this same series of statement by voice and in writing over the course of the aforementioned calls and mail. (FWIW, one also needs to pay BofA for the ability to download transactions into Quicken, something I've not found with Chase, AmEx, Citi, etc.) Needless to say, I am canceling the card, this as one who has a high credit score and a sterling payment record (no missed/late payments, etc.). I really feel like this is a much larger issue at BofA as the CSRs with whom I've spoken profusely apologize and acknowledge that they routinely receive complaints from customers about some of BofA's neanderthal business practices.

Credit card fraud is pretty rampant. It does not surprise me that BofA requires you to call in a fraud case since, unless your card is canceled, it can be compromised again and again. I immediately call in fraudulent charges, have my card canceled and a new one sent.

I've had four incidents this year alone where either a Visa or an Amex was compromised.

There are any number of ways people can get your number.

I must make supplement comment on this statement - I had an incident with Chase, and we were 100% certain the theft was a restaurant waiter. Anyway, the SAME source of where the fraudulent charge came from, hit the replacement card with another charge. Worse, when I called Chase Fraud dept again, I was told the ONLY WAY to stop such from happening again is for me to call the merchant (in this case it is a national chain health club location in LA, but the billing is done in Panama City, Panama!) that the card is used fraudulent and not to bill it for any future charge from whoever using it! I have to ask the rep 2 times to make sure I haven't mistaken what she told me. She said Chase has NO WAY to stop the fraudulent charge as it is initially coded as Pre-Authorized... blah blah blah.

BTW, the paperwork I had to fill out, did not reach me until the 30 days were almost up, and after the 2nd fraudulent charge showed up on my card. The rep told me simply add the 2nd one on the form and mail it back. Never heard from Chase on that matter, other than showing online, the charges were removed. There is never a letter to even acknowledge such action. Once that happened, I promptly closed the account permanently, but continued to monitor it online for 6 months before I deleted it.

My neighbor's AMEX card experienced same thing - their replacement card still was hit by fraudulent charges. It did not come to a stop until the 3rd billing cycle!

The only solution is to actually CANCEL the account without getting a replacement card, A TRUE CANCELLATION if you will.

Happy: The person fraudulently used your card for a health club membership? That seems like just asking to be caught.

That is true with any recurring charge. They are already pre-approved and will go through on a canceled card. The bad part of recurring charges is that if you close an account and forget you have recurring charges (your own authorized charges, not fraudulent ones), the credit card company will hit you up for all sorts of additional charges for the charge going to a closed account and whatnot. So not getting a new card won't even do it in that case. You do need to contact the merchant and put a stop to the recurring charges.

..but you get to keep the miles, right? :p

j/k

The card was a brand new card. The first use was a payment to AT&T online. The second use was at a restaurant in Ft.Lauderdale. They are the only 2 usages before the fraudulent charge hit a week after it was used at the restaurant. I actually caught the fraudulent charge before it showed up as activity - I noticed the available amount was LESS than it should have been. Knowing exactly how much I have charged, I immediately called Chase to ask the details of the authorization - it turned out was a membership due in a health club 2500 miles away.

My guess is the waiter sold stolen data to some crook of a thief network. The card number was used to pay health club due in LA. The second fraudulent charge was snack bar charge at the same health club. I called the restaurant and told the manager my suspicion. He asked the day and table we sat at, actually found the record of our charge (and of course who was the waiter.) We returned to the restaurant a month later, the waiter in question was gone - never see him again in many subsequent visits.

When I finally got hold of the billing dept in Panama, the gentleman said from the records, those were POS, i.e. there was presence of a physical card. I told him it was a faked card and he took note to suspend the account on their book. I cancelled the card for good once the 2nd fraudulent charge was reversed.

On the other hand, I do NOT use pre-authorized payment at all - one of the reasons is to prevent the hassle you cited. For me, it is not a big deal to fill in the CC info each time to make a payment - after all, the only regular monthly payments are the Cable and Telephone. Our power company only takes ACH unfortunately. I feel the small inconvenience far far outweigh the potential trouble caused by stored CC info online at various merchants portals.

We had the same here in a Naples restaurant. A young waiter made a copies of cards in a small device and then sold the information to a thief network in Miami. The police questioned the the waiter ... and asked him to empty his bulky trouser pocked ... and there it was ... the small device. He said he gets about $5 for each address .. the police said that others get much more. BTW, this waiter (from Columbia) serve us a couple of weeks before that happened ... no copy from the CC taken.

I remember only one fraud case which happened to me. Got a call from CHASE asking if I did spend some 1,000 Pound in London. I was during that time in London, but didn't use this card at all. The card was canceled.

It's scary what l'etoile has happened ...four incidents only in 2009. I'll check my accounts now more often on line! ... I pay almost all with credit cards .. even Florida Power and Light ... and Mrs. USAFAN pays even penny amounts ($3.80 or so) with credit cards.

I would love to pay FPL by CC - but I dont see such payment option online? I have explored such ability, but it seems you have to jump thru hoops to some 3rd party handler... Am I missing something here?

Yes, I pay everything by CC if possible. Paid a $2.12 purchase on Sunday with Schwab Visa.

Amazing he was getting so little ...of course, it adds up, but what he puts people and businesses through for so little ... wow.

I don't think this is true. If a merchant tries to charge to a canceled or nonexistent account, it will bounce back to them not you. In fact, if your CC number gets out, one way to thwart fraud is to change the number.
Why in the world would the CC company try to charge you for a canceled account?:confused:

I believe that many automated charges will not be halted by a simple change in credit card. I lost a card recently and whatever automated charges were set up continued to be charged. Only point of service charges are disallowed once you have changed the number.

Read my post - the fraudulent charge found its way to a NEW Number - the replacement card.

The only way is to CANCEL it as CANCEL MEANS - a complete cancellation, the same way you cancel an account for good.

The CC company will, and do, eventually link the charges to a card that has been replaced by a new number, or even being folded to another account via consolidation method.

WSJ has charged me a renewal that I do not authorized, and specifically received the Account Manager's email to guarantee me there would not be automatical renewal. The original card used for the initial sub was consolidated to another card long before the sub expiration. I thought with both the guarantee letter, and the fact the card was gone, I did not need to make sure there would be no renewal. 2 months after the sub expired, WSJ renewal charge showed up on the other card.

Now you tell me why the CC company's billing system would let such thing happen? It happens and it is up to the cardholder to monitor it. In this case, it is not really a fraudulent charge, but an unauthorized renewal, or a sleazy practice in WSJ part to sneak a renewal thru despite the customer specified NO Renewal.

What kind of card was it? I trust you (vehemently) disputed the charge?