My non-elite MC issued by Mitsui/Sumitomo in Japan was refused at HKG airport with the mention call issuing center.
I have been using this card for more than 10 years and have not missed a single payment.
When I called the center in Japan (at my expense of course from HKG) they checked it and said that they routinely unabled cards to oblige the ownwer to react and have them re-activate the card to prevent the growing numbr of thefts.
Has anybody experienced this with MC ?
They could simply contact me and ask if my card was in my possession making sure that it was me by checking my registerred details.
It took all in all an hour to have it re-activated and did not cause too much trouble because it was a purchase in a duty free shop.
What if I miss my plane because at check-out my card is refused ? Have I got to always carry a spare card in case this happens ?
Doe anybody knows if it happens to elite cards like golds ?
Thanks for your input

I will often call the credit card company in advance of traveling to let them know I will be using it in another country. This should prevent them from questioning a purchase. I usually tell them what countries I am traveling to and the dates. That way the fraud department knows the card is with me and I am using it. You might try this next time

A similar thing happened to me. I returned to the UK from a trip to the US and got a call from my (UK) bank. After calling them back they told me "We've suspended your (gold) card because of some very unusual spending."
Me - "What spending is that?"
Bank - "Your card's been used in AMERICA!!!!
Me - "Yes, I've just been there."
Bank - "Oh. Well that's still unusual. Can you call us next time you go?"
Me - "Do you know what kind of card it is?"
Bank - "Yes. It's an American Airlines affinity card."
Me - "Does that give you a clue as to my travel patterns?"

MoreMilesPlease I'm afraid I'll have to disagree. I refuse to have to call my banks every time I travel. That's not the point of a global system.

JackR As my story shows it can happen to the most unlikely cards. While I do carry several cards, there's another trick that's often mentioned on FT: Before leaving the country, make a purchase at the airport duty free. That should flag your later purchasing as OK.

I am travelling abroad about 2 times a month and it would be a burden to keep calling MC giving them my itineraries to make sure my CC is not stopped for no real reasons. If they want to make sure I have not lost it they can contact me easily and check it out without making me look stupid in front of a check-out counter clerk that says 'your card is no good, refused' then being told by MC that they blocked it to make sure it is not used fraudulently and that they will re-activate it now that they feel confident it is me holding it in my hand

I've had this problem in reverse. MC has repeatedly flagged local/regional purchases as potentially fraudulent, but we have never had a single international purchase questioned. Can anyone explain why this is happening? Maybe I need to call to tell them to tell them when I plan to stay home?

Here's the details. Two years ago my husband and I applied for and received an AA Citibank MC. Since then he and/or I have used that card all over the world. (Asia, Australia, Central and South America, the Middle East, several European countries, Canada and Mexico). We have never informed the cc about our travel plans. Sometimes we travel together and sometimes we are on opposite sides of the world, but we have never had a single foreign purchase questioned.

Yet on at least three separate occasions our card has been flagged because of *local* purchases. The parking fee at DFW has been questioned twice. Citi MC called to see why someone who lives in Oklahoma would have a parking charge in Texas, even though this has been a regularly recurring charge for the past two years (average 4-5 per month between the two of us). If parking out-of-state is truly an alert to fraud, why did the computer wait 15 months before it *caught* this?

Another time it was a fuel charge in OKC that occured the same time as a fuel charge in Texas that caused concern. But I don't understand why it seemed suspicious for two card holders to charge at two different gas stations located within 100 miles of the home address, when simultaneous charges on different continents have never raised an eyebrow.

If someone can make sense of this, I would love an explanation.

I had the same problem--always local purchases and always at places I would charge at least 2 times week, usually gasoline related. Most times the person on the phone won't tell what set off the fraud alert, but once I was told that they are especially vigilant about gas purchases made through the unattended credit card readers at the gas pump.

What's ironic, since I have the Citi AAdvantage card, they once called me up to report "suspicious" activity by American Airlines.

Well... if you do travel abroad twice a month, then foreign charges wouldn't be unusual in your case, would they?

Unfortunately, crime does exist, and we all benefit from fighting it. Even if you have "zero liability" for unauthorized charges, the cost of fraud is ultimately borne by all of us. So I play nice, and if I have the time, I let the CCs know when I travel abroad. (Although I prefer to use ATMs when traveling.)

Hmmm. Thanks for the input. That makes me think that it must be unsigned activity that is triggering the fraud alerts. I don't remember for sure, but I'll bet that the fuel charges that were questioned were from unattended readers. And they only swipe my card at DFW, I don't ever sign anything, that factor coupled with a Texas parking lot and an Oklahoma home address apparently triggers a fraud alert -- at least when my husband is using his card elsewhere at about the same time.

I too have had this happen with my Citi AAdvantage Card as well as with AMEX. I was told that grocery stores and gas stations are high fraud targets because the card is not handed over to a person and signature is not obtained. Now, I just use my Citi AAdvantage Debit card (with miles) at local places and have not had any more problems.

Good Luck! Peace!

Just a clarification. It is your card's issuing bank not MasterCard that puts the block on your account. Every bankhas different fraud prevention systems and algoritims designed to ID your spending patterns and put an automatic block when the account is used in a "suspicious" manner. I travel all the time and after calling the Citibank for my first two trips, they got the hint and haven't put a block on me ever. They did call after I spent a month charging away in Spain since this was longer than previous trips - but they did not block it.

Your bank's policy may vary.

Citibank still hasn't got the hint in our case. For the 4th time in 10 months I have had to call and verify that parking in Texas and gas charges in OKC are legitimate. The parking charges have been at DFW all 4 times. I understand they want to prevent fraud but this is becoming annoying.

this is so annoying and it's getting worse.

I wish someone would do something about it. Fraud prevention should be transparent and should not inconvenience legitimate cardholders.

Where is the convenience of a card if you constantly have to call to alert them about purchases.

Exactly. I can understand being flagged for unusual activity, but I don't understand why fairly regular charges (at the same location) are repeatedly reported as suspicious. I realize that the initial warning is computer-generated but isn't there some way to program in exemptions to the search criteria? I have that option on quite a bit of my personal use software, it seems that the cc software would be a bit more sophisticated than that.

The gas stations near me have begin requiring that you input your billing zip code before paying at the pump, as a way to cut down on fraud at them. If you think about it, it's one of the few places where you can use a CC without either signing for it or providing your home billing address (in the case of most online orders).