IME calling in beforehand does nothing to prevent automated fraud filters from flagging a transaction. It may help if your bank self-initiates a manual follow-up to the filter action in that they may unblock the card based on what is written in your file without you contacting them to verify the transaction. From then on, the fraud filter should also let similar future transactions pass. But if they don't initiate a follow-up themselves, you'll have to contact them again to unblock your card, no matter what is written in your file.

That's the think I sometimes don't understand. First time, fine. Understandable. But wouldn't it be prudent to have someone review such an alert? I don't think there would be THAT many alerts that a small team couldn't review them. We have red-light traffic cams here in YYZ (actually, the whole province but let's keep it simple). In theory every jurisdiction that is supposed to have them installed is supposed to have someone review the footage to ensure it's legit and not an issue (eg, can't complete the turn because it's not safe). Something similar should be available for the big banks.