Online credit card scams?

[kimmer]

This info comes from a fairly reliable source on another board, but I'd really to know what the smart folks around here think about all of this.

QUOTE

Ever got a charge on your credit card that you never asked for?

It happens to almost everyone sooner or later, and most of us have at least heard of most of the common reasons, but there are several newer wrinkles or sudden resurgences of old tricks that you may not know.

Cross-selling or how you unknowingly "opted in" to buy/subscribe when you left a site after a purchase

Force-posting or how charges can appear on a card you haven't even activated yet.

You can contest either of these with good success, if you notice, and know about the possibility. Otherwise they often try to convince you that it must have been your mistake somehow.

The only problem I have ever had shopping online (or via mail or telephone) was when we were planning our vacation in 2005. I used an online reservation system for a major motel chain and when the credit card bill rolled in we had a $9 charge for “WLI Reservation Rewards” (which is mentioned in the first blog article). I called the motel and asked what it was. They told me it was a fee for making the reservation online and that WLI handled the transaction, so they got the money. I nicely complained and told them that their web site never stated there was an online fee -- in fact it was the opposite: better rates for going online. I finally printed out the screen cap I'd taken of their web page with my reservation information and the motel chain gave me a refund, plus a discount on our room for "the inconvenience".  I've never had another charge from WLI, so I guess I'm lucky.

Two other things in the first blog article stuck out at me:

QUOTE

Visa and Mastercard rules state that card data should not be stored, and the CVV, the verification codes are NEVER to be stored.

I don't understand this. We shop regularly at Amazon.com and they do store our credit card info. How can both be correct?

QUOTE

Usually I make purchases on-line using my card and a bit of software called Shopsafe which produces one-time cards with a specified expiration date and a specified credit limit.

What is Shopsafe and is it really safe?

I haven't finished the second article so I really can't comment on it all.

We watch our credit card use very carefully and closely, and monitor our credit report on a monthly basis as well. Comes from having the state of ca's computers hacked and then having calpers "share" our social security number with the postal system and world.

Anyhow, what do you financial wizards think of all this stuff?

[Paddy]

Shopsafe info here:

http://www.bankofamerica.com/privacy/index..._about_shopsafe

Free service through Bank of America. Have to be a BOA card holder though:

QUOTE

ShopSafe internet safe shopping service is only available for Customers who have a Bank of America Credit Card and use our Online Banking service

I'm sure it's safe, but I'm not THAT paranoid - even though both of our Citibank credit cards have recently been replaced because they were among the thousands upon thousands of numbers stolen in the TJX mess. That was a brick and mortar store - ShopSafe wouldn't help there!!

Methinks you're already being careful - I too keep an eye on things, and have had two experiences with cc fraud in the past - one via a gas station I stopped at (fraudulent charges appeared 6 months later - from the gas station and a restaurant; I was 500 miles away at the time) and one via an online check-printing outfit; the thieves in that case goofed up spectacularly in that they used the address for checks (which were for an organization for which I was treasurer) instead of MY address as the billing address. Wolf Camera smelled a rat and called me when they tried to use the card - for an online purchase of the same model of camera I already owned ironically enough! The online porn site wasn't quite so suspicious, but it was clear when I called them that they were well used to hearing from people who had just found out that their cards were used fraudulently!!!

[Gregg]

Yeah, I had a bogus charge on my credit card once. I called, and they were aware of a problem with this particular "purchase description" and immediately credited the account with no hassle.

Just last night, I called one of my credit card's customer service, because the bill wanted me to write my check to a different entity that I had written checks to in the past. Just wanted to be sure it was on the up and up, and it was. You can't be too careful.

[kimmer]

Thanks for the info on ShopSafe, Paddy. We don't qualify, although BofA would like us to return to their fold.

QUOTE

The online porn site wasn't quite so suspicious, but it was clear when I called them that they were well used to hearing from people who had just found out that their cards were used fraudulently!!!

hehehe I'm sure it wasn't funny to you ... it just kinda tickled me.

QUOTE

Just last night, I called one of my credit card's customer service

Me too, but for a different reason.  I was arguing over a 50-cent fee. Seems we don't put enough on this card every month, and we pay off the balance, and it annoys them so they now charge a minimal interest rate each month. I told them - politely - that I would be locking their credit card in my vault and never using it again. They didn't seem to care, and seemed to think I needed their credit. I told them I didn't - not by a long shot. If they check our rating, they'll find out I'm right and they'll be sorry.  

[Gregg]

kim, your story reminds me of a credit card I cancelled, then they tried to charge be an "annual fee" several months later. I wrote them a note that I'd gladly pay for anything for which they could produce my signature. They didn't, but they did report me to the credit bureaus. We had to straighten that out to take out a home loan.

[kimmer]

Oh good grief! Annoying, isn't it?

I refuse to cancel this card - I know that shows as a negative on your credit report; so it can just sit in the locked box.

[jwboyd]

We try to pay in full each month, but we were away from home for about three weeks in October and missed payment deadlines on two cards. On the next bill, they both added finance charges AND late payment fees (one was $29 and the other was $39).

Calls to Customer Service resulted in cancellation of the late payment fees, and one even waived the finance charge!

[Paddy]

Kimmer, I believe that the odd card cancellation on an otherwise spotless credit report shouldn't result in much, if any downgrading of your credit score. Did they agree to wave the charge? If not, you're going to be stuck paying it and why bother if you really don't need the card? I've cancelled a few cards here and there in the past and not had any issues.

More on how and when to do it (and the "cancelled at customer's request" is probably important!) here:

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/20020102a.asp

http://www.fool.com/ccc/check/check02.htm - How Lenders Keep Score

[kimmer]

QUOTE(jwboyd @ Nov 28 2007, 02:13 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Calls to Customer Service resulted in cancellation of the late payment fees, and one even waived the finance charge!

See, it pays to have good credit.

A bill arrived today and showed a finance charge. Odd since I pay it off every month. I called, asked why the charge and was told, OOPS, apologies and the charge is gone.

Paddy, thanks for the info - much appreciated.

[Gregg]

QUOTE(jwboyd @ Nov 28 2007, 04:13 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

We try to pay in full each month, but we were away from home for about three weeks in October and missed payment deadlines on two cards. On the next bill, they both added finance charges AND late payment fees (one was $29 and the other was $39).

Calls to Customer Service resulted in cancellation of the late payment fees, and one even waived the finance charge!

I got a finance charge cancelled once because I told them there had been a huge snow storm the day I mailed my on time payment. It was July! Just kidding. There really was a huge snow storm that day. I guess they noticed my decades long record of paying by the due date.

[krissel]

Most card companies will forgo a late charge if you are a normally on time payer and you call and give them a reason. But you can't do this more than once every few years.

The only card I cancelled was the one I was using when I signed up for AOL back in '97. Two months after I got their service they went to the all-you-can-surf for a fee and they were so overwhelmed I couldn't get online for a month. I dumped them via email and snail mail but they continued to bill my card for 6 months even after I cancelled the card. Seems there was fine print which allowed them to continue to bill as long as the service was in force. These rules have changed and are no longer valid. I finally did manage to get them to release me and refund the charges that I had stupidly paid. (I was afraid of killing off my credit.)

The only recent 'problem' I have had was Bank of America put a stop on two of my purchases because they were 'suspicious'. Seems they didn't know that I was a nightowl and when they saw a couple charges that were made around 4 AM they thought they were by crooks.  I had to call and confirm that indeed it was I who made the purchases.

[Highmac]

QUOTE(krissel @ Nov 30 2007, 06:40 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The only recent 'problem' I have had was Bank of America put a stop on two of my purchases because they were 'suspicious'. Seems they didn't know that I was a nightowl and when they saw a couple charges that were made around 4 AM they thought they were by crooks.  I had to call and confirm that indeed it was I who made the purchases.

Nice to know they were as awake as you were! I'd rather have a phone call to check a purchase than go through the hassle of trying to get a refund

I too check all our statements (credit and debit cards). Only mystery item I've caught so far was many years ago (pretty well before online shopping), a fairly small charge appeared on my cc for a phone company I'd never heard of. Tried phoning them and was told they were  ex-directory. An unlisted phone company sounds mighty fishy to me! My card company removed the charge and I never heard any more about it.

[Gregg]

QUOTE(krissel @ Nov 30 2007, 12:40 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The only recent 'problem' I have had was Bank of America put a stop on two of my purchases because they were 'suspicious'. Seems they didn't know that I was a nightowl and when they saw a couple charges that were made around 4 AM they thought they were by crooks.  I had to call and confirm that indeed it was I who made the purchases.

That can be annoying. One of mine did that to me once because I purchased gas twice in the same day, in my home town! Sheesh! We have two cars! :duh:

When we actually needed them to stop honoring the card, we had to call them. Had they done it on their own? Nope.

[jcarter]

Weve not had a problem with BOA credit card either. We prefer to pay the whole thing at the monthly bill, thus not have a charge over and above what you have purchased.  And theyve not had a yearly service fee either.  Weve had the account for many years, and a couple of times when we were on vacation, we were late, but with a phone call, we were able to pay the proper amount and not get an extra charge.
They are good to old customers. And you can put an ALERT on your account so that they watch for something out of the ordinary, and they will actually call your home phone # to ask if its cricket.  
So when you plan to buy something large, or travel out of the country, they advise you to call them and tell them what to expect.
We have found that if you are careful and look at your bill online and carefully watch your statements, that you will find very few errors with BOA.
And if there is a problem, just call them and figure it out.
Jane

OH, another thing, in Massachusetts coming soon you will be able to put a credit freeze alert on all 3 of the credit bureaus, so that nobody can access your information without your actual written permission. This will be a great stop of fraud, as anybody who has a bogus business, almost any excuse, can get info on citizens.  So this means that they cannot get into your files without permission unless they are already part of who you do business with.  Like if you apply for a loan from your local bank, OK, but if someone bogus says they are an employer and you are applying for a job, they would NOT be able to access your stuff. While in MA, up until recently, they could.
I know I am not wording this properly, but you catch the drift.

[hingyfan]

Ive had credit card companies call saying did you buy ski wear in Germany (that actually was one) or online software or whatever. It's happened maybe five or six times (more?) since I started buying stuff online in the late 90s. Latest was Amazon closed my account because of fraudulent use. The person cracked my logon and changed my password. That also happened to me on ebay with Paypal.
I changed all of my accounts (and there are many) to tougher logons but i expect it will keep happening.
One time we picked up my mother law and drove her to our place. She was complaining (what else?) there is no place to buy classical music anymore. We we were telling her the Net is the place to do all that and she was sayin she'd never do that and we were saying how safe it is.
When we all arrived at our the house there was a message from a card company saying they expected more hijinks.
In a way though, that's reassuring. They're looking out for me. That's more than I do!