How long before my Credit Card is raided?

[Shack37]

Not sure if this should be in JB Rant Thread but as it occurred as a result of travel I've posted it here.

I recently stayed overnight in a hotel where, as usual, the checkin registration form required every possible personal detail imaginable except DNA and also as normal my credit card was swiped into their computer system.

The following morning at checkout because the system was "down" a staff member took my card again and proceeded to write the account number on to the checkin form I had completed the previous night thus providing on one document every piece of data required for successful identy fraud.

When I protested repeatedly at the risk this entailed to my card account he looked amazed and simply said I need not worry, it was perfectly safe and previously checked out customers had not complained. With a flight to catch I had no more time to take my complaint higher so simply left having informed checkout staff that I would be reporting the incident to the card provider and that the hotel would be responsible for any loss suffered due to their negligence.

What would you have done?

s37

[passy777]

Shack

I would inform your CC provider of the situation and tell them of expected transactions and their value. They may also be able to monitor any 'unexpected' charges. Might help.

[PAXboy]

You have done all that you can, just watch your card account online (or wait for them to phone) check the next statement. If they are going to use the information they use it fast. If a week has gone by an dnothing has happened then you are probably safe.

The only time I had my card details used was when the system was working normally. About five years ago, before online access to your account was the norm, I got done in South Africa. The card was out of my view below the hotel counter and reappeared and I signed the tab. I only found out that they had put false hire care charges on when I got home three weeks later. Naturally, AmEx reversed the charges as I could show where the card was used and that the false car hire company was almost next door to the hotel! I could also show that I used a different company for my own car hire.

Nowadays, having online access to view the transactions on your account is vital. If you remain worried ask the CC company to change your account number, they will do that free of charge.

[Boss Raptor]

As above advice - I have a dedicated Visa Credit Card and account solely for overseas travel and never ever use my other personal debit or credit cards abroad - I watch all my accounts daily online (I am with LloydsTSB) to keep an eye out for any rogue transactions - I have only been stung once sme time ago and that originated from UK to my debit card account to which Lloyds acted immediately returning my money next day and issuing new card etc. - I was told by Lloyds fraud dept recently that certain websites/bank CC transaction systems are 'cardable' ie. as long as you have very limited data such as the number and name the (usually) overseas bank system will let it through - unlike in the UK

cardable+sites - Google Search (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=cardable%2Bsites&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=)

unbelievable - a google search tells it all..!

[XV490]

A very recent BBC TV show inferred, IMHO, that any over-the-phone card (i.e. spoken) transaction is now potentially dodgy.

Some months back, I found a £30 mobile phone top-up debit on my Barclays current account that was sweet FA to do with me. I found it quickly because I use online banking, and just happened to look at my statement soon after the fraud.

To give them their due, Barclays were great - instant refund. But the girl I spoke to asked if I'd done any over-the-phone deals (inc. the 3-digit security no.) just before. Sure enough I had.

Once bitten..... I'm now very wary of any such transaction. I suppose a few underpaid sods in certain call centres look to boost their income somehow. Please beware! :=

[racedo]

2 months ago has a call at 8.18pm on a Saturday night, it was Nat West Automated securoty system notifying me that it had blocked a transaction in Canada 20 minutes earlier looking to remove Can$40 using my debit card. It gave me a number to call but was on hold for ages so called other normal numbers I use just in case.

They confirmed that there were details on the screen indicating it has stopped my debit card because of suspicious transactions........asked which was right Tesco in the afternoon or Canada that evening. Boringly it was Tesco which I was in.

Following Monday went in to a Nat West branch to withdraw some cash with ID and told them what happened and they asked did I buy Petrol at a specific Shell garage as that day they had at least 40 customers whose cards had being cloned.

20 minutes is blooming quick.

Only time abroad i ever had problems was in a Barclays in Zamora in Spain, used them because they were a UK bank and figured less chance of a problem as my Spanish was poor. Took out 50 pounds of Pesetas and yup Barclays charged me 500 pouns worth, took 4 months to reverse it but luckily had kept receipt.

[PAXboy]

The last time a card of mine was 'done' was in the UK. I had used the card over the counter at a local electronic store with PIN.

The kid behind the counter had obviously swiped the card on a terminal to get the number at the same time without my seeing. He then used the card to get downloaded computer games from a USA site within 12 hours. I got the money back and gave full details of the valid transaction, so that VISA could tell the (high street name) shop all about it. So - don't think it's just in foreign lands! The advice you are getting seems to be consistent.

[Shack37]

Thanks for the replies folks. To answer a couple of questions asked. I couldn't refuse because he already had asked for and been given my card before informing me the system was down. By "down" he meant that checkout staff could not access the system.

The card provider has been informed, reply expected today and a quick online check shows no transactions and no "pending" transactions either, not even the hotel payment. So far, so good!:ok:

The card provider has now confirmed that the hotel bill has been declined because some detail was incorrect. Maybe my constant whingeing must have affected the chap's concentration as he wrote.;)

s37

[bkehoe]

I hired a car with a well known worldwide car hire company from Birmingham in the UK recently with a card I use very rarely (last having been used 2 months earlier) as I've got 2. Most carhire companies take a full card imprint and write down the 3 digits from the back on a piece of paper - untill now not something I've really considered an issue. So less than 2 weeks later when I'm in Oz in a situation where I considered I may actually need my second card if the shopping got out of hand :eek:, I get a call from my bank at 4AM local time wondering if I'd just bought some groceries in the UK. Transaction was attempted as cardholder not present which flagged the security system. So I had to cancel my ambitious shopping plans as they cancelled my card an issued a new one to my home address - probably a good thing really, haha. So it'd appear to me as if someone got my card details from the imprint that was taken, though obviously I can't prove anything.

[The late XV105]

As it happens, I have just been subject to fraudulent card use for the first time. Lloyds,as mentioned in another post above, took action promptly but this made me think; I have no trouble remembering the three and four (Amex) digit CCV numbers for each of my accounts (I actually remember the full card numbers too as it happens) so I wonder what chance my card gets refused as "dodgy" if I deface the CCV numbers to render them illegible?

I had this thought because I think the most likely trigger point of fraudulent usage on the card in question to be one of the few times when a paper impression has been taken in lieu of electronic swipe; a penny to a pound the CCV number was remembered, later to be matched up with the full number on the embossed paper and used for "card holder not present" purchases (all the fraudulent ones were)

[racedo]

Friend now has had card clone at same petrol statin and got hit with 1,600 quid of a bill from card company. Seems like the never tackled the problem teh first time.

[Egerton Flyer]

Hi XV,

Please leave your card alone, if you deface your card in any way and this is spotted by staff (which it should be), under the terms of use set out by the card company it will be refused:=
Also the terms for retailers have been changed recently so that, if one of your customers has a fraudulent transaction on his or her card and that fraud was a result of something you or an employee did (like leaving card numbers etc on view or even as a result of robbery) then you are liable for all losses on that card:eek:
We now keep all card receipts in a counter safe.

Flyer....

[fyrefli]

A very recent BBC TV show inferred...

Nope; they "implied"; you "inferred" :)