Credit Card Fraud

[Noel Mugavin]

Had my bank contact me re some charges made in a tattoo shop in San Francisco. So the process is starting, card cancelled, refund, new card being sent.
As an aside 1st time this has happened to me and really impressed with the bank's handling of it.
Anyway, doing a 2 month trip to the states in July - September and have booked hotels through different means - direct, bookings.com, expedia etc.
My question, directed to those this may have happened to, and are a lot more experienced travellers than myself. I have used this particular credit card to book the hotels, will I experience difficulties when I turn up with a different numbered card to pay, or will I need to contact these hotels to advise of the change of credit card?

 

[clazman]

I would contact them to ensure you don't have any problems.

 

[CMA222]

As an aside 1st time this has happened to me and really impressed with the bank's handling of it.

It would be interesting to know if Expedia and Bookings.com remained secure and the direct bookings were the problem? I am not sure if the other banks have caught up as yet but Commonwealth Bank allows you to individually set a limit (which can be zero) and lock out any foreign transactions over that limit and/or any foreign transactions on line and/or over the counter and/or via an ATM. When you want to make a transaction you unlock it on line or via mobile, change the settings and wait for the transaction to process and either change it back or set it for the bank to reset it. Works a treat and means the risk has been seriously reduced of experiencing the problem you had.

 

[RooFlyer]

Definitely contact the hotels via their e-mail and explain the situation and see what they want to do. But I would then telephone them (skype) with the new cc number (if wanted), not wanting to put cc details in e-mail. Take hardcopy of the e-mail replies with you.

Some hotels (I've only experienced it in Europe) want to physically see the cc you have paid with, when you check in - yes, even pre-paid!! 'Fraud avoidance' - to make sure that the person checking in is actually the person who paid for the booking. I think its stupid, but there you go.

 

[Noel Mugavin]

Thanks for the replies. Bit more general information, had booked my hotels 4 - 8 weeks ago, steadily booking attractions, internal flights as I go along to try and insure against the sinking dollar. Did a bit of booking last week - Greyline tours from Anaheim, Disneyland tickets from the Disneyland site, cruise in Vancouver, cruise in Boston, and as the unauthorised purchases were made in San Francisco on Friday morning, my red flag, Alcatraz tickets, from the official site.

 

[Pushka]

This exact thing happened to me. But while waiting in the QP ready to fly to LHR. CC company rang me on the first champagne to say they'd detected fraud and were cancelling the card - the one I'd preloaded with cash and used to book - everything including a cruise, flights and hotels.

I didn't have time to call anyone. The new card arrived in Paris and once I'd re-authorised it, my cash was back. I didn't experience any problems at all and didn't advise anyone prior to leaving.

KEEP your OLD card and TAKE it with you - show it to them if needed and tell them it has been cancelled and then use the new one.

 

[burmans]

It would be interesting to know if Expedia and Bookings.com remained secure and the direct bookings were the problem? I am not sure if the other banks have caught up as yet but Commonwealth Bank allows you to individually set a limit (which can be zero) and lock out any foreign transactions over that limit and/or any foreign transactions on line and/or over the counter and/or via an ATM. When you want to make a transaction you unlock it on line or via mobile, change the settings and wait for the transaction to process and either change it back or set it for the bank to reset it. Works a treat and means the risk has been seriously reduced of experiencing the problem you had.

This is a great service from Comm Bank recently introduced but as far as I know they are the only one. As such a great service am pretty sure the others will need to match to stay competitive.

 

[Pushka]

The fraud on my account was done within Australia.

 

[RooFlyer]

It would be interesting to know if Expedia and Bookings.com remained secure and the direct bookings were the problem? I am not sure if the other banks have caught up as yet but Commonwealth Bank allows you to individually set a limit (which can be zero) and lock out any foreign transactions over that limit and/or any foreign transactions on line and/or over the counter and/or via an ATM. When you want to make a transaction you unlock it on line or via mobile, change the settings and wait for the transaction to process and either change it back or set it for the bank to reset it. Works a treat and means the risk has been seriously reduced of experiencing the problem you had.

This is a great service from Comm Bank recently introduced but as far as I know they are the only one. As such a great service am pretty sure the others will need to match to stay competitive.

It is a great application, which I haven't quite mastered. I tend to keep the cards locked, (and forget to 'open the gate' when I go out) and while overseas, keep getting business transactions declined . Unless you have data, or access to free wi-fi, you have to rely on a back-up card (like Citi Plus debit)

 

[Jurahn]

... and as the unauthorised purchases were made in San Francisco on Friday morning, my red flag, Alcatraz tickets, from the official site.

That's a bit of a worry, I purchased Alcatraz tickets in December for our upcoming trip! (runs off to check credit card online again). However, are you sure the tickets were from the official Alcatraz Cruises website? As far as I'm aware, they only release tickets up to 90 days ahead, so bookings are currently only available on their website up to 25 April, and you're going in July-September?

 

[Noel Mugavin]

Yep, the official site, they've taken my request, wont be processed until June, 90 days before I want to do the tour.

 

[Jurahn]

Oh, I see ... I wasn't aware they took advance booking requests.

 

[Sprucegoose]

The fraud on my account was done within Australia.

Convicts !!

 

[Denali]

If I was the OP, take documentation from the bank about the fraud and new card details.

A few weeks ago, I saw a lady try to pick up Stones tickets and she had to produce all this info just to get her concert tickets.

I also purchased Alcatraz tickets and so far, so good on card transactions but will keep an eye out.

 

[markis10]

This is a great service from Comm Bank recently introduced but as far as I know they are the only one. As such a great service am pretty sure the others will need to match to stay competitive.

The VA global wallet supports lock/unlock

 

[ozbeachbabe]

We did a trip to the USA back in 2009 and purchased tickets to Alcatraz via their official site using my Amex card. A couple of years later I had a new card as the last 5 digits change each re-isssue & Amex contacted me about a dodgy charge for $1.00 then another one for more money where the merchant was 'Apple' however I don't have anything Apple. The charge had been attempted using the previous Amex card number that I was using at the time of the trip.

 

[Jurahn]

Hmmmm, I'd better keep an eye on my 28 Degrees card then, as that's the one I used on the Alcatraz site.

Mind you, I've had fraud occur on my cards in Australia as well. I have a Mastercard that I hardly ever use (and have never used for any sort of overseas or online transaction), bought something at a JB Hifi store here in Perth several years ago and was contacted about a week later by CBA about a fraudulent transaction, so card was cancelled and re-issued. Fast forward to last year, bought something else at the same JB Hifi store with the Mastercard (new number of course) and sure enough, the card was hit with 2 fraudulent transactions a couple of weeks later (one local transaction and one in Singapore). Coincidence? I doubt it.

 

[Sprucegoose]

The intercon at JNB is renowned for fraudulent transactions