Italian Card Fraud

[simongr]

Well despite my complete faith in making payments over the interweb I am not hoist on my own petard After looking at a suspiciously high interim Amex balance I found a booking from Stockholm to Naples for [insert name here] through Sterling and charged in Krona - I could see the eticket info (but not the name).

A not so quick call to Amex now has my card cancelled (the signature was getting a little faded anyway) and a heap of calls to make to service providers to get them to wai for a new card number :evil:

Interestingly a number of other travel related transactions were tried and blocked last month - Eurofly and Lonely planet - both in relation to Italy travel... the plot thickens.

When I get the stat dec from Amex I will have the name on the ticket and the eticket number so I might run it through the LAN tool

Hmm - 5 days without and Amex card... now I know why I need a platinum

 

[oz_mark]

Hmm - 5 days without and Amex card... now I know why I need a platinum

Every cloud....

 

[RB]

It seems there are possible problems with a duty free shop at Bangkok airport. Better half has had Citibank ring re mastercard about a transaction there & has now replaced the card. I have always had a lot of faith in stores at airports.

 

[Evan]

It seems there are possible problems with a duty free shop at Bangkok airport. Better half has had Citibank ring re mastercard about a transaction there & has now replaced the card. I have always had a lot of faith in stores at airports.

Maybe not so much the shop but a dodgy employee.
That sux.

Another reason to always have a Visa/Mastercard and an Amex, when little issues like this happen. I hate to change a card, even an expiry date is a pain... my Amex expires in a couple of months

E

 

[Keith009]

Yikes that's scary. I use both credit and debit cards, wouldn't be so nice if similar problems occurred with the latter and have a huge sum of money in my bank acct blocked out as I'd then be out of pocket till it all gets resolved. :shock:

 

[vitaminp]

I use both credit and debit cards, wouldn't be so nice if similar problems occurred with the latter and have a huge sum of money in my bank acct blocked out as I'd then be out of pocket till it all gets resolved. :shock:

QF009, I am not familiar with the debit (the pseudo credit) cards. Is there some sort of extra layer, or one step removed that prevents access to your whole savings balance from that card? Although it wouldn't matter for me, if you had a large amount in your savings...as you say..out of pocket! Scary.

 

[simongr]

I have never seen much of a distinction between the "new" visa debit and the standard multifunction card. In both instances funds are debited "immediately" from your account, you use the credit function when selecting which button after they have swiped the card at the check out. And in both instances the merchant pays the credit card style fee to the card company.

My understanding is that I could blow every sent in my account if I anted to in one hit...

 

[drron]

Just over 12 months ago I used my Citi Visa online to book a Vatican tour and The secrets of the Doges tour through venice museums.48 hours later i had a ring from citi saying my card had been compromised and the origin of attempted fraud was italy.the fellow I spoke with said Italy was a hot area for CC fraud-but the Vatican?

 

[Mal]

There are many reasons why your card can be fraudulently charged - not all of them require you to use your card somewhere dodgy.

Banks are pretty good these days in detecting fraud and cancelling fraudulent cards. I wouldn't be using a Visa Debit though - while yes, you are still covered for fraud, it makes things a bit harder to recover.

As frequent travellers, our cards are more likely to be skimmed or fraudulent charges not quickly detected by our banks. This is because banks fear customers leaving due to them blocking their card while overseas.

Fraud happens - it will never go away. About the best you can do is to monitor your online statements for weird transactions, and attempt to keep your card in sight whenever using it.

Additionally, when using ATM's, check for additional attachments around the card entry slot that just don't look right.

 

[pauly7]

Hmm - 5 days without and Amex card... now I know why I need a platinum

They took 5 days to replace it? I got mine the next day! (Only a Gold as well)

 

[Mal]

They took 5 days to replace it? I got mine the next day! (Only a Gold as well)

Yep, similar here when I got a replacement Gold credit card earlier this year. Sent Express Post, and took a couple of days from ordering it.

 

[winetraveller]

I had a friend who used her ATM card in Rome, and then headed off to Spain and a rustic getaway.

When she got back to Australia she discovered that her account had been accessed many times and she had lost $9000. The likelyhood is that she used an ATM that had a device attached that caprtures the pin number, and the card details. Another reason I can't stand Rome.

She got all the money back, but it ays to be careful when using ATM's. In dodgy places like Rome I always use legitimate bank branches, where the ATm will be covered by cameras.

 

[Mal]

She got all the money back, but it ays to be careful when using ATM's. In dodgy places like Rome I always use legitimate bank branches, where the ATm will be covered by cameras.

Exchange Sydney for Rome, and you are talking about a series of incidents that happened a few years ago in Sydney. There was actually a card skimmer attached to an ATM at the Sydney Fish Markets for some time, and lots of other similar incidents around Sydney.

 

[winetraveller]

Exchange Sydney for Rome, and you are talking about a series of incidents that happened a few years ago in Sydney. There was actually a card skimmer attached to an ATM at the Sydney Fish Markets for some time, and lots of other similar incidents around Sydney.

I guess it can happen anywhere. It would never happen in Melbourne though!

 

[simongr]

They took 5 days to replace it? I got mine the next day! (Only a Gold as well)

I was quoted 5 days - I will see how long it really takes

 

[Cynicor]

We've had this happen in the US, but that was a while ago and we could prove that we'd re-entered AUS before the suspect purchases were made. Also, I think citibank are a bit gung-ho with cancelling cards. It seems like if you go to SE Asia and use your card they will tell you a suspect transaction has been made and cancel the card the first time. There was a discussion on this sometime last year on AFF.

Good work spotting it early, maybe the police can actually catch the cough with the eticket ref.

Jon

 

[oz_mark]

I guess it can happen anywhere. It would never happen in Melbourne though!

As long as you stay out of the taxis

 

[NM]

As long as you stay out of the taxis

Indeed. My only fraudulent credit card transaction in recent years was from a Melbourne taxi driver.

 

[thegurio]

When we were in europe last year they were always keen to get you to sign your cc on a carbon copy type book. It's funny how the only thing i read about going os (it had been a while since i had gone and when i did i didn't have a CC (kinda hard when your 13!)) was dont let your card out of your sight and dont allow anything under your receipt. In Egypt, in particular the Papyrus Institute in Cairo. They were insistent on getting me to sign my reciept for our artwork on a reciept bok with carbon. It was quite amusing actually after i beat this guy down half price on his artwork to see the to-ing and fro-ing of me taking the book out from under the reciept and him putting it back...

It was like a silent argument, and in the end i won. I also got no strange purchases at all for that trip and it included Greece, Italy, Egypt, Mykonos, America and England. There were plenty of suspect transactions but i can only blame myself and MrsGurio!

 

[medhead]

I have never seen much of a distinction between the "new" visa debit and the standard multifunction card.

My understanding is that I could blow every sent in my account if I anted to in one hit...

Isn't the whole point of a debit card that you can drip feed money into it as needed? Thereby making it impossible to blow all of your savings or credit limit with a compromised card.

Anyone who has a debit card directly linked to their primary account money stash should probably get another account to provide a layer of separation.