Screwed by a Frenchmen! (Credit Card Fraud)

[cannon_fodder]

Argh!  I've been screwed in France of all places.

I'm good at security.  I shred all documents that have anything on them.  I review my statements.  I only have 2 credit cards.  I use PayPal online whenever possible.  I don't do fly by night transactions, only verified secured (and I know to check URL etc).  But when they don't take my credit I use my debit card.

However, I am not very good at checking my accounts.  I will look once during the month and then go over my actual statements at the end of the month.  But today I happened to check and see if a deposit at an ATM had been posted, and I see strange POS transactions pending on my debit card.  A quick call to my wife and she had no idea either.  All today:

MES L3 ADUP $17.04
MARIOAUD $194.39
MARIONAUD $37.16
France Telecom $23.40
Rel. CEDRE $41.15
MAXIMS $10.90
PROD REG FRANCE $165.83
RELAIS H $54.66
RELAIS H $35.78
RELAIS H  $38.39
. . .
and so on.  I'm not in France.  I have an ATT phone (not France Telecom).  I don't know what that other crap is! I don't speak French and Google turned up nothing on those things (if anyone speaks French and knows other than the obvious, I'd be interested).

I called my bank and asked them what was going on .  The point of sale for all that was FRANCE.  Again, I'm not in France.  They canceled my card immediately.  But, here is what's strange, even though they are "pending" and I still have my money - they have it frozen and are obligated to release it!  It's my money!!! Screw that.  

I have to wait and "contest" the charges once they actual post and they take my damn money.  The worst part is the bastard was spending Euros and I have to suffer not only a poor exchange rate, but cover the conversion charges.  DEATH.  The lady on the phone said it should not be an issue contesting this and I had her put a note in saying I caught it INSTANTLY, even as charges were being made.  

The last charge on that card was on a government website.  Before that it goes way back, so who knows.

[thetysonwynn]

This is an awful spot to be in. It happened to me recently, too. Someone in California got my debit card number. Fortunately, it was on what I call my mad money account which I keep very little money in. But the way I noticed it was that a donation had been made to Johns Hopkins Hospital. I did some research online, and it is common for card thieves to make small contributions to charities to verify that it's a working card. My research showed me that stolen card numbers are sold for about $3 each, but that goes up to something like $18 each if they are confirmed to work.

As soon as I caught I got to the bank, and they were able to see all the declines (remember the account had very little money in it). They guy/girl had tried to charge lots of things, from cheap taxi fares to large electronics purchases.

The good thing is that these days debit cards have zero fraud liability. The bad news is that individual banks don't always honor the agreement that have with Visa or MasterCard. They must credit disputed funds back to you within a set time period (I believe its 48 hours). I would imagine that applies to exchange rates, too. The key is to not listen to what your bank tells you. They love for you to use those cards, and they need to honor their agreements with the Visa or MC companies. They would expect you to. Go to the card issuers and read their zero liability policies and make your bank abide by them.

Clark Howard talks about banks misbehaving like this a lot. He has info at www.clarkhoward.com.

[cannon_fodder]

Thanks, I'll be reading a lot.  But it at least SOUNDS like they intend to work things out.  

Visa's web page:
"The Zero Liability policy covers all Visa credit and debit card transactions processed over the Visa network—online or off."

I'll post more in depth when I calm down and figure out what's going on.  I appreciate your personal insight.

[joiei]

Man, I know what your going through.  I just went through it.  The weird charges caught the eye of the fraud department at my bank.  Those folks are champs in my eyes.  They didn't get too much, the companies that did go through were more than eager to refund the charges to my account after I gave them the whats happening.  The account was frozen by the bank and closed when I got with them.  Who ever was using the numbers was charging really stupid stuff.  Anyway,  I have nothing but good things to say about the fraud department at F&M bank.

[cannon_fodder]

Bwah!

I checked to see if the charges post (and I could thus contest them), but they haven't posted.  That strange thing is... they are not pending either.  They're just, well, not there.

I called the bank and the lady I talked to was confused also.  The corresponding transaction/conversion fees are now "pending," but the actual charges have apperently gone in incognito.   The money remains in my account and is part of my "available balance."

Man, at least yesterday I knew I got screwed.  Now I'm just confused.  They are looking into it.

[sgrizzle]

quote:Originally posted by cannon_fodder

Bwah!

I checked to see if the charges post (and I could thus contest them), but they haven't posted.  That strange thing is... they are not pending either.  They're just, well, not there.

I called the bank and the lady I talked to was confused also.  The corresponding transaction/conversion fees are now "pending," but the actual charges have apperently gone in incognito.   The money remains in my account and is part of my "available balance."

Man, at least yesterday I knew I got screwed.  Now I'm just confused.  They are looking into it.

Pending charges have a finite term, it's really two seperate hits to your card, so it's possible they are still coming. Either that or your card cancellation has blocked the final charges.

[cannon_fodder]

Thanks Sq, I wondered if that was the case - that there was a purgatory for pending transactions.  The banker lady said there might be a momentary laps while it is physically (as in physically in the processor) being posted, but generally no.  Which makes sense considering the sum is not reflected in my reserved balance (as opposed to available balance).

The transaction fees are a separate hit and appeared on the ledger as of 3/11/2008 are are pending, and likewise reflected in my available balance.

The lady I spoke with yesterday indicated that canceling the card would not stop the transaction and that I could not drain the account since it was "pending" and the funds were reserved.  I don't know... just what she said.

So I thought along similar lines, but was told otherwise.  Leaving me confused.  A lady in the fraud department has been forwarded the information and is going to get back to me.