How To Avoid Credit Card Fraud

[RonLC]

We carry two credit cards. One of which gives us 5% cash back for fuel. Yesterday I checked the activity on the card and noticed a pending charge from Progressive Insurance for $3500. Thinking this to be odd, I checked online my Progressive account and it was paid in full until June of 2020. I called Progressive and they said that they did not place this charge and that I should call the bank that issues the credit card.

The bank said that the $3500 charge was indeed there and that the previous day they had declined a charge to my card of $2400 supposedly from Progressive.

They said not to worry and would investigate and let me know. In the meantime they were going to cancel the card and send me a new one. How long will that take? 7-10 days.

Here is the problem: We are on a four month trip and no time have we been anywhere for 7-10 days. Luckily, we are at the end of it and will be home next week. In the meantime we are using our back up card.

My question is: How do we avoid this happening again? Do we get a third card just for this contingency? The affected card is the only one that I know of that is usable almost anywhere and gives 5% cash back on fuel.

How did this happen? Many RV parks require a deposit over the phone when you make a reservation. They want the card number, the exp date and the code on the back. How does one reduce the exposure here?

Looking for ideas on this PITA deal.

[Finance]

We carry cards from 5 institutions in all. And not all the accounts are in one name. Keeping separate accounts means if there’s ever a major issue with identity theft, it cannot affect too much of our financial situation.

We use a mail forwarding service and have replaced cards on the road, either from routine expiration or as has happened lately one bank notified me they had some sort of breach and sent me a replacement.

Also, a good bank will send you a replacement by expedited shipment to your current location when traveling.

Unfortunately compromised card numbers is a fact of life these days. There are alternatives like Apple, but I’m not willing to give up the 5% rewards vs the minimal inconvenience of occasionally replacing a card.

[Bigd9]

Credit card fraud is always a possibility. I had a card fraudulently charged $18,000 once when a "gang" of people hit multiple CVS stores buying cigarettes and gift cards from 15+ stores around the New Your city area. They made the purchases when they knew the computers were down for routine maintenance!

Your credit card can be obtained from so many places. Restaurants are one of the biggest sources. The waitserver will take your card and the bill and disappear for a few moments and then return. Gas pumps skimmers will gather the information. Etc Etc. This information is then sold and resold over and over on the internet until someone buys a bunch of numbers and starts charging things. You may never know where the number was stolen from.

[sbleiweiss]

Originally Posted by RonLC

The affected card is the only one that I know of that is usable almost anywhere and gives 5% cash back on fuel.
.

Any card should be usable almost anywhere if you tell the bank you are traveling. And I agree that most banks are willing to overnight the new card if you ask. Now 5% cash back is hard to find. My backup card pays 2%, so I lose the extra 3% for a day or two while waiting for a replacement card.

[Old-Biscuit]

Our Credit Cards & Bank Accounts have 'Alerts' activated .....
Any charge made over $50, any charge made via phone, any charge made via Internet, etc. and we get a notification (email, text etc) within 10 minutes of charge being made.


Doesn't stop fraud....can't be done unless you go strictly CASH.
BUT it gives us almost instant notification so that we can Call Credit Card Company and STOP the charges.


CC Fraud is so easy these days especially when you do not have to sign/show IDs etc
When was the last time you have to PROVE you were the person using the card?
Internet....HA --------just put the info in the boxes and submit. Done!

[tcg]

My personal and business cards have been compromised several times in the last couple years the bank always caught it before me and they always denied the charges.

I only carry two cards but my wife and I each have one with different card numbers so if one card on the account is compromised the other card will still work.

In all cases my bank always overnighted the new card.

But.. A few years ago we were on vacation and the only card we had was canceled due to fraud. The bank would not overnight to the hotel.

Fortunately I was able to have my dad wire me some money.

[RickNC]

I don't worry about credit card fraud, I let the card issuer worry about that. Big reason for that was when I was in business and accepted Visa and Mastercard. I wasn't allowed to require ID as a condition of sale. I could ask for it, but if the card was signed on the back they could refuse to show ID and I would still have to accept the transaction. I figure if the card issuers are going to hamstring me like that as a merchant I could care less about their losses to fraud. That was true in 2013 I don't know if that has since changed or applies to other card issuers.

We pay for everything by credit card and in 30 years my wife and I have probably had maybe 6 or 7 fraudulent transactions between us none of which ever cost us more than a few days of inconvenience. We travel with at least 3 cards each, all of which are separate accounts

[Agesilaus]

For the delivery problem, we can usually predict where we will be in a week or so and just look ahead and make reservations at a cg in that area, then have the card sent there after talking to the cg to be sure they accept mail. Or general delivery is another option.

[arcaguy]

There is no absolute cure for credit card fraud, the banks have seen to that. When the banks and the credit card companies went to the chip cards a few years ago they could have opted to go to a chip and PIN system, for whatever reason they decided to forgo the PIN option. In my opinion a really, really bad move. Nonetheless we, the consumer are left paying the bill.

As to your current situation of what to do about compromised cards, carry more than two. I have 5 or 6 credit cards all with a credit limit of over $10,000. If one of them is compromised I can simply switch to another one when need be. If you have even decent credit you can get as many credit cards as you want, just be careful with them. I also limit my use of credit cards to specific purchases, gas, Internet purchases, and large department stores. I generally don't use credit cards where I need to turn the card over to someone else, it's just simple risk management. I also generally carry a fair amount of cash, a couple of hundred dollars, it just makes life easier. I've only had a couple of instances of real fraud over the years and way too many instances of purchases that "don't fit my pattern", whatever that is.

On one of them I made the same purchase on or around the first of every month for either $500 or $250 and every time Citibank declined the purchase. It's the only thing I ever put on that card, but it "didn't fit my purchasing pattern". I no longer have an account with Citibank, because their "fraud control" didn't work.

[dons2346]

The only positive way to prevent CC fraud is to pay cash

[Finance]

One other thing I do is keep recurring bills that autopay like utilities on a card that doesn’t get used for much else. No restaurants or such. That separation means when the cards that are exposed to other people get compromised, I don’t have to change my autopay methods.

[TajMahal]

The first problem is your with Progressive, I wouldn't touch them from 10 miles with my own spit! The second is, Cash is King baby! So many people rely on credit or debit and they run into these problems! Good Luck

[RonLC]

Originally Posted by Finance

One other thing I do is keep recurring bills that autopay like utilities on a card that doesn’t get used for much else. No restaurants or such. That separation means when the cards that are exposed to other people get compromised, I don’t have to change my autopay methods.

That makes sense to me. Thanks

[Mudfrog]

Originally Posted by Old-Biscuit

Our Credit Cards & Bank Accounts have 'Alerts' activated .....
Any charge made over $50, any charge made via phone, any charge made via Internet, etc. and we get a notification (email, text etc) within 10 minutes of charge being made.


Doesn't stop fraud....can't be done unless you go strictly CASH.
BUT it gives us almost instant notification so that we can Call Credit Card Company and STOP the charges.


CC Fraud is so easy these days especially when you do not have to sign/show IDs etc
When was the last time you have to PROVE you were the person using the card?
Internet....HA --------just put the info in the boxes and submit. Done!

I have notifications set on our cards as well. What's nice is being able to set the trigger amounts so that it doesn't drive me crazy with notifications. Also helpful, at least for me, is being able set it to notify every time a certain type of transaction takes place, no matter the amount.

Yes, it's convenient to use a card at a restaurant but it's something we try not to do. Cash is the way to go when we know ahead of time we'll be dining at an establishment that requires us to pay via wait staff.