Just received an email from Capital One advising me that Amos Hobby (Coin World publisher among other titles) attempted to charge me $29.99 using an expired Cap One credit card. The email listed the last 4 digits of the card number, which happens to be a card that was cancelled at least three years ago for other fraudulent activity. I have a subscription, that may or may not be close to renewal, but in any case I am used to being billed for renewal rather than having a charge processed without my knowledge. My current subscription was also established after the card they are trying to charge was cancelled. Tried to call Cap One customer service, was told it would be 75 minutes before anyone could take my call. Nothing actually went through so I'm not too terribly concerned about it. The email Cap One sent said I should contact the merchant directly to provide the new expiration date for the card. It listed their number as AMOS HOBBY 800-572-688. Yup, missing a digit. And you would think Cap One would know the account is no longer open so there isn't a new expiration date. Has anyone else had any billing problems with them?
Seems to be a thing these days. Companies that you had a subscription with for one thing or another just automatically renew the subscription without the option of providing bill for the service. It has happened to me several times.
A lot of stuff gets set up to renew automatically. Some even give a discount if you agree to let them do that. I had something renew a while back that seemed funny. They had the correct card number but they didn't have the current expiration date. The charge went thru with no problem. I'm used to being contacted and ask to update the card information.
America's Test Kitchen, the enterprise that has programs seen on most public TV stations, has tried to renew my subscriptions twice without my approval. I have had credit cards compromised three times in a six month period, all of them originating from a gas station skimmer.
That happened to me twice in short order as well. Seems the gas stations could recognize that their equipment has been compromised...... Sorry for the derail.
Some of the car magazines I get offer a very cheap rate ($7 for a year of Car & Driver) but the fine print signs you up for an automatic renewal. I pay those by check so there is nothing to charge in the future. I've noticed this on some magazines for a couple years now, and wouldn't be surprised if that's what happened to some of you guys
They have no way to know unless they go out and find it, which if it was so easy the customers would see right away. On the bright side it really doesn't matter as long as people are using credit cards which they should be over debit cards. Debit cards are for the bank only and much harder if they get hit with fraud and generally your money would be gone
Correct you are! I use a particular station because it offers 100% pure gasoline and it is near my house. It is at a very busy intersection, and may well be the most profitable station in this part of the city. I spoke to the manager the second time I had my card compromised, and he wasn't surprised at all. He told me his employees check all of the pumps twice a day, disabling the skimmers whenever they find one, adding that they find a few several times a week.
That doesn't surprise me. Those things pop up all over the place especially depending where you live. Sometimes they're pretty funny though. I had one where it was a flight in Singapore like that wouldn't be super easy to figure out who did it, and other who bought barrels of crude oil which just cracked me up.
Maybe the reason I am old fashioned and walk in to pay. I used pay at the pump once in 5 years, and immediately the card was compromised. One would think, if their equipment is so easy to install such scanners on, the gas station would have legal liability as well. They COULD install other equipment.
It's nothing unique to the gas station, ATMs get hit hard too especially random standalone ones and ones in hospitals. Anything where you slide your card in is vulnerable. Chip readers would be better across the board especially having to use a PIN with them, but even on those you can still swip the card.
I am a retired accountant. I always pay with cash before I pump gas. My wife does charge her purchases at Wal-Mart. When I order something over the internet, I have to include the 3 digit security code. Over 50 years I have had only one example of credit card fraud. I have a credit union VISA. The one time someone tried to take advantage of me. I contacted my credit union. They contacted the vendor and the amount charged to my VISA was refunded in 24 hours. I didn't even ask how they did it. If your credit card is abused, contact your bank. They have a lot more leverage than you do. It takes time, but it's worth it. I don't like to be scammed and I hate scammers.
I've had a total of six credit union Visas compromised over the past several years. In some cases the credit union called me to alert me to the fact that they had cancelled the card and a replacement would be sent out that day. It was the same with a Discover card, they called me to tell me a new card was on the way. Since my credit union card was compromised three times in less than six months, they assigned a fraud investigator to my case who was not happy to hear me complain that on the third incident, the card was compromised the very day after the replacement had arrived. This is why I rarely use my bank ATM. In fact, I seriously doubt that it has been used more than three times over the past year.
The card company will give the customer a credit but it's actually just put on hold. Next they contact the merchant and ask for proof of the transaction. The merchant will eat the deal if they broke the contract they have with the CC service. Merchants must follow the rules to the letter. If they just swipe a card with a chip, they will have to eat the chargeback if the deal goes bad. If the merchant does a deal without the customer in person, they must have the security code from the back of the card and the zip code for the billing address to be covered. Lots of rules.
