Brat1

So, as if this week could not get any worse, I got my statement along with a letter from one of my Credit Card accounts which we still have in the UK and which we haven't used since moving over here last year. We cleared the card off in August and were left with a credit of 30 pence but now, the letter states that we have gone over our limit of 7,000 pounds and that the balance on the card is now 7,588.00 WTF!!!! Called them up last night and they've put a stop on the card and apparently all the transactions are Google?? Has anyone else had to deal with this and how hard will it be to prove that they are not our transactions?? I'm going to call them this morning and find out if the transactions were made from the US or the UK - does that sound like a plan??

celticgrid

I wouldn't worry too much, as from what you've said this sounds like classic fraud. I would therefore wonder why the credit card company's fraud systems didn't pick it up. The last fraud on one of my US cards was a string of low value Google transactions and it was the credit union who contacted me when they saw this as suspicious and unusual activity. I suspect if you simply go through the process of challenging the transactions (paperwork!) you will encounter little push-back.

Good luck.

Brat1

Cheers, yeah, I don't understand about the Fraud dept either. Since we moved here, we've had 3 letters from out other credit card company in the UK which were flagging up genuine transactions which we had made, but we've not used this card at all since moving here so I would have thought they might have found it a bit suspicious. I'm not duly worried, just wondered how hard or easy it will be to sort out. Thank you.

Nutmegger

At least it's not a card that you are relying on for day-to-day use, so you don't have to go through the whole rapid replacement performance. Brat, I think the only expression for you is, "It never rains, but it pours"! Good luck with ironing this out, though it sounds as if it should be pretty straightforward to prove that it is fraud.

Poppy girl

I have never known anyone that has as much bad luck as you girl!!

But its nothing to worry about honestly then bank will clear it up!!

Jerseygirl

We had 6 transactions of $2K on our CC a few years ago. Called the CC company...they stopped the card...and said they would investigate. The next thing was a knock on the door from the fraud squad...then we received a letter from the FBI. Apparently the FBI and Secret Service had got involved as it turned out the guy who charged our card was part of a national fraud ring. He's serving time now.

Michael

Had it done to me 3 times in the last 10 years on US credit cards. Twice the fraud department caught it and once I caught it. Only once did I even have to fill out paperwork detailing which charges were fraudulent and the other times it was done over the phone. Each time I received a new card with a new number in the mail within a week.

ian-mstm

I've had this happen to my MasterCard account in the US just this summer. You don't have to prove you didn't make the transactions (how do you prove a negative?), you only need to dispute the charges. I had a new card and a new # in a week, and life has moved on. It's never been an issue since.

Ian

Brat1

So all you guys were absolutely right. I called the Fraud department of Halifax in the UK this morning and it's all sorted. My account will be credited with every transaction, they're sending me out a new card as the other one was cancelled and I need to sign and return a letter that they're sending me and we're good to go. Apparently, all the transactions were google, a lot of small ones and then a couple of bigger ones, as the guy was looking through our transaction history, he told me that 2 of them were tracing back to Sheffield, England, through the IP address. It just shows how easy that this can happen and it's kind of put me off paying for stuff over the internet because I always thought I was careful to ensure the sites I used were "secure". Anyway, one problem out of the way, I'm sure there's another one just around the corner to come and bite me on the a..e and thanks again guys, always so helpful

MsElui

to be honest the banks know the patterns. They often see a few little purchases to test the waters and then go for the big ones.

happened to me last year.