[bolinp78]

I got a pretty shady call today from what was described to me as a "Citibank Early Fraud Detection Center" telling me that my account information was compromised by a merchant. I didn't give them any information that they asked me to verify, and just told them that I'd call the main Citicards number. When I called the main number, it turns out that this was a legit call, and my number has been compromised.

I've gotten these fraud alerts at least 3 times over the past year or two. Each time, they insist that they must send me a new card with a new number. I've got about 15 different monthly auto-pay transactions set up, and each time I get a new card, I have to switch these auto pay transactions to the new number. This takes a long ass time, and I am sick of spending all of that time on the phone with DirecTV, ADT, utilities, AT&T, fraud monitoring service, you name it.

So I told the guy on the phone that if they were going to have to close my current account and issue me a new card, that I just wanted him to close my long-standing account permanently. He puts me on hold, then comes back and tells me that they will not close my account, and that if I incur any fraudulent charges I should call them and they will take care of them.

1) What's the worst that can happen if a merchant has stolen my card information and I leave the account open? Fraudulent charges on my card?

2) Even though he told me that they'd take care of any fraudulent charges, would you worry about them honoring that since I requested that they didn't close my account?

[E90SoFlo]

Well, Recently a friend of mine logged onto his Bank Of America account to find it
-$801,000.01

but really, how bad could it be.

BOA took care of it ofc.

[bolinp78]

Originally Posted by E90SoFlo

Well, Recently a friend of mine logged onto his Bank Of America account to find it
-$801,000.01

but really, how bad could it be.

BOA took care of it ofc.

I've had something like that happen with my checking account, but this is a credit card.

[Freakazoid]

Originally Posted by bolinp78

1) What's the worst that can happen if a merchant has stolen my card information and I leave the account open? Fraudulent charges on my card?

2) Even though he told me that they'd take care of any fraudulent charges, would you worry about them honoring that since I requested that they didn't close my account?

With an active card, in theory he can steal your identity (in theory). address + active card number will get you pretty far with people that know what they're doing.

and I would be worried and personally wouldn't take the risk

[Jaypod]

Get a new card. I am very surprised they gave you the option to keep the account open since they are responsible for fraudulent charges. Ultimately they put the merchant on the hook to provide the back up, but they will end up writing off a lot of the charges.

If you are having this happen to you this frequently you really need to think about where you use your card.

[bolinp78]

Originally Posted by Jaypod

Get a new card. I am very surprised they gave you the option to keep the account open since they are responsible for fraudulent charges. Ultimately they put the merchant on the hook to provide the back up, but they will end up writing off a lot of the charges.

If you are having this happen to you this frequently you really need to think about where you use your card.

Well, in the past these breeches have been widespread, affecting thousands of people. It's hard to pick and choose which places not to use my card when I have no idea which place it might have been. I, just like most people on this board, use my card at a wide variety of places (all being reputable establishments).

[Jaypod]

Originally Posted by bolinp78

Well, in the past these breeches have been widespread, affecting thousands of people. It's hard to pick and choose which places not to use my card when I have no idea which place it might have been. I, just like most people on this board, use my card at a wide variety of places (all being reputable establishments).

Generally if the card company is calling you proactively they are aware of the source of the breech. Sometimes however it may be because you are a customer of an establishment that is under investigation or where a number of cards had been used and now are being used for fraudulent purposes. Really not much you can do.

[JayKay335i]

I've had the same problem with citibank. They overnighted me a card. There was a fraudulent charge in NJ while I was in AZ (charging stuff before and after on the same day). They handled it and I appreciated it and how they were proactive.

The problem with it being through citi, at least from my understanding, is that funds come directly from your account versus actual credit. So therefore, you do take the chance of a full-blown assfucking.

I use Amex at places I don't trust, bars if I'm making a tab, etc. I trust that Amex will turn around and jam a serrated fork up any retailers ass who tries to fuck with me. They give me the warm and fuzzies. I've been fucked in the past by Citi on a purchase where the vendor never delivered and they told me I was SOL. I guess it would have been different if it were "fraudulent" and not made by me, but they offered me no buyer protection.

[M3Bahn]

Originally Posted by JayKay335i

I've had the same problem with citibank. They overnighted me a card. There was a fraudulent charge in NJ while I was in AZ (charging stuff before and after on the same day). They handled it and I appreciated it and how they were proactive.

The problem with it being through citi, at least from my understanding, is that funds come directly from your account versus actual credit. So therefore, you do take the chance of a full-blown assfucking.

I use Amex at places I don't trust, bars if I'm making a tab, etc. I trust that Amex will turn around and jam a serrated fork up any retailers ass who tries to fuck with me. They give me the warm and fuzzies. I've been fucked in the past by Citi on a purchase where the vendor never delivered and they told me I was SOL. I guess it would have been different if it were "fraudulent" and not made by me, but they offered me no buyer protection.

I use Amex same exact way. I went to asia and didn't even tell them and my card worked fine. I used Citibank twice in same store in same week(in US) and they declined my purchase saying I was just there and they don't know my spending habits yet and I have to call fraud protection to get it unfrozen, no other card ever did that.
I'm dropping ciitbank, I don't need this crap.

[donovan]

Just report it as close as possible. I once had someone try to steal 10k whileI was vacationing in spain. Be aware of where your credit card goes and when punching in pins, really hide your numbers... Also dont let anyone roll that tracing paper over your card for anything, or give them a card with the least amount of cash on it.

[JayKay335i]

Originally Posted by donovan

Just report it as close as possible. I once had someone try to steal 10k whileI was vacationing in spain. Be aware of where your credit card goes and when punching in pins, really hide your numbers... Also dont let anyone roll that tracing paper over your card for anything, or give them a card with the least amount of cash on it.

Anything with a pin is a debit card, which draws directly from checking. You don't need a pin for credit card transactions. Even with your debit/credit, it draws directly from your account. I personally don't trust anything but Amex anywhere. I use my debit at the supermarket or coffee shop. You'd have to be a moron to use your debit card internationally.

[donovan]

Originally Posted by JayKay335i

Anything with a pin is a debit card, which draws directly from checking. You don't need a pin for credit card transactions. Even with your debit/credit, it draws directly from your account. I personally don't trust anything but Amex anywhere. I use my debit at the supermarket or coffee shop. You'd have to be a moron to use your debit card internationally.

Generally speaking I hide my pin when typing it...

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

I got a buddy with Citi cards and he's constantly telling me how they keep having to change his credit card number as its been compromised. I believe this happened so many times that he's dropping them. I dont think its on your end OP. Just lose the card and go to another company is my advice.

[Maestro]

In 20 yrs of having a credit card it has been only compromised twice. One time have no idea how it happen, to this day we assume when my wife made a purchase using her company laptop is must of contained tracking software and collected the information. Usually we only use our Mac for internet purchases since it is much more secure than PC are.

The other time was when the wife was on a business trip to FL, when she return our cards were being denied and there were number of charges which were not hers from FL. We figured it was lift at a local restaurant and within 24 hours they were using it to make purchases at a gas stations and food stores.

I can understand the pain when this happen since I too have auto-payments to my credit card and was a pain to reset them up especially when you can not remember which things are being charge to the card.

We try our best not to use the card at a business which we are not 100% familiar with, however, that does not mean a thing. One time I was on a business trip with my colleague, and we both have corporate cards, and she had not travel for over a 4 months so the card had not been used for a long time. We went to lunch at major chain and she paid then we went to dinner later that night and she paid again and the card got denied, call AMEX and they said they canceled the card since charges happen on the same day both in CA and England, the England charges were well over $5K.

What we figured out was the waitress at the lunch restaurant copied the card information when we paid for lunch. We remember it took waitress a long time to return the card when we paid. We figured she took the card and probably ran it through a card reader to gather the information. We call the restaurant and report this to them. Just go to show you these people steal the information and use it or sell it immediately and begin using it.

To the op, if you keep the same card, yes if there are fraudulent charges you will not be responsible, however, that assumes you report them immediate, any hesitation on your part my cost you.