Recently this happened to me on one of our business accounts, a Chase Visa card. I first noticed some suspicious, low-value transactions of $5 or less coming from the Google Play store, then later from Amazon. This strategy is called “tapping” where the thief tries to use the card a few times to make sure it works before the big score.
Luckily I had specifically requested that all transactions over $1,000 require phone authorization (I recommend you do the same) and it was a good thing too. A few days after the “taps” I received a call from Chase asking if we had authorized over $3,000 in charges to a convenience store in South Africa! Wow. That’s when I cancelled the card, a new one came in and I thought “disaster averted” – right? Wrong.
The Takeaway
If you notice suspicious charges showing up on your credit card, before requesting a new one, be sure to ask the rep about this phantom service. The links below can help you investigate, but there may be a specific buried service with your bank, like I discovered with Chase.
Feel free to pass this along to someone who has a credit card and could benefit from this insider information.
Unfortunately, the Internet is broken. Join us in the fight to protect businesses like yours against theft, crime and disaster. Stay safe out there.
-A
Comentários