What to do if your credit card is stolen

By the first quarter of 2023, the number of reported cases had risen to 115,879.

Security.org It's estimated that 65% of adults in the United States have already been the victim of credit card fraud, but somehow, I wasn't one of them. It wasn't for lack of trying; In 2015, I dropped my Chase card on the sidewalk in Shanghai. Until recently, I never used a VPN on public networks and purchased model cars from obscure, unprotected collector sites.

The point is, I had been the low-hanging fruit for scammers for years, and the day finally came when someone snatched me from the proverbial tree of financial security.

Here's what happened, what I learned, and some easy ways you can protect yourself better than I did.

Detecting fraud using the “financial thread”

To give a little credit to my naive past, I may have dropped the ball on protecting myself from fraud, but at least I did an important check on it.

Ask anyone well-versed in credit card fraud (including… TransUnion) And they'll tell you that the best way to monitor for fraud is to simply scan your credit card statements on a regular basis. I like to call this a “financial health cleanse” because it is often boring and painful, but it also prevents disease.

The “gum disease” you're trying to prevent, in this case, is your bank holding you liable for a fee you never paid. Under the law (specifically Fair Credit Billing Act), banks must give you at least 60 days to dispute charges to your account. But once that window closes, they have the right to give you ol' ¯_(ツ)_/¯ and charge you for the fee.

So, even if you're a die-hard metal fan who lives in Des Moines — and someone uses your credit card to buy $1,700 worth of Taylor Swift tickets in Tampa — you could be held liable for 100% of every penny unless you dispute the charge within 60 days.

That's why the “financial thread” is so important: to stop fraud, you have to detect fraud.

Anyway, I was “flossing” one day in 2022 when I noticed some “plaque” in my recent transactions. This is exactly what I saw:

On August 3, I received a charge with the exact same description, but this time it was $2.50.

Although the charges were clearly fraudulent, they were also baffling in so many ways that I immediately became a meme when I saw them:

There was literally something strange about these charges in all four columns:

• date: The $3.00 and $2.50 fees were days apart, meaning someone knew the card information was legitimate and sat on it.
• a description: A quick search found that the source of the graphic was Twitch.tv, a live streaming website often used to watch people play video games. So, while most scammers immediately rush to bestbuy.com or the dark web, my scammer was content to go back and watch some Fortnite.
• category: This has nothing to do with fraud, but I found it funny that Chase records charges from Twitch as “Bills and Utilities.” This is likely because Twitch registered with Visa using a Merchant Class Code (MCC) like 4899 for “Pay Television,” which one person mistook for a cable bill.
  
• amount: The amounts are what really got me. Given that the average amount lost to fraud in 2022 was $650 according to the Federal Trade Commission, I expected to see at least a new TV, a stack of $100 gift cards, or at least a large steak on my statement. But no; My scammer was content to drop me just $5.50 within 11 days.

Things got even stranger when she followed the scammer's lead to find out what they were buying. What can you get for $3 and $2.50 on Twitch.tv?

It turned out: nothing. Subscription levels start at $4.99.

According to my friends who use Twitch, the only one maybe The way to spend less than $5 on the platform is to tip someone. As a result, the only working theory to this day is that my “Fortnite cheater” initially tipped someone $3 just to see if it would work, and once they got confirmation, they tipped someone. Even less.

In essence, I was scammed by the world's most pathetic Robin Hood: he stole from tax-paying freelance writers and gave 1980s lunch money to Minecraft players.

Report fraud

In stark contrast to the discovery of fraud, Preparing reports The fraud was a straightforward and uneventful operation. Once I saw that, I clicked the arrow next to the fee, then “Report a problem,” then “I did not make this purchase.”

Here's what the exact steps look like starting with your Chase credit card account activity. The steps followed with other banks may seem similar, but they are not identical.

Oh, and don't worry – this is just a sample to illustrate – I'm not reporting fraud on PayPal or our favorite USPS:

Chase then responded via email within minutes, saying they would close my account, issue another card and begin a fraud investigation.

According to Experian, fraud investigations can take up to 90 days, but you won't be liable for disputed charges in the meantime. During the investigation, your card issuer may contact the merchant, trace IP addresses, and even compare signatures on the actual receipt to ensure this is not “friendly fraud.”

Friendly fraud, also known as chargeback fraud, occurs when a consumer disputes a charge as fraudulent when in fact they or a loved one made the purchase. Despite the spread actual Credit Card Fraud Friendly fraud still accounts for about 70% of all fraud reports according to Mastercard.

Anyway, Chase didn't need much convincing that I wasn't the one dropping $5.50 on Twitch. Maybe they connected to Twitch and saw someone else's name and IP address in the transaction history. Or maybe they looked at my slew of restaurant transactions and saw that I was better at tipping than Twitch's Ebenezer Scrooge.

Either way, the bank refunded my money, issued me a new card overnight and sent me a nice e-leaflet on how to protect myself a little better moving forward. Here are some of those tips, plus a few others for good measure.

How to protect yourself from credit card fraud in 2024

First, no form of credit card fraud protection is 100% foolproof. Simply using your card – online or in person – can put your information at risk as scammers cast a wide net these days.

However, there are ways you can make it more difficult to get “caught”, so you are less likely to join a growing pool of victims.

• Treat public Wi-Fi as “read-only”. It's okay to check the news or score, but you should never enter credit card information or login credentials while connected to a public Wi-Fi network. The reason is that it is very easy for bad guys to record everything you do.

  “Unfortunately, all unsecured public WiFi networks are not secure.” Kathryn Barnett writes for Cyber ​​Defense Magazine. “The thing that makes it convenient – ​​its ease of access and inexpensiveness – is what makes it an easy target for those looking to steal personal information or distribute malware.

• Never provide credit card information to an incoming caller. It's not hard for the bad guys to figure out which merchants you currently pay (or simply guess them), and then contact you with a simple request to “update your billing information.”

  As a general best practice, if someone calls claiming to represent a company you do business with, ask for that person's name and then tell them you will call them back. Then hang up and call the dealer directly.

• Use tap to pay whenever possible. One of the most common ways to steal credit card data is through “skimming,” where criminals place small card-reading devices inside payment terminals at gas stations, ATMs, etc. FICO data shows that debit card skimming is up 77% in 2023 over last year, which means the next time you “swipe” you may be inadvertently sending your information to our awesome Twitch tool.

  So, whenever possible, use the tap-to-pay feature to bypass any skimming device that may be hiding in plain sight.

• If your card issuer offers fraud prevention tools, use them. Since fraud is a bigger pain for them, most banks these days offer a range of fraud prevention tools to help you metaphorically stack sandbags in front of your account.

  Chase, for example, offers Stored cards A tool that shows you which merchants have held your card information for the past nine months. If you give them permission, Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo and others will use your cell phone number to text you if they detect a suspicious charge. Find out what your bank offers and strengthen your fences. In the same vein, you can use Virtual credit card For your online purchases.

Looking back, I'm not entirely sure how a Fortnite scammer got the keys to my phone Chase Freedom Unlimited® account. You may have made the all-too-common mistake of purchasing something online while connected to Wi-Fi at the airport.

Despite my best efforts to prevent further fraud, I fell victim again in 2023 when a scammer used my account. Chase Freedom Flex Card℠ To spend $4,023.87 at Lowe's. This time I was angry for a completely different reason (because I am a member of the Home Depot team).

But again, since I picked it up within 60 days (and of course… It wasn't “Friendly Fraud”) Chase took me seriously and canceled the charges on my account.

The main takeaway from all of this is: Monitor your accounts. If you haven't already, start with the “financial thread.” Fraud may be more common these days, but spotting the evidence it leaves behind in your data has never been easier.

You just have to look.

And in trying times like these, if your favorite Twitch streamer is bringing you comfort, comfort, and solace, give them a better tip than $2.50.

Please note that card details are accurate as of the date of publication, but are subject to change at any time at the discretion of the issuer. Please contact your card issuer to verify rates, fees and benefits before applying.