Possible fraud precursors on BBVA card?

[gorgon]

I had a $0.00 pending charge on my BBVA ClearPoints card on Sept 1st and another on Sept 2nd from the same company. This card is sock-drawered, but also saved in my Amazon Wallet, and the name of the company matches a seller on Amazon, but not much else on Google. The pendings disappeared last night. Not sure what to do at this point other than to watch for unauthorized charges...

[sxa001]

If you are seeing activity on the card that looks strange, I would just go ahead and get a new card.  It may be nothing, but why take the chance?  BBVA should be able to give you some details about the charge as well.  I would report it, in cases of fraud most issuers are really fast about replacing the card. 

[gorgon]

I thought about calling them, but I was always under the impression CC companies couldn't/wouldn't do anything until a pending charge actually posted.

[800wannabe420]

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@gorgon wrote:

I had a $0.00 pending charge on my BBVA ClearPoints card on Sept 1st and another on Sept 2nd from the same company. This card is sock-drawered, but also saved in my Amazon Wallet, and the name of the company matches a seller on Amazon, but not much else on Google. The pendings disappeared last night. Not sure what to do at this point other than to watch for unauthorized charges...

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I had the same happen to me on my RBFCU card. When I called RBFCU they told me that is an indication someone had my card info. My two charges were from two different charity organizations and for different amounts (both under $5 and for odd amounts).

I was told charges to charities are common in potential fraud. Neither charge made it past the pending status and RBFCU replaced my card while retaining all the history. 

I suggest you call and request a new card after explaining your experience.

[Anonymous]

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@gorgon wrote:

I thought about calling them, but I was always under the impression CC companies couldn't/wouldn't do anything until a pending charge actually posted.

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Only if you're disputing a transaction. When you suspect fraud, you want to call before there is any damage done.

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

When you keep a card in a digital wallet, there's usually a test charge prior to the actual charge to make sure the card is still good. Google typically does $1. This could be a sign that an order will be, or has already been placed with the actual charge not posting until it ships.

[M_Smart007]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@gorgon wrote:

I thought about calling them, but I was always under the impression CC companies couldn't/wouldn't do anything until a pending charge actually posted.

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Only if you're disputing a transaction. When you suspect fraud, you want to call before there is any damage done.

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+1

[M_Smart007]

Sorry OP

I have had this in the past with a WF Propel card (twice)

It seems that they have got it straightened out.

Charge was under $1.00 , and WF Fraud dept. caught it before they could really charge.

Here is a little snip on CC fraud.

"Reports of credit card fraud jumped 104% from 2019 to early 2020. To put this into perspective, from 2017 to 2019, there was a 27% increase in reported fraud cases, marking a major difference. Luckily, the FTC was able to return $232.3 million to victims of identity theft and fraud during 2019 alone."

[longtimelurker]

 O/T but I was texted yesterday about some charges on one of my debit cards (I had made all of them).   The texts listed the charges and ended with "Fraud (Y/N)?"

Since I am so used to the message being something like "Did you make these charges?" I entered "Y".   Oh oh.  So I had to call. 

Even more O/T: Amazingly, the message said that they are experiencing higher than normal call volume (I think every business call I've made in the last few months says that!) and then asked if I wanted to request a call back.   I said yes, and instead of saying that I would receive a call back when a rep was available, I was asked to enter the hour and minute I wanted to be called (? How do I know when they are free) It was about 8:30 am so I entered 9am.   Then "The next available slot is 6:30pm"  Wow, they really are busy!    But I kept holding and got a human in about 20 mins.

[gorgon]

UPDATE:  I never got around to calling BBVA about the two $0 pending charges because they actually disappeared the night I made the post. Nothing fishy happened again until today there is another pending $0 for a non-profit. I will be calling them now, for sure.  

The ironic part about all of this is that BBVA is the only card in recent memory that has been declined due to suspected fraud. I tried to use it at Walmart in July and it got declined. I had to call to find out why and the lady said Walmart charges get flagged all the time.