Fraud on Discover Card

[Thomas_Thumb]

Well, last week Discover declined a $150 charge to my Discover card. Got a text message saying the card was declined - was the charge legit? WTH!

I was driving at the time, pulled the car over, re-read the text. HS! - texted back NO as a response and got another text message. Text says call the listed phone # and give the code shown. What? - NFW! I'm not calling some random phone # and getting scammed. I'm in a bit of a panic now but, fortunately I have my Discover card in my wallet. So, I pull the card out and proceed to call the phone # on the back.

After navigating thru endless automated options someone answers the phone. I mention the text, ask if the message was legit. CSR says yes and to wait while the call is transferred to the fraud department.

Question: Was I in Connecticut and had I authorized a charge of $150 at a convenience store? Answer: No.

Question: Had I recently been to Connecticut?  Answer: No, not in the last 10 years.

Questions:  Had I ever lost my card and did I know where my card was? Answers: No. and Yes, I'm holding the card in my hand.

Comment: It looks like you have been a victim of identity theft. Question: Do you know what identity theft is? Answer: Yes

Question: Had I previously been a victim of identify theft? Answer: Yes, back in 1988 someone got a Chase Visa card in my name.

Comment: Your card is being deactivitated and you will be issued a new card which should arrive in a plain envelope in about 3 days. Sorry for the inconvenience. Please destroy your old card.

Question to rep: You said my card was physically present for the $150 transaction, how can that be since I am holding my card? Answer: Identity thieves have some pretty sophisticated systems to steal information. 

Question from CSR: Had I heard of credit card skimmers being used at gas stations? Answer: Yes

[I had purchased gas the previous day]

It looks like I was fortunate that Discover flagged the 1st transaction made on the fraudulent account and that I responded back quickly. Not sure what algorithms Discover uses to detect fraud but, better safe than sorry. Still, I wonder how a physical card could have been present. Had discover issued a 2nd card as a replacement to someone else?

Below is an article on skimmers and shimmers.

https://www.pcmag.com/article/328010/how-to-spot-and-avoid-credit-card-skimmers

Time to check Credit Karma and see if I have a crop of new HPs.

[Anonymous]

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@Thomas_Thumb wrote:

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Well, last week Discover declined a $150 charge to my Discover card. Got a text message saying the card was declined - was the charge legit? WTH!

I was driving at the time, pulled the car over, re-read the text. HS! - texted back NO as a response and got another text message. Text says call the listed phone # and give the code shown. What? - NFW! I'm not calling some random phone # and getting scammed. I'm in a bit of a panic now but, fortunately I have my Discover card in my wallet. So, I pull the card out and proceed to call the phone # on the back.

After navigating thru endless automated options someone answers the phone. I mention the text, ask if the message was legit. CSR says yes and to wait while the call is transferred to the fraud department.

Question: Was I in Connecticut and had I authorized a charge of $150 at a convenience store? Answer: No.

Question: Had I recently been to Connecticut?  Answer: No, not in the last 10 years.

Questions:  Had I ever lost my card and did I know where my card was? Answers: No. and Yes, I'm holding the card in my hand.

Comment: It looks like you have been a victim of identity theft. Question: Do you know what identity theft is? Answer: Yes

Question: Had I previously been a victim of identify theft? Answer: Yes, back in 1988 someone got a Chase Visa card in my name.

Comment: Your card is being deactivitated and you will be issued a new card which should arrive in a plain envelope in about 3 days. Sorry for the inconvenience. Please destroy your old card.

Question to rep: You said my card was physically present for the $150 transaction, how can that be since I am holding my card? Answer: Identity thieves have some pretty sophisticated systems to steal information. 

Question from CSR: Had I heard of credit card skimmers being used at gas stations? Answer: Yes

[I had purchased gas the previous day]

It looks like I was fortunate that Discover flagged the 1st transaction made on the fraudulent account and that I responded back quickly. Not sure what algorithms Discover uses to detect fraud but, better safe than sorry. Still, I wonder how a physical card could have been present. Had discover issued a 2nd card as a replacement to someone else?

Below is an article on skimmers and shimmers.

https://www.pcmag.com/article/328010/how-to-spot-and-avoid-credit-card-skimmers

Time to check Credit Karma and see if I have a crop of new HPs.

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If the fraudulent charge still shows in your account online you can see if the card was swiped or chipped:

It's both easy and inexpensive to reproduce a mag stripe, but still nearly impossible to reproduce a chip.

Also, for future reference, Disco lets you press 0 for an account manager after you authenticate. 

[UncleB]

Hi @Thomas_Thumb,  I've moved your post to a new thread so you can get better feedback on your fraud situation.

--UB

[DaveInAZ]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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If the fraudulent charge still shows in your account online you can see if the card was swiped or chipped:

It's both easy and inexpensive to reproduce a mag stripe, but still nearly impossible to reproduce a chip.

Also, for future reference, Disco lets you press 0 for an account manager after you authenticate. 

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And every gas station/convenience store I use still has swipe only readers. And even with chip reader terminals after 3 failed attempts using the chip reader it lets you swipe the mag strip, my local Family Dollar had a glitchy terminal and I often had to swipe after 3 tries on the chip reader.

I didn't realize Discover had that detail on transactions, it even gives you a Google map of the location:

And the algorithms Discover uses to detect fraud don't need to be that complicated, if you haven't been to Connecticut in 10 years they know that - well they know that a physical swipe in Connecticut for you needs a suspect flag. Since Thomas got gas yesterday I'd say he had an encounter with a skimmer, and they quickly sold the info to someone in Connecticut with a cheap & easy mag strip maker.

I've read that the more vulnerable locations for a gas station skimmers are larger gas stations and the pumps farthest away from the store, so it's hard for the cashier to see them slipping in a skimmer.

[Anonymous]

So sorry this happened to you. I've been through this and worse over the last 3 years. This is why I pay for evetything with my Samsung Galaxy Note 8. I loaded all my cc's and membership cards into Samsung Pay. I go inside to pay for gas, with my phone. The only way anyone can access my cc's on my phone is if they can first, get by my screenlock security (pin and biometrics) then 2, get through my second level screenlock security and second pin, then 3, use my 3rd pin and biometrics to activate my cards. When I pay with my phone, it leaves a bogus last 4/5 digits of the card on the receipt. My credit cards never come in contact with humans or hardware.

While all this is great, I believe the biggest threat to our personal identities is the banks, businesses and cc companies who don't get it. While driving one day, I was receiving numerous Internet charge alerts. I pulled over and called Chase visa. As I reported the first 3 frauds (more were coming through) the fraud dept's response was, if I wanted to cancel charge #1. Yes. Do you want to cancel charge #2? Yes! Do you want to cancel charge #3? I recommended she cancel my card and issue me a new one. She complied. I closed all my Chase accounts the next day. Since taking total responsibility for my financial well being, I haven't had any issues and I feel much more secure. Paying for everything with my phone makes it almost impossible for anyone to get me, offline and online. The crooks can't get my cc info to use it on the Internet, unless Equifax gives it to them, again.

[DaveInAZ]

Also, a “loophole” in chip security is that the mag strip on a chip card has info that there is a chip present so if you try to swipe the terminal tells you that you must use the chip. When making a dupe card from stolen numbers easy enough to make a mag strip with no chip info so the terminal happily takes the swipe even though the real card is a chip card.

[Anonymous]

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@DaveInAZ wrote:
Also, a “loophole” in chip security is that the mag strip on a chip card has info that there is a chip present so if you try to swipe the terminal tells you that you must use the chip. When making a dupe card from stolen numbers easy enough to make a mag strip with no chip info so the terminal happily takes the swipe even though the real card is a chip card.

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This is something that doesn't get discussed enough. The payment networks really need to crack down to tell the POS whether or not that card is supposed to have a chip, then the POS should decline transactions that are swiped without three chip failures. It's not something that would require additional hardware to do, either, it'd just require everybody to get the new software.

[DollyLama]

The skimmers are so bad in our State at gas pumps, I can't recall the last time I even used my debit. I have my Discover and Cap 1, set to notify me instantly of any charge. I think lowest is $1 on Cap 1, and $5 on Discover. My AMEX won't do a live alert, only if it hits a certain amount within a statement period, but I've only had it going on a month. Not found any notifications for a set amount on it yet. 

[CreditInspired]

That is really good you pulled over and called Discover. It is absolutely amazing and unbelievable how sophisticated these criminals are. If that talent was only used for legitimate purposes.

[AverageJoesCredit]

The talent is probably just as good or better but id wager they are most likely working for the government or spy agencies. Skynet is real and its only a matter of time