Fraudulent Charge on Credit One card. But how?

[LukeJoseph]

Hey all - I have a Credit One card that I have never used for anything anywhere, about 4 years old now, have very much graduated from, just haven't closed due to not wanting it to affect my AAoA.

Today I logged in as I was tempted to finally cancel it. And noticed a $150 charge from Amazon that I did not make.

Called Credit One, which from start to finish was a struggle. They canceled and then reissued the card, which is "fine" although I would have preferred to just cancel. But after an hour on the phone, I was pretty burnt.

I also chatted with Amazon and they were able to refund the charge easily enough.

Anyways - My question is how was this possible? As I mentioned previously, I have never used this card before. I still have the physical card. No one has access to it. It's not expiring soon, so there wasn't a re-issue. The only thing I can think is that Credit One is having/has had some form of a data breach. But would love others thoughts/inputs.

[OmarGB9]

Possible Credit One data breach, or someone guessed the card details correctly.

[LukeJoseph]

Yeah I am guessing the former. But maybe? Apparently they tried to buy some pizza from Pizza Hut as well (prior to me canceling the card) but it was declined, maybe because they didn't have some info correct.

[SouthJamaica]

---

@LukeJoseph wrote:

Hey all - I have a Credit One card that I have never used for anything anywhere, about 4 years old now, have very much graduated from, just haven't closed due to not wanting it to affect my AAoA.

Today I logged in as I was tempted to finally cancel it. And noticed a $150 charge from Amazon that I did not make.

Called Credit One, which from start to finish was a struggle. They canceled and then reissued the card, which is "fine" although I would have preferred to just cancel. But after an hour on the phone, I was pretty burnt.

I also chatted with Amazon and they were able to refund the charge easily enough.

Anyways - My question is how was this possible? As I mentioned previously, I have never used this card before. I still have the physical card. No one has access to it. It's not expiring soon, so there wasn't a re-issue. The only thing I can think is that Credit One is having/has had some form of a data breach. But would love others thoughts/inputs.

---

1. It's quite a mystery. Since you never used it, anywhere, I can't imagine how the card details got into the crook's hands, other than an internal problem at Credit One.

2.  More importantly, if you don't need or use the card, why have it at all?  Doesn't Credit One charge annual or monthly fees?

3.  If I were you I would cancel this account.  Why keep an account which you don't use, which charges an annual or monthly fee, which can't even keep its own data secure, and which gives you lousy customer service???

[coldfusion]

---

@OmarGB9 wrote:

Possible Credit One data breach, or someone guessed the card details correctly.

---

A Credit One data breach would be possible, but not likely.  It's more probable that someone guessed the card details correctly or there was a compromise closer to the OP,  like for example an employee at a restaurant photographing the card when they took it from the OP to run it in order to pay the tab or otherwise had access to the card.

[OmarGB9]

---

@coldfusion wrote:

---

@OmarGB9 wrote:

Possible Credit One data breach, or someone guessed the card details correctly.

---

A Credit One data breach would be possible, but not likely.  It's more probable that someone guessed the card details correctly or there was a compromise closer to the OP,  like for example an employee at a restaurant photographing the card when they took it from the OP to run it in order to pay the tab or otherwise had access to the card.

---

But OP clearly stated they never used the card anywhere, ever.

@LukeJoseph, closing it wouldn't affect your AAoA. It would still contribute to age for up to 10 years.

[LukeJoseph]

Yeah when I say I have never used it, I really have never used it. Has never even left my house. It was one of my first cards during my rebuild. But knowing how bad CreditOne is, it just sat in a "sock drawer". 

It wouldn't affect the AAoA? It was one of, if not the first card I card when I started the rebuild. All my good cards now (NVFCU, Dover FCU, Discover, Lowes, Wells Fargo and a few others) are all less than 2 years old and the majority being less than a year.

Once this is resolved, I am just going to cancel it regardless though. Their customer service is horrid. And the monthly fee of like $5 or something is dumb lol.

[OmarGB9]

Nope. As I mentioned, it will remain on your reports for up to 10 years after closure, still contributing to your credit age.

Yea I wouldn't pay for a card that's just SD'd. lol.

[LukeJoseph]

Sweet. Then as soon as all of this is done, it's getting canceled!

[GatorGuy]

There are numerous data points of this happening now. While it isn't easy, it is possible for scammers to guess your credit card info.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/money/2022/feb/26/credit-card-fraud-scammers-guess-...

This is why I keep alerts turned on for new transactions for all my cards, even if they are SDed.