Credit Card Fraud

[DOMINCAN BOY]

My credit card company put a block on my card after buying a washing machine a fridge and a cooker in the Dominican Republic
When i phoned them back in the UK,
they told me to tell them next time
when i want to use it in the D.R a little late if it was fraud3 separate transactions

[Skippy1]

I had a problem very much like this poster in another country ...it took a while to sort out but the banks did eventually refund the money. It taught me a lesson in that I never use a credit card any more for small purchases or car hire.
I have two debit cards and I control the amount (cash Balance) with top ups by Electronic banking. This way they (Thieves) can only take to the maximum that is in the account and it is easy to keep on top of the balance because you have to transfer money as it runs out so any transaction out of the norm would alert you very quickly ie the next time you use it it would not work.
I use two because of the possibility of a errant ATM eating a card and taking 10 days to get a replacement or the original back.
It is also possible to have a card that you load with money as a one off and when its used up you can dispose of or buy another one they are handy for things like emergency funds etc.
Most banks will give you good advice on travelling abroad and the best way to look after your money.
It is important not only to tell your card company you are travelling but also keep telling them if you are a way for a long time...eg call every 10 days to say you will be home on a given date !!.

Skippy1

[dv8]

feel better - not only cards from nice civilized countries are gold for thieves. the other day poular called miesposo asking if he spent 1600 dollars in a shop somewhere in NYC. there you go - when he was there last time (in february) someone got hold of his cc number and used it.
of course we had a new card issued but it was upsetting nonetheless...

[rio2003]

Originally Posted by Skippy1

It taught me a lesson in that I never use a credit card any more for small purchases or car hire.

Skippy1

I may be wrong, anyone who knows different please correct me, but it is impossible to rent a car (from a reputable company) without leaving a major credit card as deposit. How else are they going to ensure payment in the event of an accident?

What I do is give them a card with the least credit limit on it that I can get away with and notify the card issuer of the amounts that should be authorised.


Rio

[Yachtmaster]

I have used credit cards in the DR many times for car rentals, hotels, shopping, you name it without problem. I would rather carry a cc with a maximum $50.00 liability for loss or fraud, which most cc companies seem to waive anyhow, rather than cash. Flash a wad of cash around or even a wallet and you are a prime target for an assault and robbery. Debit cards, I hear, offer no fraud protection. With on-line banking, you can check your cc balance regularly for irregularities. Besides, my cc offers points on dollars spent which I can use for air travel to the DR!

An interesting thing that is done in Italy for Italian cc holders is when a charge is logged to their cc a text message outlining the charge is sent to their mobile phone. Too bad that has not caught on in North America yet............

[windeguy]

For those of us that buy something online and have it shipped, many credit cards now offer a safer method for buying online using a virtual account number. One company calls this "Shop-safe" and another calls it "virtual account numbers". These numbers are generated for one time use and have a date limit and a maximum dollar value for each number generated. At least it is one way to keep someone from getting your actual account number.

Also check with your card company to see if they will send you an email or a text message to your phone any time a charge is made. Some US based companies are doing that now.

I recently had credited card charges made at gasoline stations in Canada. I haven't been to Canada in 2 years, but the thieves got my number from somewhere, maybe even sitting on it since the last time I was there. There is no way to know how they got the number and started using it. There are many ways that people are dishonest with credit information. In my case I had to cancel the old card, get a new one, wait for an affidavit that must now be notarized by a US Notary and returned to the credit card company and wait for them to investigate and remove the charges. All this is much harder to do while here in the DR.

As for renting a car in the US, it is practically impossible to do so without using a credit card. So there is one place that your account information is taken and a potential place for misuse.

[Skippy1]

Originally Posted by rio2003

I may be wrong, anyone who knows different please correct me, but it is impossible to rent a car (from a reputable company) without leaving a major credit card as deposit. How else are they going to ensure payment in the event of an accident?

What I do is give them a card with the least credit limit on it that I can get away with and notify the card issuer of the amounts that should be authorised.


Rio

You can hire a car with a visa debit card no problems, I have done so many times. The reason I said I would not use a Credit card and prefer a debit is because the amount is limited to funds you already have ie it is not credit.
If you are a victim of fraud on a CC it is "credit and comes with high interest rates. Even if you manage to convince the card company that it is a fräud it can take months to resolve. This will appear on your credit report as a borrowing unless the CC company agrees to remove it pending investigation.
If you are applying for a loan or mortgage it could be a problem. In my case I had a fraud under investigation for 9 months for over 40,000 US dollars,Not here in the DR admittedly.
I like the idea of the Cards you can load with money instead of travellers cheques as a better and safer way to travel too.

Skippy1

[rio2003]

Originally Posted by Skippy1

You can hire a car with a visa debit card no problems, I have done so many times. The reason I said I would not use a Credit card and prefer a debit is because the amount is limited to funds you already have ie it is not credit.
If you are a victim of fraud on a CC it is "credit and comes with high interest rates. Even if you manage to convince the card company that it is a fräud it can take months to resolve. This will appear on your credit report as a borrowing unless the CC company agrees to remove it pending investigation.
If you are applying for a loan or mortgage it could be a problem. In my case I had a fraud under investigation for 9 months for over 40,000 US dollars,Not here in the DR admittedly.
I like the idea of the Cards you can load with money instead of travellers cheques as a better and safer way to travel too.

Skippy1

Hi Skippy,

Apologies, I didn't realise you meant it in the "credit v debit" sense and thought you meant plastic in general.

Personally, I think that I would rather have my credit card defrauded - at least it is someone elses money - I am not wealthy enough to have any spare to lose and then have to wait for it to be refunded. The charges on dishonoured direct debits and standing orders would be very high if there wasn't the funds to cover them.

Just my opinion - from an impoverished poster!

Rio

[Skippy1]

[quote=rio2003;632079]

Hi Skippy,

Apologies, I didn't realise you meant it in the "credit v debit" sense and thought you meant plastic in general.

Personally, I think that I would rather have my credit card defrauded - at least it is someone elses money - I am not wealthy enough to have any spare to lose and then have to wait for it to be refunded. The charges on dishonoured direct debits and standing orders would be very high if there wasn't the funds to cover them.

Just my opinion - from an impoverished poster!
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I remember my impoverished days .......like they were yesterday! hold on they were yesterday...lol

What you say is ok if you can convince them it is a fraud. For example if you pay for a meal with your card and then one week later a similar payment is taken on the card while you are still in the country it can be difficult to prove its a fraud. In this case you will end up having to pay and interest if it takes you over your limit or you do not pay the balance within 30 days. My case was supposedly easy to prove it was a fraud as it was someone buying air tickets all over the world. My problem was I had been travelling for 6 months around the world so it was hard to say which were real and which were frauds. I had to submit my passport and give complete details of everything I did for 6 months. Some were easy as its not possible to be in two places at once. It took a long time and the bank would not take the debt off my account and continued to charge interest until the day it was finally cleared.
Please dont think faud is a victimless crime either it cost someone somewhere no such thing as victimless crime. hope you never have this problem anyway take care and good luck
Skippy1

[Kaizen68]

Consider this a ¨heads up¨ to those of us who travel abroad, and/or use our cc to buy on line etc. Just yesterday, I had an individual approach me if I was interested in buying 50 hard copies of peoples information, containing every vital information to make a new identity etc. I got a close look at the documents, and it seems that some unscrupulous employee(s) of contact centers located in the Santo Domingos area (this particular one in pharmaceutical telemarketing) obtains people´s info upon making a sale, prints out a copy of the crt info, and VOILA! you have just been scheistered...

From what this peddler told me, 50 of these will cost you 2k dop; and the freaky part is that he sells it to folks who purchase over the internet, and have it delivered to a p.o. box, or a bogus address. I advise those of us who are avid readers to obtain a copy of Frank Abagnale´s book entitled:
THE ART OF THE STEAL (and if you saw or didn´t see the movie with Leo Dicrapio and Tom Hanks. Catch me if you can, the book with the same name).
This individual even had mailing lists of names, phone numbers and addresses of people in the US that have purchased medicines through the net. If anyone cares to elaborate on this topic, Pease, feel free.