Chase bank is REALLY on the ball

[kaitou]

Got a call today from Chase that they thought there was fraudulent activity on my credit card, and they closed my account. I'll get a new card in a few days. What really surprises me is that they were tipped off by 2 purchases, one for a song on iTunes...the rep said it was probably a test to make sure that their stolen info worked...and one for about $150 in tools. I really wouldn't have thought that either of those would have set off alarm bells. I mean...did they think 'hey this was for country music, and we know from our accounts that she doesn't listen to it?' Why that, and not when I spent $1000 on appliances when I moved into this house?

Still, I'm grateful that they were so on top of it, and caught it so quickly. Way to go, Chase.

Comments

[meretia]

Chase is odd. They actually phoned me the other day to be sure that I knew someone had used my card to book a hotel room in Nelsonville, out southeast of Columbus. And when I told them that yes, I knew that since I booked it since I'm going down to Nelsonville and Athens week after next, the lady on the phone was kind of like, "...oh. Well, okay then."

I mean, yeah, I splurged on something nice and wiped out a pretty good chunk of what I have in the bank, but really? They didn't complain when I rented a room in a cabin closer to Athens last time I went. What's the difference here?

[kaitou1412.livejournal.com]

Yeah, last time I went to Canada with my boss, he bought a tank of gas with his card, and then when we went to Wendy's his card had been cut off. He was on the phone for an hour trying to tell them that yes he was really in Canada himself.

I went on ask Metafilter, and apparently it's the pattern they're looking for, a tiny purchase and then a large one. And that tiny purchase is often from iTunes.

[mewsrissicat.livejournal.com]

Interestingly enough, that's how I've seen other people's accounts hacked: it starts with a tiny, easy to overlook item like a $1 i-Tunes purchase.

Then within a couple of days, they hit the account for real.

Good on Chase for watching for that signature "test buy".

[kaitou1412.livejournal.com]

*nodnod* I went on Ask Metafilter (love that site) and they said the same thing. It was the pattern of iTunes plus the other purchase that tipped them off. LOL, I wonder how many times I've almost had them on me...I buy just one song from iTunes a lot. I guess I must not purchase anything big after that.

[mewsrissicat.livejournal.com]

What surprised and impressed me was our little local bank... we had some maintenance done on our roof and wrote the worksmen a check for their time and materials.

Apparently, they took it right to our bank to be cashed, and the bank called Nan to confirm that it was a legit check.

Yeep!~ (hope Harry has a sense of humor!)

[aphelion-orion.livejournal.com]

D: Man, that sucks, but good thing they caught it. *hugs*

I hope they catch the bastard who stole it, but that's probably wishful thinking.

[kaitou1412.livejournal.com]

Since they caught it so quickly, it's really not a big deal for me. I'll get a new card in a few days, and I think I'll fill out a statement that confirms 'no, I didn't buy that' and that's the end of it for me.

I try not to use the credit card too much, so I probably won't even notice that I don't have it.

[anthogna (from livejournal.com)]

I think of "Big Brother" as the aggregate tracking information (locations, stores, things I buy regularly) from all my bankcards. Like it helped that my purchases in Arizona on one card fit the pattern created by information from others, so it wasn't tagged.

I think the easiest tagger though (and it shows the fraudster was a total amateur) is that "small followed by large" thing. You just don't do that if you're going to use a stolen card. iTunes is something else that seems extremely amateurish, since Apple cross-checks CC numbers in the payment database. I would think the chances of a stolen CC number being already registered on iTunes would be fairly high, and Apple's system would only allow a number to be used twice as a way of "flagging" possible stolen numbers to the banks, especially if only one song is purchased subsequently...

[velithya]

glad they caught it! :)