Was looking at my checking account online today, and I noticed a pending transaction that I’m positive I didn’t make.
CHECKCARD APPROPO E. SOLUTIONS LEBANON NJ ON 10/01/2005 – $7.95
According to Bank of America’s telephone system, it’s a point of sale trasnaction. I wasn’t out of my house yesterday, and I havent used my check card for over a month.
A thread at Fatwallet revealed to me that another person had a similiar charge on his account, along with other fraudulent charges. It’s a bit troubling because there doesn’t seem to be any specific pattern yet to these charges.
Well, there’s a lot of steps to take when you’re in a situation like this. I’ve already called Bank of America to ask about the charge and the CSR told me that until this “company” can show proof of purchase, the charge will not go through. To be honest I think she’s feeding me a comfort line. I was going to worry about this later until I came across the Fatwallet thread.
I think I’ll give BOA another call, report this has a fraudulent charge (not dispute it – there’s a difference), and ask for a new check card. I may close the checking account in question too, but that’s going to be a big hassle as its linked to so many essential accounts. I’ll also be monitoring my other accounts, as people have reported monthly charges on their other credit cards.
Sigh. Looks like my info got leaked from somewhere. I hardly ever use my check card for online purchasing too.
Update – Oct. 5th
Well the fraudulent charge got posted. So much for that mythical “proof of purchase” crap the CSR was talking about.
The charge was by APPROPO E. SOLUTIONS and it looks like charges made under this name is starting to increase. It is sometimes paired along with a charge by DIGITAL AGE for $24.99.
Here’s a fellow from Carlsbad who also got the same charge on his BOA VISA.
After a few calls (kept getting transferred around), I finally got the charge reversed and the current check/debit card cancelled. The new card should arrive soon. I wasn’t going to close my checking account, but yeah you guys are right, I shouldn’t let some minor inconvenience be the cause of potential problems in the future. Once I finish unlinking everything, and making sure all the current pending bill pay goes through, I’ll close the checking account and open up another one.
I hope they catch these suckers, because it looks like the problem is pretty wide spread. Grr…
7 Comments to “Goodie, my first fraudulent charge!”
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October 2nd, 2005 at 11:16 pm
I’ve been doing online sales for 5+ years now, and I’ve learned quite a bit about CC fraud.
I had a similar charge on one of my checking accounts a while ago. I immediately called BoA and had the check card banned and renewed. It only took a few days to get a new one.
From what it looks like, the charge was fraudster who got lucky. When people STEAL your CC information, they generally go on a fast shopping spree.
This sounds weird but it’s true: Some people errantly type in credit card numbers for digital download services (They usually require no address info) and get lucky. MANY BoA check cards begin with “4356 0300 XXXX XXXX,” so fraudsters can sometimes “test out” different combinations of numbers until one works.
When it DOES work, they will sometimes go on a buying spree. That is why once your account number in compromised, you must dispense of it immediately.
Good luck!
-Nev
October 3rd, 2005 at 5:27 pm
I had similar experience with BofA, but for a significantly larger amount.
What surprises me is that it never happened with any other check card account that I hold.
Rahul
October 4th, 2005 at 6:42 pm
Even if you only suspect (which doesn’t seem to be the case here) it’s worth changing everything. Yes, a short term pain, but nothing compared to if your credit history is compromised. Take care of it asap.
October 5th, 2005 at 2:57 pm
I had my Chase CC number compromised with a fraudulent charge. I got a new card, but had to reset all of the services that used the old card. Plus, a few times I couldn’t use my card because some algorithm suspected fraudulent activity, locked my account without notifying me, and I had to call the next day to get it unlocked. Discover used to call up my mom to ask about such activities, but they never put a lock on her account before they called her.
I’m a BZ for them because I pay off my balance every month, so I can’t really blame them for inconveniencing me with the hair-trigger lock and the effort on my part to get may account reinstated when I didn’t do anything wrong. Guess it saved them paying out 3% on that one gas purchase I would have made.
But then again, I usually demand a lot more than what I pay for. I’m rarely cheap with my friends and family, but I’ll gladly whittle down businesses for everything I can get out of them.
October 6th, 2005 at 12:56 am
Nev: That could very well be it.. they may have limited down the possible numbers and started generating ‘em till whichever one works. *shrug* it seems like this may be the case too cuz the last 4 digit on my card is actually posted on the charge. That’s a bit weird.
Although so far this looks like people trying to hide small monthly charges in accounts. Depending on your card usage, it may be easy to miss the small charge.
Rahul: Yeah just bothers me because I’m wondering how my check card number got leaked. It was stored on a few online accounts, but its been so long ago..
pfadvice: yeah ure right, I’m going to close/change the checking account. Better safe than sorry.
mbhunter: well I duno, I would demand the right service too. the calls I had to made just to get the charge off was quite annoying. For whatever reason I kept getting transferred. “Oh since this is an online charge, I’ll have to transfer you to the online fraud department.”
and when I finally got there, she transferred me again. Argh!
April 10th, 2009 at 11:44 am
For Bank of America, call directly to 877-366-1211. You get a person right away – this is the line to call for online fraud. I noticed a couple of suspicious activities on my account this morning – still pending activities – but the person on the phone was very friendly and extremely efficient. I always get the name of the person who answers and make it a point to use his/her name frequently when I am explaining my problem or concern. This always seems to help. I was able to cancel my card, will receive a new card and was able to obtain a temporary card at the bank this morning. My younger sister works as a fraudulent officer for BofA, so she has always advised me on the procedures and on protecting my card. I check my account online regularly – almost daily.