Fraudulent Credit card use

ender92

I was recently the victim of credit card/ id fraud.

This matter was reported to the credit card company who them investigated the matter and agreed I was a victim of fraud and refunded all the charges that were made.

Today I have recieved a letter from the credit control department of a company where the card was used demanding money.

How should I respond to this letter if at all?

meer53

Write to them and tell them what happened.

katejo

Send it by recorded delivery and copy it to their email (if an email is available). State in the email that a copy has also been sent by recorded delivery. Also contact the credit card company and tell them about the new demand.

Gromitt

I would forward the letter to your credit card providers fraud department and explain it is a result of the fraud that happened on your card. I wouldnt' contact the company directly.

chattychappy

Gromitt wrote: »

I wouldnt' contact the company directly.

I would reply to their letter. Sounds like they will end up being the victims in this transaction, so no need to be unfriendly. Perhaps all they saw was a chargeback without much explanation.

Simply say that you are not the person involved in the transaction and this position has been accepted by your CC. Confirm that you have not received any goods/services from them and that it appears they have been the victims of fraudsters. If you have any further information that might be useful to them, you'll pass it on.

Ignoring the letter might cause an unnecessary escalation.

eddddy

You don't give details of the fraudulant transaction - but I'm guessing it was either an internet purchase (not using Verified by Visa / Mastercard SecuredCode), or a telephone purchase. I.e. a 'cardholder 'not present' transaction.

If a cardholder contacts their bank and says that a 'cardholder not present' transaction is fraudulent (like you did), the bank will almost automatically process a refund, leaving the merchant out of pocket. The bank doesn't do any real fraud investigation first - the bank is not too bothered as they haven't lost any money.

So it's a popular scam for the genuine cardholder to buy something on the internet, then after it's delivered say to their bank "it was a fraudulent transaction" and/or "it was never delivered". The bank will then automatically process a cc refund.

To get their money in these circumstances, the merchant has to go directly to the cardholder. And if necessary, take the cardholder to court.

So it sounds like the merchant thinks you are scamming them. I wouldn't take it too personally - it's probably just a standard letter they send out when a chargeback (refund) occurs.

If it were me, I would send a letter to the mechant saying something like "The transaction was fraudulent and I have no knowledge of it, but I'm happy to cooperate in helping you to trace the person who has defrauded you".

The merchant may not believe you, in which case they may keep sending letters etc, and may ultimately take you to court.

If the transaction was for £20, they may give up after one letter. If it was for £2000, they may be prepared to keep going all the way to court.

redpete

Gromitt wrote: »

I wouldnt' contact the company directly.

Why not? I don't see a downside and it might get them off your back sooner.

bris

The only way the merchant is out of pocket is because he have failed to process the payment properly. The merchant also has protection, but all the correct procedures to make sure the card holder is using the card must be followed. He must have failed somewhere down the line in the procedure

chattychappy

bris wrote: »

The only way the merchant is out of pocket is because he have failed to process the payment properly.

When I was a merchant it was always made clear that no customer-not-present transaction was completely guaranteed.

larkim

When I was in a finance department dealing with cardholder-not-present chargebacks, we had to provide all of the necessary info to the CC company to prove that the transaction was valid, and not liaise with the customer directly. When we could and did prove that the transaction was appropriate, the refund was reversed.

Matt

bris

chattychappy wrote: »

When I was a merchant it was always made clear that no customer-not-present transaction was completely guaranteed.

It depends if you have your agreement set up to accept phone sales or not, my agreement doesn't allow phone sales because I'm in bricks and mortar shop. For merchants who have distant sales agreements they are protect by following the proper procedure. This is with use of security such as the last 3 digits etc.