Credit card taken?

Plxply

I always thought the rewards were if the card had a "bounty" from the card issuer for known criminal use. As in, they are certain the person who has the card is involved with serious fraud or other crime.

Unless the OP decided to borrow a lot of people's cards.

thenudeone

The chip on a card doesn't just store a simple identification number. It's actually a computer in its own right and AFAIK, can be programmed with complex instructions regarding authority levels, if required.

I imagine that if a card company wants to stop a card being used, they can send an instruction to the chip via the terminal it's currently sat in, to change those authority levels and make the chip automatically decline any further transaction, and give a "DECLINED" message to the merchant. The magnetic strip would still work, but with online authorisation so common these days, the card would still be as good as useless.

giblet10

Happened to me when I accidentally used an old Barclaycard (they'd sent a new one for some reason).

It told the merchant to keep - but she said do you want it back so I took it back.

It could be as simple as a new card on the way to you..

frugalbob

Thanks to everyone who replied, I should have informed you all earlier.
I lost my card and got a new one but forgot to activate it :embarasse .....Hence the problem.