Trying to stop a fraudulent Visa transaction

Bridgeton

A couple of days ago I ordered some items (a well-known luxury brand) from a website using my Visa card. I told a friend who said they sound like fakes (the saving was too good to be true) so I contacted the head office of the company - they confirmed that the website is a fake, the goods are all counterfeit, and they are trying to get the website shut down. As the supplier is based overseas they keep re-appearing under a different name and there is little they can do to stop it.
I contacted Visa straight away and they said there is nothing I can do until the transaction has gone through. I told them what I had found out - that the company is dishonest and is committing fraud, but they said they have an agreement to protect the merchant and will not stop the payment. They said not to worry, that I will be covered by insurance, but it saddens me that they will not stop the payment to the criminals. Once they get the money they will disappear again.
Is it true that the credit card company has to complete a transaction even when the deal is fraudulent? Is there any other way of preventing payment?

Thanks, Bridgeton.

agrinnall

They certainly won't take your word for it that the merchant is fraudulent, so unless the authorities advise them not to process transactions then yes, the transaction will need to complete first. Why are you worried anyway? It's not your money that's being taken at this point, it's the credit card company's. If you have enough evidence to show that fraud has taken place then the transaction will be reversed on your account and you'll never be billed.

InsideInsurance

First of all you wouldnt contact Visa but you would contact your card issuer.

At the moment there has been no fraud, they have simply ring fenced the money and not actually gotten anything. Once they collected then there is the potential for fraud to have happened. I've certainly heard before that card issuers wont deal with it until the collection request has come in.

Did you pay them directly with your card or via a 3rd party site like PayPal?

With many merchant accounts they cannot withdraw funds immediately and so your bank will get the money back from their merchant services provider and then that company has the job to get it back from their client.