Unauthorized debit card transactions

amuzia

hi

i recently opened a statement for an account and
i discovered many transactions to an online gaming company that my child has made (i really was not impressed with this)

I allowed my child to make a payment once for a game he wanted for which he paid me the money, i thought no further of it.

I have just looked at the site concerned to discover that all the need is to have the card once, it then stores all the card information including the cvv2 (cvc) number which contravenes visa's merchant guidlines. and gives them free reign with the card.

i also believe that it is the mechants responsibility (in their t&c's with visa) that they are responsible to the protection of fraud occuring via their merchant service.
and by holding the cvv2 number on the account details means they are being complacent with these regulations.

now the question is in my reading of the visa merchant regulations correct and has anyone else had any dealing with this.

i am going to contact the company involved but thought i would check my understanding first.

Thankyou

Jinx

Normally you just untick the box if you dont want to save the card details in my experience.

If your son was old enough to use the card online unmonitored then I would be laying the blame squarely at his door and not the retailer. How can it be fraud when you gave him the authority to use the card.... I dont see how the retailer could know he had permission the first time and not subsequent times?

Buzby

Just as phone users are supposed to 'get the bill payers permission' to make premium rate calls, the call is not refundable if they do not. As to the merchant agreement with Visa, you are not a party to this, it is irrelevant.

That said, the CVV may not have been required for the subsequent debits, if the first one went trough. Meaning this avenue of complaint is closed to you. Your bank will reject a chargeback request as the details were given, and the T&Cs may well have confirmed they would be retained.

Recurring payments are now a major problem for card users, but in your situation you will be expected to recover the cost from the family member you provided your details to.

amuzia

Jinx wrote: »

Normally you just untick the box if you dont want to save the card details in my experience.

If your son was old enough to use the card online unmonitored then I would be laying the blame squarely at his door and not the retailer. How can it be fraud when you gave him the authority to use the card.... I dont see how the retailer could know he had permission the first time and not subsequent times?

granted you may be able to untick a box that stores card details (this option may or may not have been present) it still doesn't escape the fact that the cvv details should never be stored as a part of order information or customer data.

in my experience and i do shop online quite a bit and have many accounts with stored card data i am always asked for the cvv number to confirm my purchase.

on the second point they by storing this became complacent in the fraudulent use of the card when they decided to store the cvv number which is a security feature and should never be stored as a part of order information or customer data.

amuzia

Buzby wrote: »

Just as phone users are supposed to 'get the bill payers permission' to make premium rate calls, the call is not refundable if they do not. As to the merchant agreement with Visa, you are not a party to this, it is irrelevant.

sorry dont know how to multi quote in a post

premium rate calls are overseen by phone pay plus part of or related to ofcom
state that

“Premium rate services must not directly appeal to children to purchase products or take advantage of children’s potential credulity, lack of experience or sense of loyalty”.
and
“Services aimed at, or which should have been expected to be particularly attractive to children, must terminate immediately when a maximum of £2.56 plus VAT per call, or in the case of a subscription service a maximum of £2.56 plus VAT per month, has been spent”

so you should be able to claim back expenses on your phone service caused by under 16' from companies that allow under 16' accounts and have theses services built into them, over and above the above stated values.

bouncydog1

How do you know your child did not write down the information relevant to your card for future use? Frustrating though their actions may be, that is your recourse to recover your money.

dalesrider

amuzia wrote: »

i discovered many transactions to an online gaming company that my child has made (i really was not impressed with this)

I allowed my child to make a payment once for a game he wanted for which he paid me the money, i thought no further of it.

Did you or your child make the transaction???
ie did you enter the card details, or did you simply give them the card and say help yourself?

amuzia wrote: »

I have just looked at the site concerned to discover that all the need is to have the card once, it then stores all the card information including the cvv2 (cvc) number which contravenes visa's merchant guidlines. and gives them free reign with the card.

You are aware that the CVV is NOT required to process online transactions.
A CPA does not require the CVV at all after the 1st payment.

amuzia wrote: »

i also believe that it is the mechants responsibility (in their t&c's with visa) that they are responsible to the protection of fraud occuring via their merchant service.
and by holding the cvv2 number on the account details means they are being complacent with these regulations.

No fraud, as you gave your child the right to use your card details.
Your child will have agreed to their T/C at that point. Given my experience, these always mean a CPA.

amuzia wrote: »

now the question is in my reading of the visa merchant regulations correct and has anyone else had any dealing with this.

i am going to contact the company involved but thought i would check my understanding first.

Thankyou

Contact the company and tell tem you are cancelling the agreement with them.
In future do not allow your child to use your card UNLESS YOU ARE PRESENT and YOU read the T/C and understand what they are doing.

amuzia

ok i have just sent this to steam am now just waiting for a reply.

Hi

i have just opened a bank statement to find a myriad of transaction from your company.
these transaction were not authorised by myself the card holder.
upon reading your help section on making payments you mention the cvv number and the use of it to authorise payments. i believe that i allowed the first transation and and was present at the time, as you state on your site that you have no reoccurring frees or transactions any further transactions must have been facilitated by yourselves holding the cvv number within the account details. i believe that this contravenes the terms and conditions that visa require of its allowed merchants.

In your holding of the cvv number you have become complacent with the fraudulent or misuse of my debit card details. And that as a visa merchant you have a duty to protect consumers against this type of misuse.
i am therefore requesting that these transactions be charged back to my debit card as soon as possible, and the steam account is blocked.



dalesrider,
the fact that you allow 1 payment to be made using a debit/credit card should not automatically mean that any further transaction goes unchecked, its almost like (i know not quite the same) going into a shop and using your card to purchase something then returning the next day and saying to the store i had permission to use it yesterday and want to use it today but i dont have it in my hand, and the shop saying well sir thats no problem at all we will just reuse all the details you provided for us then and reuse them including the pin number even though we arnt allowed to store this info we did.

amuzia

bouncydog1 wrote: »

How do you know your child did not write down the information relevant to your card for future use? Frustrating though their actions may be, that is your recourse to recover your money.

i have been onto the site and checked the purchase process, it does not require you to input the cvv code to be able to purchase.

although their site's procedure's do require the use of the cvv code.

stclair

It's hardly misuse you gave a third party your details to enable them to make the transactions to begin with. Then their has been a breach of trust as they have still continued to use it.

Their are plenty of websites where's the CVV is not required amazon springs to mind in this instance.

grumbler

IMHO, the term "unauthorizzed" used by the OP is inappropriate and misleading as it normally refers to payments taken by a company without any authorization.

In fact the transactions were fraudulent. In this case if the OP wants to get the money refunded (unlikely as the card details were given to the son), they have to admit that their son committed fraud and can face all the consequences of committing a criminal offence.