Credit Card Fraud after odd Tesco Purchase

podwin

Hi,

This morning I went to Tesco, bought a few things, one of which was alcohol.

The self service till needed authorising for this, which isn't unusual, but what was strange was that it was asking for my actual birthdate.

The staff member couldn't understand why it was not authorising the transaction, then when we realised what it was asking for we were both a bit surprised, she'd never seen this before, neither had I (I gave a false date by the way).

I could then pay, so in went my credit card.

Later that day my credit card was then used to purchase some Sony software for £1,300 and someone's council tax in Enfield for £170.

Is there a connection here? Does the strange behavior of this till indicate it may have been tampered with to pinch credit card details? Can fraud work that fast?

I'm pleased with my bank though for phoning me about this and blocking the payments within 8 hours.

Eonel

I would sincerely doubt that the events are connected. + you gave the till the wrong date of birth.

Your credit card details could have been skimmed anytime over the last few weeks or months. The stolen details remain unused until sold on.

opinions4u

I doubt there's a connection between this and the fraud.

The DOB request is for the booze.

podwin

OK thanks, thought so.

It was still odd though that a till asks for a dd/mm/yyyy, I have only ever seen tills to confirm customers are over 18 or whatever.

caz2003uk

When I worked at asda and had to be on the self can tills, if alcohol was being sold and you id'd the customer you would have to enter their birthdate to show the system you had id'd someone for alcohol! If no I'd was required there was a button to say customer is over 18, the d.o.b was purely for when ya had id'd someone and seen the proof

Gurranes

Just on your other point.

Fraud can happen that quickly.

As soon as the fraudster has your details, they can use them online. Some may choose to keep details for some time to distance themselves from the source of where the details were 'stolen'.

If you are suspicious about what may have happened when you use your card, contact your CC company as many can perhaps put an indicator on the account that monitors the next few transactions. But as a caveat, if you are going to use the card for a big purchase or something out of the ordinary you might get a decline of referral (which some shops treat as a decline).

DOB wouldn't help with a transaction, but might help them contact your CC company and tinker with your details. Raise limits, change address etc... But as others have said this DOB request looks innocent.

CG19a

I work for Tesco, they've just hit the wrong button when authorising the alcohol. There are 2 buttons after scanning their card, one lets the authorisation go straight through, the other asks for the date of birth just in case the cashier can't work it out.