Barclaycard fraudulent transactions

djc_uk

A few months ago I had a bad experience when Barclaycard security rang me up about suspicious transactions. A familiar pattern I guess, first a 10p one then a couple of progressively larger ones until, luckily enough, one got declined and the security guys started taking an interest. These were all card not present transactions over the internet, I actually kept the Barclaycard specifically for internet/phone only use so that if the worst did occur my card for day to day use wouldn't be compromised.

To their credit Barclaycard were quick to spot this and get in touch, and after I'd done all the form filling the transactions were voided quickly enough. They obviously knew my details had been hijacked by somebody rather than me trying to pull a fast one so I assume they have a pretty good idea, in general terms at least, as to who was behind it and how it was done.

This last point concerned me, however, so I wrote to them to ask if they could tell me how my details had been compromised. Generally speaking I only used the card on a few sites - the usual suspects, Paypal etc. - which I'd used multiple times without problems. I hadn't fallen for any phishing emails or anything obvious so I was after some information that might help improve my online security. Barclaycard didn't bother to reply, however, so I wondered if anyone knows whether this was one of those occasions where a whole bunch of account details got hijacked - something they seem to like to keep quiet about.

grumbler

It could be a matter of a primitive keylogger in your computer.

poggles

djc_uk wrote: »

A few months ago I had a bad experience when Barclaycard security rang me up about suspicious transactions. A familiar pattern I guess, first a 10p one then a couple of progressively larger ones until, luckily enough, one got declined and the security guys started taking an interest. These were all card not present transactions over the internet, I actually kept the Barclaycard specifically for internet/phone only use so that if the worst did occur my card for day to day use wouldn't be compromised.

To their credit Barclaycard were quick to spot this and get in touch, and after I'd done all the form filling the transactions were voided quickly enough. They obviously knew my details had been hijacked by somebody rather than me trying to pull a fast one so I assume they have a pretty good idea, in general terms at least, as to who was behind it and how it was done.

This last point concerned me, however, so I wrote to them to ask if they could tell me how my details had been compromised. Generally speaking I only used the card on a few sites - the usual suspects, Paypal etc. - which I'd used multiple times without problems. I hadn't fallen for any phishing emails or anything obvious so I was after some information that might help improve my online security. Barclaycard didn't bother to reply, however, so I wondered if anyone knows whether this was one of those occasions where a whole bunch of account details got hijacked - something they seem to like to keep quiet about.

I think where there has been a known incident where "a whole bunch of account details got hijacked", it's not tended to be kept quiet about.

Refer to recent security breaches involving ebay or spotify

I remember a couple of years back Barclaycard contacted me out of the blue as my card had been used at a local supermarket store, and as they had information that a potential security had occurred there, the letter informed me that they were contacting all their customers who had used their card at that particular store, that the card had been cancelled, that I would receive a new one within the next few days, and apologising for any inconvenience caused.

My card had not been compromised, but I appreciated their endeavours to prevent such.

andyuk01

Had a similar experience where my card was cancelled after use at a particular petrol station, no attempted fraud on my account just preventative action by HSBC

shireknight

I had something similar happen with my Tesco credit card a couple of years ago, I spend £100's online every month and one day Tesco security phoned me up out of the blue to ask if I had recently brought a mobile phone online and I told them that I certainly hadn't brought a mobile phone.

They then told me to cut up my card and they sent me a new one, nothing odd appeared on my statements and they never called me again to explain what had happened so I don't know what that was all about however Tesco are clearly on the ball when it comes to this kind of stuff because they managed to spot this one suspicious transaction amongst all my legitimate ones.

reclusive46

Theres no way to know where your card details were obtained. Its possible one of the sites you used were compromised or one of the merchant banks that a site uses. Numbers can even be guessed.

I've been pretty lucky and never encountered card fraud on any of my own cards, which is surprising considering the fact I'm in the US several months of the year where card skimming is very common.