fraud, $200

snickpan

Luckily I had the total refunded. Had a holiday in New York in March, then yesterday $100 was taken from my Monzo, twice in 2 minutes, in Pittsburgh, a Food Mart. Sounds like cash withdrawals, would be too odd to do shopping and have it come to $100 twice in 2mins.
So what might I have done wrong? I didn't use a cashpoint/ATM, just restaurants and a couple of shops, chip and PIN style. How can I, or anyone, avoid this, as I was quite worried I would lose the money, through being at fault for some reason. Is Monzo more at risk, being a new company?
Recent message says that the magnetic strip makes me vulnerable

Nicholas

It's common in a restaurant in the States for your card to be taken off you to a back room for processing. Was it taken out of your sight? If so, an ideal opportunity for a dishonest employee to skim your card.

System

You got the money back. Don't worry about it. Monzo's loss. not yours.

snickpan

So Monzo is as vulnerable as any other card?
I'd like to not worry, but the fraud team asked me (only a few) questions, and it didn't seem obvious that I'd be refunded. Would rather not go through it again - it's not trauma, but it's not what I'd choose to do for an afternoon

[Deleted User]

snickpan wrote: »

So Monzo is as vulnerable as any other card?

Of course...

Paul_DNAP

As safe or vulnerable as any other card, yes.

eDicky

The Monzo card has the magstripe functionality turned off by default and needs to be temporarily enabled in the app for it to be used. This, I assume, makes it harder to 'skim' in a restaurant back room, and prevents a clone bring used in a Brazilian ATM, for example. So in this respect it is safer than most cards.

The card also has a 'freeze' function in the app, for when it's not being used, and can be quickly unfrozen when needed. So it can be left frozen and unusable by a fraudster when not in use, perhaps only for travel, by the cardholder..

snickpan

yes, I love the 'app' power of the Monzo. I've since emptied it back into my bank account, save it for holiday use.

Terry_Towelling

snickpan wrote: »

Luckily I had the total refunded. Had a holiday in New York in March, then yesterday $100 was taken from my Monzo, twice in 2 minutes, in Pittsburgh, a Food Mart. Sounds like cash withdrawals, would be too odd to do shopping and have it come to $100 twice in 2mins.
So what might I have done wrong? I didn't use a cashpoint/ATM, just restaurants and a couple of shops, chip and PIN style. How can I, or anyone, avoid this, as I was quite worried I would lose the money, through being at fault for some reason. Is Monzo more at risk, being a new company?
Recent message says that the magnetic strip makes me vulnerable

CHIP & PIN is not as widely used in the US as elsewhere - curiously, they don't think they have a problem with counterfeit fraud in the US - so it is interesting to hear that you did do some CHIP & PIN transactions.

Skimming a magstripe is fairly easily done and this might be the source of the transactions here - can't say without more information. If that is what happened there should never be a problem disputing an item. Interesting that the items are not identified as cash on your statement despite the amounts perhaps indicating they could have been.

The US is very vulnerable to this type of fraud given their stance on CHIP & PIN and any card could have been affected.

Remember never to let your card out of your sight when paying.

So, why the delay between your US visit and the fraud? Some fraudsters (usually with stolen cards) will wait a few months, just in case the card gets blocked, in the expectation that some card issuers will lift the block on a lost/stolen card after three months if there has been no activity on it. Not sure why they'd bother doing that with a skimmed counterfeit though (if that's what we are dealing with).

All sounds a bit odd but still believable.

Penelopa.Pitstop

With UK Chip & Pin car you have to use chip and pin almost everywhere in shops, etc. Swiping card doesn't work. There are some exceptions.

AndyPix

Terry_Towelling wrote: »

So, why the delay between your US visit and the fraud? .

When the track data is skimmed, it will sit on the skimming device for x weeks before the scammer comes to collect it, then it will be added to an online data 'dump' for sale.
They usually go for between $30 - $100 each.


It will sit for a while before being sold, and then the buyer has to write it to a 'blank' card.


All this takes time - hence the delay