'We won't bother trying to catch the fraudsters' - MasterCard and the Fraud Police

astroL

On 16 August, by chance I checked my credit card and immediately spotted two fraudulent purchases. In fact I later discovered two more. The payments were just 48 hours old. I rang M/c and despite their efforts to avoid talking to customers (have to ever tried ringing them?), I eventually got through. They dropped the line on me after verifying my identify.  They did not ring back so I repeated the time-money-consuming effort and rang again. Again after a couple of wasted minutes they dropped the line. At 7.01pm I again rang and finally got through and told them of the fraudulent payments. They took notes, identified the items and agreed a refund.  My card is constantly protected and no data is stored anywhere. Two days later the first two small payments were refunded. I rang again on a 0800 number and then spoke further.  The lady confirmed that the large fraudulent deduction was currently being re-paid.  I queried the method of the fraudulent payments because they could be traced quickly. She told me that they did not bother trying to identify the guilty parties. :-(  

I then registered with the Fraud Police and detailed my experience, noting that the fraudsters should be traceable. One day later I received an email telling me that no action would be taken (despite the audit trail and possible video record).

So there we are. M/c and the police seem uninterested in making the effort.

grumbler

What country is it where you can call Mastercard and some 'Fraud Police'?

daveyjp

How many investigators due you think you would need to track down every single fraudulent transaction?

TadleyBaggie

You need to call the card provider, Mastercard don't provide customer services to card holders.

400ixl

If Mastercard have re-paid you then what does it matter to you whether they decide to do anything further?

They have a business model which accounts for a certain amount of fraud, they have systems that tell them which ones are worth trying to pursue. They aren't going to tell you which they are and the customer service agent certainly won't know either. You were just fobbed off as the agent does not know if they are or aren't going to pursue.

MorningcoffeeIV

astroL said:

 I rang M/c and despite their efforts to avoid talking to customers (have to ever tried ringing them?)

I wouldn't have thought so. Why on earth would anyone need to?

astroL

<sigh>  If you read the terms and conditions - or think about it - you are supposed to contact M/c if you see any signs of suspicious activity on your card. Tickets and insurance for two EasyJet flights come in that category!!  Hence I tried to ring them. Similarly the Fraud police ask you to send them any details etc etc, and my card was used in person by the fraudster so I suspect there will be quite an audit trail, plus video.  Or we can let them all get away with it and leave them to try someone else's card.

la531983

Well you ring your card provider, not Mastercard. Is that what you meant? 

MrFrugalFever

One can only assume you mean you called your Mastercard credit card provider and alerted Action Fraud?

Mastercard do not lend money and not heard of Fraud Police?

MorningcoffeeIV

astroL said:

<sigh>  If you read the terms and conditions - or think about it - you are supposed to contact M/c if you see any signs of suspicious activity on your card. 

[Even bigger sigh]. If you read them properly - or thought about it at all - you'd see that it doesn't.

Next time you have an issue with your card, call your card provider. They're the ones who sort it out 

SiliconChip

Mastercard UK do actually have a contact number, which may be the 0800 one that the OP used, but I would be very surprised if any card's T&Cs say that Mastercard should be contacted, so perhaps the OP could clarify which card it is. I also can't see any way in which a refund will have been initiated by Mastercard so that will have come from the card issuer.

As for investigating the fraud, that's none of the cardholder's business, the fraud has been perpetrated against the card issuer (a major benefit of using a credit card) so it's up them how much, if any, they want to investigate.

https://www.mastercard.co.uk/en-gb/frequently-asked-questions.html

How do I report my Mastercard® as lost or stolen?

If your card is lost or stolen, please contact the financial institution that issued your card immediately. Look for a customer service number on the back of the card. You can also contact the Mastercard Assistance Centre on freephone 0800 964 767 from the UK and a Mastercard representative will be able to assist you in filing a lost or stolen card report.