[LINK] Card Cancellation as a Condition of Statement-Entry Enquiry

[Bernard Robertson-Dunn]

I had my credit card cancelled because the company (ANZ) detected a
transaction from a known overseas fraudulent source. They informed me by
SMS.

This could have been a bit awkward, as I was traveling and needed the
card to pay for hotels etc. When I spoke to their call centre they
agreed to re-instate the card but to bar any Card Not Present transactions.

After some stupidity on their part (they sent the card to an old
address) I got new cards.

On 1/10/2019 7:15 pm, Roger Clarke wrote:
> Has anyone encountered this before?  On the odd occasions I've queried
> a statement-entry (as often resulting in dispute-and-refund as not),
> I've faced the prospect of a fee, but not card cancellation.
>
>
> My WhichBank Visa account statement shows:
> 01 Sep     Telstra Melbourne       $150
>
> I've not used Telstra for anything for a couple of years now, could
> (initially) find no documentation, and can find no email-traffic.  And
> it's my company card, so my 'paperwork' is pretty reliable.
>
> The IVR process was actually pretty good, and only c.10 mins.
> (That's sufficiently unusual to be worth recording!).
>
> At first 'Michael' said he could see no other information.
>
> During the conversation, he accidentally mentioned that it was a 'card
> not present' transaction.
>
> I could have pressured him more, but as far as I could tell that means
> either phone or Internet (or he doesn't know either).
>
> The killer was 'I can put a dispute through.  We'll cancel your card'.
>
> Probing didn't unlock any fallback position available to him.
>
> For example, the propositions that (a) the possibly valid, possibly
> fraudulent transaction occurred precisely 1 month ago, and (b) every
> fraudster knows to extract what they can before the boom lowers,
> rather than sitting back for a month.  I could have added (c) any
> fraudster knows that it's less obvious if you use a little-known name
> rather than a major brand as your cover-story.
>
> He offered to record the complaint.  (He may have had to deal with
> more astonished callers than just me).
>
>
> Can anyone see anything other than security theatre (and consumer
> hostility) in such a policy?
>
>
> P.S.  After due consideration, I remembered a telecomms-related
> transaction.  It was a Boost 4G Prepaid/Data-Rollover service.
> Sure enough, in the Boost fineprint is "service provided by Telstra").
>
>

-- 

Regards
brd

Bernard Robertson-Dunn
Canberra Australia
email: brd at iimetro.com.au