Credit Card Issue

[Chester11]

Have a GM card through Marcus. I have had this card for at least twenty years and paid it in full every month so I would presume I am a decent customer. Just took a trip to Florida and used the card. On coming home, I started getting these $1.95 charges so I called them this AM and they decided to issue a new card. I received an Email saying the new card was authorized and I would be getting it in about a week or so, Then I get ANOtHER email saying charges are being made to the new number and I need to authorize the card to allow the charges! In the fifteen or so minutes between a new number being assigned and the second Email, charges were being made on the cars!!!!

What is going on? Sounds to me like a massive security breach. Thoughts? Actions to take?

Some banks forward "subscriptions" to future cards as a convenience to users. Great, unless the card is stolen. The bank can shut this link from the stolen card - but you may have to ask.

Also - a newish scam is for the bad actor to load stolen card info into a digital wallet (Apple or Android). I don't know the technical details. But you may want to specifically ask that all links to digital wallets be removed from the account.

Also, supposedly "tap to pay" is safer at gas pumps. Inserting the full card (versus just the chip end) into a compromised card reader can allow the magnetic strip to be read by a card skimmer.

Hope it helps.

 

[Pablo]

Have a GM card through Marcus. I have had this card for at least twenty years and paid it in full every month so I would presume I am a decent customer. Just took a trip to Florida and used the card. On coming home, I started getting these $1.95 charges so I called them this AM and they decided to issue a new card. I received an Email saying the new card was authorized and I would be getting it in about a week or so, Then I get ANOtHER email saying charges are being made to the new number and I need to authorize the card to allow the charges! In the fifteen or so minutes between a new number being assigned and the second Email, charges were being made on the cars!!!!

What is going on? Sounds to me like a massive security breach. Thoughts? Actions to take?

@Boomer any further information???

 

[GSCJR]

@Boomer any further information???

+1

Furthermore, is this a CC or debit card? My in-laws are have experienced this 3 or 4 times over the last few months in Florida.

 

[thastinger]

"started getting these $1.95 charges"

No idea what these are. Please some details.

They are test charges. When your info gets stolen, the ones who stole it will often make a series of test charges that are smaller than the notification limit most people have set on their cards(most people only get notifications of charges over 5 dollars). Once those go through, it is time for the big charges.

 

[Pablo]

I understand that concept

But OP didn’t write what they are charged to/for etc

Seems like vital information!

They are test charges. When your info gets stolen, the ones who stole it will often make a series of test charges that are smaller than the notification limit most people have set on their cards(most people only get notifications of charges over 5 dollars). Once those go through, it is time for the big charges.

See above.

I understand that concept

But OP didn’t write what they are charged to/for etc

Seems like vital information!

He never said who/what the charges are. I've processed cards for many years. No matter how much, of course statement will show merchant.

OP went quiet on this, makes me think something different.

 

[Carmudgeon]

Keep in mind unexpected charges in small amounts aren't necessarily fraudulent.

Merchants like gas stations, rental car agencies, and hotels commonly place "pre-auth" charges to verify accounts before submitting the actual transaction.

And card issuers sometimes do err too much on the side of caution.

I recently had to re-enable a card (due to expire in a couple months) as an NFC payment method, and it wouldn't work; said to contact the issuer.

Contacted the issuer, and the rep said a new card had been mailed two weeks ago, and should have been received. They strongly suggested, but didn't force that old card to be cancelled, and a new one to be issued, which would take a few days. Ok...

This occurred around the time that multiple auto-pay subscriptions were due to roll over, and it was a hassle to have to update those accounts, especially when one (an MVNO) had to be contacted in person to make that change.

The end was predictable -- that "lost" card that was mailed two weeks prior actually showed up two weeks later. Was the rep needlessly panicking? Giving good advice due to policy? Was the USPS delivery time an anomaly, or actually normal, unbeknowst to the rep? Maybe all of the above?

From my end, it turned out to be a needless hassle to have to contact them multiple times, and navigate through an infurating voice tree system that wouldn't accept responses.

And, this issuer has the practice of sending a paper notice for every single instance adding a card to an NFC pay system. Do a software update? Get a new phone? Or any other normal course of action that requires re-adding the card? The mailman does deliver those notices pretty quickly.