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Credit Card Defrauded, CC Company Still Investigating, Meanwhile Paying $$$

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  • Aug 6th, 2013 3:32 am
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Deal Expert
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Nov 16, 2004
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Credit Card Defrauded, CC Company Still Investigating, Meanwhile Paying $$$

Over $1,000 was purchased with a family member's credit card without their knowledge over a short period of time (1-day, they went nuts). The criminals' made online purchases, to which Visa froze the card and contacted my family member. Visa told them they would "investigate."

2 Statements have passed and the charges are still on their bill. The credit card company has said they need to pay the 'minimum balance' in the meantime.

A little off, no? They usually pay the card in full, so now they have a balance sitting. I'm sure the credit history loves that.
Not to mention the interest (they are paying) on having this balance on the card, which isn't their own!
Ever have a credit company take several weeks like this?
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17 replies
Jr. Member
Jul 20, 2013
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Most Cardholder agreements require you to pay the full amount when they investigate stuff like this.

Essentially they've lost the fees to transfer the money back to their own bank accounts because of the fraud.
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Nov 21, 2010
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Sorry I've never personally had this experience but a bit unrelated; does your family know where this started? Did they use it at a gas station? I know my friend had his experience after he used it at a gas station.
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Jan 2, 2012
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DaVibe wrote: They usually pay the card in full, so now they have a balance sitting. I'm sure the credit history loves that.
Not to mention the interest (they are paying) on having this balance on the card, which isn't their own!
Ever have a credit company take several weeks like this?
I wouldn't worry about the credit report. As far as I know (and someone correct if i'm wrong), credit reports don't care if you make the minimum payment or full payment. It's only missed payments and late payments that are a big dent to the credit score. Someone could make minimum payments indefinitely on their credit cards, and still have great credit.

They should call the credit card company and ensure that all interest payments will be removed once this is settled.

Personally in my lifetime i've had 2 fraudulent incidents with credit cards... both times the charges were reversed within a pretty short time. Having 2 statements pass is unacceptable.
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Oct 28, 2005
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Last year someone in BC stole my CIBC Visa and purchased over $500 of fragrance online, this guy was trying to ship the stuff to a PO box in BC but for some reason he may have clicked "Ship to billing address" by accident. So to my surprise I got this big box shipped to my home, I knew I didn't order it(I don't use this stuff). Called CIBC Visa and they cancel the card and reverse the charge right away.
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Nov 16, 2004
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I've had this happen to me as well and it was corrected rather quickly. I am just surprised that 2 statements have come out with the charge on their (so I can assume, almost 2 months lets say) ...

Just surprised by the length and the way they have proceeded.

There's no direct relation between visiting a location and then the fraud happening, they actually didn't even use the card that month prior to that.
The CC company suggests it could be from a while ago, they saved the information in hopes that it would be looked over.
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Jun 21, 2013
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In the middle of now…
OP, don't let the matter slide - IIRC, there is a time limit for settlement on open cases, 90 days or so. Couple years ago, my wife's BMO MC got compromised and someone purchased a $400 cell phone online, had it delivered to a PO Box in Toronto. Paid via PayPal. We contacted PayPal and BMO, explained the matter, and PayPal promised to "investigate". BMO said, we'd have to sign some paperwork to get a chargeback done. Between all that, I almost missed the deadline to initiate a chargeback - that's what the MC rep told me over the phone.

My Visa cards seem to work better: one day someone stole the # of my RBC Visa, tried to purchase something online, and the security system went nuts right away - I got emails, automated phone calls etc. They reversed transaction immediately and never charged me. Same story with CIBC Visa - that time it was a legit transaction: I booked airline tickets through a Russian carrier's website. Transaction was blocked initially, and I had to call security department to have it authorized (the hassle was well worth it though: $1100 rountrip from BOS to Eastern Siberia, fully refundable economy class tix - a grand cheaper than I could ever buy via Expedia).
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May 19, 2005
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Which bank is this? The last few times my card or some in my family was compromised they just confirmed the charges and removed the ones that was fraudulent.
Some people just don't get that online forum posts shouldn't always be taken seriously.


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Nov 6, 2003
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$500, $1,000? That's crazy, not worth their time. Last time, my credit card was compromised, the thief charged $6,000 at Futureshop, $3,000 at leather store and $500 at a restaurant... all in a day.

Did I have to pay any of it, no, not even the suppose $50 min. liability. The CC just sent me a form to sign that I didn't charged those items and that was it. Those charges didn't even appear on my statement. The only reason I knew about the charges was because of that form I signed denying I charged them.
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Jan 6, 2002
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About two months back someone charged about 2500 GBP to my AMEX in two transactions. Fraud system caught it and site used for the bookings (ebookings.com) reversed the transactions.

Except they also reversed a third transaction, for an extra 40 GBP (around $65) that was never actually charged to my card. So for now (if and until they discover the error) I made some money off the fraud case. :)

AMEX customer service made a note on my file but says to just ignore the extra credit.
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Nov 24, 2012
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Most bank issued cards will reverse the charges on the spot or 24 hours, which bank or card do they have, just so i know in the future not to get one :D
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Nov 23, 2005
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Solsearchin1 wrote: Most bank issued cards will reverse the charges on the spot or 24 hours, which bank or card do they have, just so i know in the future not to get one :D
They will not reverse it per se. They will give temporary credits to balance out the fraudulent charges, so that the owner is not liable for them during the investigation. Based on what OP has described, it definitely seems off that the CC issuer hasn't taken care of them as of yet.
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Mar 12, 2005
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I've had a few fraudulent charges on my RBC Visa in the past. They've been pretty good about it. They temporarily reverse the charges, issue a new cc, mail you a form to sign, do their investigation, and then its done.

I never had to carry the debit on my card, they gave me the benefit of the doubt until they did their "investigation"
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Nov 19, 2004
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Solsearchin1 wrote: Most bank issued cards will reverse the charges on the spot or 24 hours, which bank or card do they have, just so i know in the future not to get one :D
This. It has happened in the past for me and they immediately credited the fraudulent charges while they investigated. I am surprised that these are still showing on the bill and they expect you to make the payments for them.

I guess you continue to make the minimum payments, but I would be talking to the CC company to find out what is going on and why the charges are still showing. And make sure that any interest paid is returned.
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Aug 18, 2005
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OP, it depends on what kind of fraud purchases were made. In my case, someone got my info and made purchases in the Czech Republic, so it was really obvious that it was fraud and the purchases were immediately stricken and I did not have to pay.
But if the crooks made purchases in your geographic area, the banks probably have to do more due diligence to ensure that the "crook" wasn't your brother in law or even yourself.
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Dec 20, 2004
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PwnyExpress wrote: Most Cardholder agreements require you to pay the full amount when they investigate stuff like this.

Essentially they've lost the fees to transfer the money back to their own bank accounts because of the fraud.
Um no... any time I've disputed a charge with any credit card issued by any bank they put the transaction on hold immediately and I did NOT have to pay for it at all.
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Apr 18, 2004
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This is strange. If your credit card is in dispute, usually they place a hold on everything while they investigate your fraud claim.
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The credit card company is the one who contacted my family member, asking if they made certain purchases. The answer was no and over the phone they went through all the purchases that were not made by the owner (there were about 4 of them).
The card was closed, new card sent out (and received) yet the charges are still on the account.

I am going to get them to cause a little fuss, this is going on too long (at least without an explanation).
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