{"id":10685,"date":"2009-12-28T20:00:25","date_gmt":"2009-12-29T00:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/?p=10685"},"modified":"2009-12-28T20:00:25","modified_gmt":"2009-12-29T00:00:25","slug":"visa-finally-takes-action-against-credit-card-scams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/visa-finally-takes-action-against-credit-card-scams\/","title":{"rendered":"Visa Finally Takes Action Against Credit Card Scams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hopefully, by now, we all know how this works.\u00a0\u00a0 You call in response to a “free trial” of something on late night television.\u00a0\u00a0 You opt in or fail to opt out to a free offer at the end of a transaction.\u00a0\u00a0 Sometimes you have no idea what you did.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Either way, the results are the same: you continue to see a charge on your credit card and you have no idea how it got there.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Worse, contacting the offending company and getting them to stop charging you is nearly impossible.<\/p>\n

These scams have been around almost since credit cards were invented.\u00a0\u00a0 Unfortunately, the credit cards themselves have very little interest dealing with this problem.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They make money off of interest and merchant fees no matter what.<\/p>\n

Now comes word<\/a> that Visa is kicking off over 100 merchants for flagrant violations of their rules.<\/p>\n

What You Need To Know<\/strong><\/p>\n

The article I linked to is full of vague generalities that give you the impression that the problem is under control.\u00a0\u00a0 Worse, the article is full of nonsense about dealing with the Better Business Bureau.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 By the time you are at that point, it is too late.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You have to think of these scammers like spammers that charge you money.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Complaining to the BBB is like telling a mugger that robbery is not nice.<\/p>\n

1. Always scrutinize your credit card statements. <\/strong> If you are like me, you charge everything to your card in order to maximize reward points.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The downside is that it is easy to receive a statement that is several pages long, filled mostly with smaller transactions.<\/p>\n

2. If you notice something unusual, investigate<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Don’t assume everything you don’t recognize is fraudulent.\u00a0\u00a0 Sometimes a legitimate charge shows up with a merchant name that you don’t recognize, especially when you make purchases over the Internet.\u00a0\u00a0 Google the merchant name and see if you remember the charge.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If you are still coming up blank, try calling them and asking about your purchase.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They should be able to tell you what you bought and when.<\/p>\n

3. If the story doesn’t check out, make one attempt to get a refund. <\/strong>Don’t spend all day on hold, don’t put up with the run around, and don’t jump through hoops.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If the company is not a scammer, they should pick up the phone in a reasonable amount of time, say less than 15 minutes.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Then, they should quickly reverse the charge.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Many scammers are “soft scammers” that are hoping your don’t call, and will quickly reverse the charge when you do to stay off of the credit card processor’s radar.<\/p>\n

4. Contact your bank and ask for a chargeback.<\/strong> Unfortunately, not all scammers are “soft scammers”. \u00a0 \u00a0 Some are “hard scammers” and will make life difficult for anyone who tries to get a refund.\u00a0 Don’t play their game, just go straight to your trump card, a credit card charge back. \u00a0 The burden of proof is on the merchant to prove that you authorized the charge.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Tell your credit company that you did not authorize the charge, and they should remove it from your bill quickly.<\/p>\n

5. Make sure all charges are reversed<\/strong> It is likely that you may have been charged many times by the same “merchant”.\u00a0 Remember to ask you bank to tell you of any instances of this merchant charging your credit card.\u00a0\u00a0 Any action you take should be against all charges the scammer issued.<\/p>\n

Credit cards are a great tool, and Visa made a positive step by kicking off so many scammers.\u00a0\u00a0 It is up to you to use your card responsibly, and be vigilant in the face of so many people out there who want to steal your money.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hopefully, by now, we all know how this works.\u00a0\u00a0 You call in response to a “free trial” of something on late night television.\u00a0\u00a0 You opt in or fail to opt out to a free offer at the end of a transaction.\u00a0\u00a0 Sometimes you have no idea what you did.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Either way, the results are the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nVisa Finally Takes Action Against Credit Card Scams<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/visa-finally-takes-action-against-credit-card-scams\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Visa Finally Takes Action Against Credit Card Scams\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hopefully, by now, we all know how this works.\u00a0\u00a0 You call in response to a “free trial” of something on late night television.\u00a0\u00a0 You opt in or fail to opt out to a free offer at the end of a transaction.\u00a0\u00a0 Sometimes you have no idea what you did.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Either way, the results are the […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/visa-finally-takes-action-against-credit-card-scams\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ask Mr Credit Card Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-12-29T00:00:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jason Steele\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jason Steele\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" 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