Saturday, July 1, 2017

for my protection, of course

At least five times a week I shop at Agata.

Today I run over to buy a few things. I leave the house with only my debit card. No phone.

I see my cashier friend whose hair is actually more turquoise than green. I tell her I wrote about her in my blog.  "C'mon, really?"  She must think I have millions of readers.  "The Jimmy Choo sneakers, right?" she asks.   

I go to pay (with another cashier). My groceries total $26.88. The cashier looks at me sorrowfully, and says "I'm sorry. Your card was declined."

"Really? Wow. There's nothing wrong with my card; can you try again?"

She tries twice more and it's declined twice more.

"Can you try it as a debit?"

She does and it goes through. Strange. Declined as credit but accepted as debit.

I come home and see two texts and one email from Citibank, alerting me to possible fraudulent activity on my account.

WHAT ALGORITHM COULD CB POSSIBLY BE USING TO MAKE THEM THINK THIS IS FRAUD???

Agata is a store where I shop almost daily.

$26.88 is close to the amount I typically charge.

I have not used my Citibank card in any unusual way recently.

So why am I receiving this email?

Dear LYN:
We've identified possible fraud on your Citibank Debit Card account ending in 1234.
As a security measure, we routinely monitor your account activity to prevent possible fraudulent use. During a recent review we identified transactions that we're concerned may be fraudulent...

I call the number on the back of the card.

I get an automated response that if this is regarding my personal account, I should call 1-800-.....

I call the number and after going through all the prompts, am told that this is for the credit card department and I need to reach the debit card department. I get a third number.

I call the third number and again, after giving all my info, I'm told that they don't handle fraud, and am given the number to the fraud unit, (866) 248-4226.

I call that number, and finally get someone... from a country far away, or so it sounds.

After a twenty-question ID check I learn that the black strip on the back of my card didn't work properly, "And we see that on a lot of counterfeit cards."

Should I be grateful for this protection?  Maybe.

Am I?  Definitely not.


1 comment:

  1. I've had similar things happen where my card is unexpectedly declined in a place I often use it, in NYC, and when I call they say it's because they thought it might someone using it fraudulently. Really?!?!?

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