Monday 10 January 2011

Annoying 'test' transaction on my credit card account

I was checking the 1/1/2011 opening balance of my credit card account online when I noticed that an odd 'purchase authorisation' transaction for 10c had been processed on the 4th. I'd read somewhere that crooks will often make such a small transaction using stolen credit card details, and if the transactions gets processed without any problems they will then make large purchases a few days later. It seemed especially odd as the transaction was visible in the online transaction listing, but was missing from the electronic monthly statement that included transactions up to the 7th.

So, this morning I phoned the bank to check what the transaction was for. After being on hold for ten minutes before getting through to a customer service rep, I then had to wait another five minutes for her to find out that the transaction was 'probably' a test transaction done by FlyBuys. Apparently before they processed my recent request to 'redeem' some rewards points for a $100 credit onto my credit card account, FlyBuys made the test transaction to check that the CC account details I'd provided were valid. This 'test' transaction should be reversed off my account eventually. All in all, a total waste of my time.

Subscribe to Enough Wealth. Copyright 2006-2010

1 comment:

PCI Compliance said...

That must be really frustrating. I kind of worry too when I see unfamiliar charges in my account. They should have informed you though about it and not let you go all the trouble of finding it out for yourself.