Comments on: Mystery 25-cent charges on credit cards

By: Henrik

Henrik — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 23:14:36 +0000

This has happened to me with a Swedish MasterCard. I’m leaning towards a random number generator, but I may have lost my number out there somewhere.

Mine was on the 4:th of february. Someone is slow to shut these clowns down. Or it’s a copy-cat. I’m going to find out if it’s the same Company.

By: Marmot

Marmot — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 14:58:34 +0000

Ultraslug,

I doubt any of these fraudsters would attempt to authorize the cards directly — they would need a suitable merchant bank account to perform that authorization. I imagine that’s tough to set up anonymously.

If a card gets flagged as stolen, you can be sure the issuing bank will take a close look at that card’s recent activity (including authorizations). If hundreds of cards get stolen shortly after being authorized by you, the bank will catch on quickly.

By: amodedoma

amodedoma — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 07:08:59 +0000

Hey didn’t they do this in a superman movie? It’s not like it isn’t bad enough the interest and service charges, you got to watch em like a hawk or somebody’s gonna rip you off. How is this better than cash?

By: BubbaRay

BubbaRay — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 04:08:17 +0000

Could even be a computer-generated card-number scheme. A million times 25-cents is enough money to buy a Congressman.

Well, perhaps a 1st term junior Congressman who is not active on any committees.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 20:57:12 +0000

Sounds like someone was watching Office Space! They went for a whole 25 cents though rather than a fraction of a penny!!!

By: Micromike

Micromike — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 20:53:54 +0000

This happened to my wife. A company charged $3.25 to her debit card and Wells Fargo immediately canceled the card and we had to ask to have another issued. As mentioned above, soon as the little charge gets paid they know they have a fish on the line so they set the hook and empty your account. Ours was an outfit Wells Fargo already had listed as an ID theft ring so I guess we got lucky.

By: sargasso

sargasso — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 20:50:48 +0000

Must be a class-action law firm wanting a big chunk of a credit card company, out there?

By: deowll

deowll — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 20:45:38 +0000

It might just be that somebody has found a way to steal a fortune without being bothered by the law or anybody else.

By: chuck

chuck — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 20:41:24 +0000

Everyone should cancel and replace their debit and credit cards at least once every 2 years. And change your PIN twice a year.

By: Paddy-O

Paddy-O — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:00:07 +0000

Crap! Umm, ignore those charges. At least until I can transfer the $ from the receiving account…

By: Ultraslug

Ultraslug — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:57:01 +0000

This has a faint aroma of hoax about it. First, credit card merchant fees would consume most, if not all, of this tiny amount. The transaction fee alone is in the 20-25 cent range, then there’s at least 2% on top of that. These fees can be somewhat lower if the merchant has a good history (i.e. few disputes) or if the card was swiped.

Second, the notion that it’s a probe doesn’t make sense if you know the process of charging a credit card. There are two parts: authorization, then settlement. The authorization step is all that’s needed to see if card is valid. If approved, this step does merely reduces the amount of available credit on the account. The settlement step is what actually transfers the funds. If the settlement never takes place (the authorization expires in 30 days, I believe), nothing will appear on the customer statement.

By: bobbo

bobbo — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:07:39 +0000

25cents is not worth the contest. Cancel the card and get a new one.