Flywheel Publishing has partnered with CardRatings to provide coverage of credit card products. Flywheel Publishing and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

If you own a credit card or know someone who does, there is a good chance you have heard of the potential for credit card fraud. While we all hope it doesn’t happen to us, it can and will happen, even to those who try to be as careful as possible with how and where they use their cards. 

In the case of one Redditor, an instance of credit card fraud was very real and highly puzzling. Posting in r/personalfinance, this Redditor told their story of someone who ordered multiple iPhone X devices to their house using their credit card. 

This scenario is unusual but still super interesting, as it speaks to the incredulity of fraudsters and the system working in the poster’s favor. Still, it’s almost laugh-out-loud funny how this all played out, but since it involves fraud, it’s actually very serious. 

The Scenario 

The Redditor posted (even making it to the front page of Reddit!) that he recently received a call from his Visa card carrier asking if they had made any large purchases. Upon a reply to Visa that the charges were not accurate, the Redditor began to uncover exactly what happened. 

First and foremost, a fraud alert was triggered after a total of $5,000 in charges was made, which, in hindsight, is a good thing as the credit card company realized the activity was suspicious. Of this $5,000, an initial $800 payment went through for what the Redditor later learned was one iPhone X device. 

Visa then approved a second charge totaling $800, which again appears to be the second iPhone X. At this point, the Redditor learns that someone called the credit card company, pretending to be him, to authorize the charges. When they couldn’t validate the account information, the credit card company realized it was compromised. Here, we circle back to the phone call our Redditor received asking about the large purchases. 

What Transpired Next

What makes this situation interesting is what happened next and why credit card fraud can be such a headache. After Visa’s initial phone call, they indicated that he should talk with the merchant, in this case, a phone company, and discuss what to do about any packages. It’s often incredibly frustrating when a vendor doesn’t provide any resources, especially when fraud is so blatant. 

Upon calling the cell phone company, the Redditor learned that no account had been opened and nothing could be done then. From there, something interesting happened: The Redditor learned that the address was one number off his, meaning the package would or should have been delivered to a neighbor’s house. In hindsight, this could have been done by the fraudsters to intercept the packages. 

The Packages Arrive

What’s unique about this story is that the packages actually arrived at the Redditor’s home, and he posted a picture verifying them as well. 

However, the lesson here isn’t that fraud can happen. It’s that the Redditor did everything right in an attempt to quickly resolve this instance and protect their credit card and their credit history by calling multiple credit bureaus as well as the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (the story takes place in Canada). 

The biggest thing to take away here is that the Redditor did exactly what they should and went above and beyond to try and return the merchandise. Anyone in this situation who thinks it is okay to keep the iPhones would also be committing a crime, just on a different level than our credit card fraudsters. 

The bottom line is that it’s important to take action immediately when you learn malicious activity has occurred on your credit card to protect yourself both short-term and long-term. We know that tactics like what transpired with this story are not uncommon. The problem is that the fraudsters didn’t intercept the packages in time by changing the address with the delivery company. 

Fortunately, this story worked out, but let it be a potentially costly lesson for the future. 

Flywheel Publishing has partnered with CardRatings to provide coverage of credit card products. Flywheel Publishing and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

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