Here’s an odd cautionary tale.
The other day I got a call. The usual fraud robot caller saying somthing about a $600 dollar charge. I hang up on it as is normal.
However, I’m a bit paranoid when it comes to money. I’ve had money taken from me more times then I’d like to admit. So I check anyway.
Obviously there’s no random $600 charges on there and the robo caller was just a scammer. But I do see something weird. A charge for $1 to a Vietnamese eatery up in North York (I’m not sure if I am allowed to name it).
I live downtown and hardly ever go to North York. Even more weird is that is was for $1. Nothing in any restaurant cost $1 not even the delivery fees. Again I am paranoid so I report and lock down the card. A massive inconvenience these days.
However, the bank has confirmed it was fraud, and they are changing up my card numbers.
Has this happened to anyone else? I have no idea how they got me.
One theory I have is that this was a probe. Simular to when you set up a PayPal account and they charge you $1 to verify your credit information is correct. But why whould an eatery do that?
Either that or scammers got a giant list of numbers and charged them $1 each hoping no one whould bother reporting it.
Usually it’s the scammer probing to see if the charge will go through before hitting it with ever increasing amounts until someone or something flags it. Sometimes it’s made out to be some common subscription service, hidden fee, or included tip. Good that you caught it early.
This is what I assumed as well. Losing access to your card for a few day may deter some people from reporting the issue. But I figured if I didn’t stomp it out now it could easily be $10, or $100 next time.
I hope the banks actually bother to do somthjng about it.