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.
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.