I have been suffering a spate of my credit card numbers being used in the US while I am in Thailand. This is happening with different banks, and my cards never leave my possession, so it must be hackers.

 

The question is whether anyone has this problem?

 

It's a bit of a pain, since I can't have the cards mailed to Thailand, so I have to have someone send me photos of the replacement cards. This allows me online use of the cards. But some hotels need to see the actual card, which requires me to go to America to get the physical card.

 

No fun.

Ehh.. what stops you to let the person you ask to take photos to mail it by UPS or Fedex here. The risk of that is as big as letting someone else take photos and then send those to you.

I would never show a hotel my card here again when booking in. Peninsular hotel Bkk put some sort of block on it for a deposit, bank stopped the card and had to get another card, picked it up at home a year later. 

I had one similar incident a few years ago.  I called the bank in the US.  They cancelled the card and sent me a replacement via Fed Ex.  It took 4 days to get the card to Thailand with a tracking number.  Back then Fed Ex was free but now it “ha-sip, ha-sip”,  I pay 50& of the Fed Ex fee for expedited replacement card.  

 

Will your bank send you the card via Fed Ex, UPS or DHL?  

Your bank/CC company sucks.

 

Mine got skimmed at an ATM, and security features kicked in when attempted to use, and bank (broker/VISA) cancelled the card, and mailed me a new one, to TH, even though my account address is USA....free.  

Edited October 23, 20232 yr by KhunLA

With the increased use of 2FA it makes it more different for fraudsters to get the cash. Downside is the Merchant Services (Visa, MasterCard etc) as well as your bank put a stop on the card due to suspected activity. 

Had a issue couple of weeks ago with Hilton Bangkok, told them not to try and take pre-payment but send me a payment link and I'll pay in advance to get the discounted rate. Some plonker tried to take prepayment but it failed, then they chased me for the money.

Pleaded with my bank to unblock  the card as needed to use it for a trip. Tried to pay my hotel expenses this morning and rejected. So having to have my 3rd replacement card this year send from the UK. 

From previous mailings will take 6 to 7 weeks. Least it stops me spending.

 

I am not in Thailand at the moment, so sending the replacement card to Thailand won't help.

Air Asia and sites like Agoda be careful

18 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

I am not in Thailand at the moment, so sending the replacement card to Thailand won't help.

The CC company should fedex it to your hotel wherever you are. 

A few years ago I got a charge for around 900 US dollars on my Thai visa bank credit card. My card still in my possession yet someone had gotten my cc number and used that in the USA.

I got a new cc.

But it  took several phone calls and many emails to my bank before  they removed the charge. The whole process took around 3 months ,

Aggravating that the bank took so long to sort it and worse they allowed someone to use my card number to get such a large amount without reference to me first.

Also the bank never told me the outcome nor did they apologize.

Edited October 23, 20232 yr by Happy happy

It's been said before, but how can someone do a transaction on a Card if they only have the 16 digit number. To use at an ATM the PIN is needed, and to do an internet transaction the CVV is needed.

There's a Merchant Terminal feature called "Card Holder not Present", just need the 16 digit number plus Expiry date and or Start date (depends on card). In the UK you also need to know the Housenumber (if listed with one, House names aren't used), as well as the digits within the Cardholder's registered Postcode. Not difficult if you're ordering something for home delivery for someone to make note.

When it comes to higher level of security, I.e. Date of Birth (DoB), if the card holder is a director of a company, Ltd or Plc their full name, home address and DoB is readily available with a simple search of the Companies House website. Atrocious I know, but that's still UK Company law. This is even more of a concern if you move domestic location, as the Companies House audit trail will list your previous addresses, all available by a simple search. Again used in security questions if checking back your last x years of addresses.

The other key question is Mother's Maiden name, again not differcult with the abundance of genealogy websites. TopTip, when giving your mothers maiden name at time of  original registration, miss spell it or give a false answer, so only you know the correct answer.

What's now happening more and more with the UK Highstreet banks is the use of Voice Recognition,  once offically registered anyone pretending to be you won't get far. I know Barclays have been working on this since early 2000's.

 

 

 

 

17 hours ago, bignok said:

Air Asia and sites like Agoda be careful

Careful about what..

i would be suspicious of the person who is relaying the numbers, or maybe they leave the card or the photos sitting around carelessly and visitors or a household member gets it.

 

a truly hacked number by a stranger is very rare. i have never had it happen to me personally.

 

 

Edited October 24, 20232 yr by JimTripper

20 minutes ago, JimTripper said:

i would be suspicious of the person who is relaying the numbers, or maybe they leave the card or the photos sitting around carelessly and visitors or a household member gets it.

 

a truly hacked number by a stranger is very rare. i have never had it happen to me personally.

Well yeah exactly, you basically double the risk already by having now 2 people with a media file that shows the CC details. You might as well mail the card by post in that case, like the chance is bigger you get an accident on your way to the local Thai fedex office than that your package would not arrive there. 

 

In terms of credit cards being stolen randomly, almost all times it are hacked databases and the like, as there are millions of stolen ones being abused on a daily basis, we talk US billions yearly, the chance is not that big for it to happen to a individual, yet it happens a lot and the chance is big one of your cards is in a database somewhere too.

 

You can purchase these lists on the dark web for peanuts, people buying these usually try and convert it into paypal money, gift cards, bitcoin etc. This is why they sell these gift cards cheaper than the value on websites like ebay too.

Edited October 24, 20232 yr by ChaiyaTH

Why can't they be sent to Thailand, I have never had a problem getting mine sent

18 hours ago, RayWright said:

There's a Merchant Terminal feature called "Card Holder not Present", just need the 16 digit number plus Expiry date and or Start date (depends on card).

And the CVV number off the back.

20 hours ago, Happy happy said:

A few years ago I got a charge for around 900 US dollars on my Thai visa bank credit card. My card still in my possession yet someone had gotten my cc number and used that in the USA.

I got a new cc.

But it  took several phone calls and many emails to my bank before  they removed the charge. The whole process took around 3 months ,

Aggravating that the bank took so long to sort it and worse they allowed someone to use my card number to get such a large amount without reference to me first.

Also the bank never told me the outcome nor did they apologize.

 

Every place that a card is used will have the full card number and expiry date at minimum. Very easy for unscrupulous staff to share this with fraudsters or sell it on to others. I used a card in the UK earlier this year in a convenience store, within days there were multiple charges made for luxury goods totalling over £1,000. I only used the card for one small transaction to keep the account alive (or the bank could close the account if not used). Talking to the bank, they weren't really bothered and simply cancelled the fraudulent charges and sent me a new card. They weren't interested in following up on who had obviously compromised the card.

 

11 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

And the CVV number off the back.

For Card Not Present (CNP), it is up to the merchant whether or not to require the CVV check. CVV can be overridden, however unless doing 3DS, any merchant will likely get a chargeback for any fraudulent transactions. 

20 hours ago, bignok said:

Air Asia and sites like Agoda be careful

 

Why? And what do you mean by 'sites like'?

21 hours ago, Danderman123 said:

I have been suffering a spate of my credit card numbers being used in the US while I am in Thailand. This is happening with different banks, and my cards never leave my possession, so it must be hackers.

 

The question is whether anyone has this problem?

 

It's a bit of a pain, since I can't have the cards mailed to Thailand, so I have to have someone send me photos of the replacement cards. This allows me online use of the cards. But some hotels need to see the actual card, which requires me to go to America to get the physical card.

 

No fun.

 

If these charges are only happening in the US and your original cards are still in the US while the images of these cards are on someone's phone in the US...

37 minutes ago, flexomike said:

Why can't they be sent to Thailand, I have never had a problem getting mine sent

Because I am not in Thailand.

3 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

 

If these charges are only happening in the US and your original cards are still in the US while the images of these cards are on someone's phone in the US...

I posted in the OP that the Original cards are with me while I am traveling.

 

I will have someone send me photos of the replacement cards *in the future*, ie the bank hasn't mailed the new cards yet.

 

 

17 minutes ago, soi3eddie said:

For Card Not Present (CNP), it is up to the merchant whether or not to require the CVV check. CVV can be overridden, however unless doing 3DS, any merchant will likely get a chargeback for any fraudulent transactions. 

In one of my cases, the merchant was required to pay me back.

4 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

I posted in the OP that the Original cards are with me while I am traveling.

 

I will have someone send me photos of the replacement cards *in the future*, ie the bank hasn't mailed the new cards yet.

 

 

 

Thanks for the clarification.

 

How did you receive the original cards? Personally? While in the US? Have they ever been used in the US?

 

I had a debit card that had never seen the outside of my wallet get blocked by my bank when a string of charges popped up from Vietnam. Although I was a frequent visitor there, this card had never seen the light of day anywhere. The first three charges were small, and the bank explained these were 'test' transaction by the fraudsters to verify the validity. They stopped the nonsense on the fourth, much larger transaction. Took a few weeks for the affidavit of use to get to them, but they unlocked the card as soon as I contacted them and verbally verified it wasn't me and all the charges were removed.

Edited October 24, 20232 yr by NanLaew

20 hours ago, Danderman123 said:

I am not in Thailand at the moment, so sending the replacement card to Thailand won't help.

Er, get it sent to where you are, then.

29 minutes ago, soi3eddie said:

within days there were multiple charges made for luxury goods totalling over £1,000.

They can't have been very "luxury"!

10 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

In one of my cases, the merchant was required to pay me back.

The merchant pays back to the bank/card issuer, not the customer.

4 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

15 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

In one of my cases, the merchant was required to pay me back.

The merchant pays back to the bank/card issuer, not the customer.

 

And then...?

14 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Er, get it sent to where you are, then.

I am traveling around Europe, one night per city. No idea where I will be in a few days.