Not a scam per se, but something that might affect a bunch of travellers--I received an email this morning from Viator re a data compromise that occurred on their site that they became aware of on 9/2. I had booked The Third Man Walking Tour with them in July using a credit card and sure enough, there was a fraudulent charge for a gym membership in Canada made at the end of August. Only $18.57, which seems peculiar; I mean, if you were a data thief wouldn't you be charging thousands of dollars, not $18.57? Anyway. I called and it's been taken care of, just wanted to throw it out there for anyone else who may have used Viator prior to 9/2.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
33809 posts
often a small purchase is made to test the waters, then if it goes through without a problem a much bigger one follows.
Posted by
Home_Sweet_Home :-)
507 posts
Christa,
Many people just scan their statements for large amounts that are out of place. Whoever had your credit card may have been able to charge a monthly fee to a Canadian gym if you had not caught it on your statement.
If you have not done so already, tell your bank they are not to accept any unexpected out-of-country charges until they call you. Expected international charges are the ones the bank receives after you notify them you will be travelling to which countries and between what dates.
Your post is a reminder to the rest of us to carefully review our credit card statements and our checking account statements if we use a debit card.
I thank you for taking the time to post.
Posted by
OP
alameda, ca, usa
2688 posts
What bugs me just a little is that the charge was made during a period when I was travelling in Germany, Austria and Hungary and had alerted the card to that fact. Not Canada! They seem to think it's not a problem and unless I see any other charges they didn't think I should cancel the card.
Posted by
Home_Sweet_Home :-)
507 posts
About 1/2 year ago I did some business with a company in China. It had been about a year since my last Chinese transaction with a different company.
About 2 wks after the transaction I received phone calls (2300 hr & 0100 hr) from my bank security letting me know of two $100 charges in Shanghai. The bank declined the charges after speaking with me.
I did not cancel the credit card. There have been no problems since.
A rooky thief may try to charge thousands of dollars which should be caught by the issuing financial institution (IFI). A wise one will charge smaller amounts so as to not attract the attention of the IFI and hoping the cardholder will not notice either.
Keep checking those statements!