Reason #562 why I love me some US Bank

Just got an automated telephone call a minute ago. You know the type. You look at your caller ID, see some generic 800 number and contemplate whether or not you’re up to the task of dealing with whatever salesperson is on the other end. On this particular morning, and this particular 800 call, I decided I would just answer it. So I rolled my eyes, took a deep breath and answered the phone. Turns out it was my bank. FRAUD PREVENTION SERVICES. Hmmm. Someone calling to sell me that credit watching service, I bet. Nope… turns out they wanted to verify a couple of charges on my credit card. So the automated message told me about some big charge at a computer store that was declined (thank goodness). I pressed the corresponding option to verify that I DID NOT authorize this charge and was connected to a Fraud Prevention Specialist. She let me know that she was canceling my card and I’d get a new one in the mail. Wow! Crisis completely averted.

When she asked me if I had any questions, I told her that I was really glad they flagged the charge and everything, but I was just curious how they knew that it was a fraudulent charge? Apparently, it is a known pattern that thieves use I-Tunes to test out random card numbers. Once the $1.00 I-Tunes charge goes through, they know they’ve got a valid account and they make a large purchase. US Bank’s software immediately flagged the purchase and denied it. LOVE. All of this was very reassuring because it means that I don’t have to worry about my other cards. No one hacked my information or anything. They guessed a random account number and it turned out to be mine. Thank you, US Bank!