I'll give you the insider lowdown.
Visa (worldwide) has a fraud prevention system called Falcon. Falcon monitors activity on every account. It can be triggered in one of the following ways:
- It compares your purchases to past purchases on the account. If you usually only spend $200-$300 a month and then suddenly you drop $4000 on the card, Falcon will most likely be triggered.
- It tracks spending geographically. If you've never used your card outside the country and suddenly there's a purchase in another country (especially minutes/hours apart), it'll be triggered.
- Several online purchases over a few hours.
- Several purchases minutes apart.
- Several automated machine transactions (payphones, gas pumps, movie ticket distributors, etc). The reason for that is when someone steals a card, the first thing they'll do (if they know what they're doing is try it in one of those machines)
- Large amounts at high-risk merchants, electronics stores, etc.
- Several declines in a row (ex. your card is over-limit and you try to use it at 5-10 stores)
In every case, the card is actually not declined, but instead referred. The message on the terminal says "Call Issuer". The merchant is supposed to call your issuer, a Cust. Serv. Rep from the bank will confirm the transaction on your account, reset the Falcon system and the merchant can then re-do the transaction successfully.
Quote:
Originally posted by Shark
[B]If after a few days the card is not reported stolen, any unusual charges been reported by the holder or any other problems, the card will start working again. []
|
That's not necessarily true. A lot of banks (mine included) won't reset the Falcon system until you call us. We attempt to call you at home or at work, unless it's too late. If we can't reach you, we send a letter.