{"id":61689,"date":"2023-12-14T15:00:57","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T15:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/12\/14\/a-guide-to-small-charge-credit-card-fraud-and-how-to-protect-yourself-the-points-guy\/"},"modified":"2023-12-14T15:00:57","modified_gmt":"2023-12-14T15:00:57","slug":"a-guide-to-small-charge-credit-card-fraud-and-how-to-protect-yourself-the-points-guy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/12\/14\/a-guide-to-small-charge-credit-card-fraud-and-how-to-protect-yourself-the-points-guy\/","title":{"rendered":"A guide to small-charge credit card fraud and how to protect yourself – The Points Guy"},"content":{"rendered":"


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I’ve been earning rewards on travel credit cards<\/a> for nearly two decades, and I’ve had my fair share of close calls<\/a> when it comes to credit card fraud<\/a>. However, by monitoring my credit report and frequently checking my 20-plus card accounts, I’ve been able to avoid any major issues thus far (knock on wood).<\/p>\n

Recently, my diligence paid off mightily, as I noted that one of my credit card accounts had been compromised by a common scam known as small-charge fraud.<\/p>\n

Here’s what you can learn from my experience \u2014 and how you can prevent it from happening to you<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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What is small-charge fraud on credit cards?<\/h2>\n

Credit card fraud can mean a variety of things, but it typically involves scammers gaining access to your credit card information in some way. It could be a physical credit card skimmer<\/a> at a point-of-sale machine or a hacker who’s gained unauthorized access to a merchant’s systems and grabbed your card number.<\/p>\n

We’ve also seen BIN attacks<\/a>, where scammers use the first six digits of your credit card account (the bank identification number for the issuing institution) to then effectively guess your full card number using the power of computer programs. It could even be an unscrupulous employee snagging your card details during the purchasing process.<\/p>\n

Related: How a 10-minute call reversed $2,300 in fraudulent charges on my credit card<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

However, just because someone has your credit card number doesn’t mean they can use it successfully. After all, card issuers employ a variety of fraud prevention techniques that can flag questionable purchases.<\/p>\n

That’s where small-charge fraud comes into play.<\/p>\n

Instead of immediately taking your card information and going on a spending spree, a scammer will start small and make little test purchases to see if they go through. If they do, the scammer can scale up to larger ones \u2014 or sell your card number for a higher price on the black market \u2014 since the card has now been verified as legitimate.<\/p>\n

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Unfortunately, I fell victim to this very scheme last month.<\/p>\n

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How I noticed this on my account<\/h2>\n

In early December, I logged into my Chase account to check on my various credit cards \u2014 something I do regularly with all my cards to verify transactions, explore new offers and make sure previous statement credits post correctly.<\/p>\n

However, I noticed two odd items on my Chase Sapphire Reserve<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

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