Fraud detection from America on U.K account

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Hi all. Bit of a sad topic to begin posting as a new member, but was a concern and thought I’d share. I’ve not long been with Monzo and so far all has been great. Unfortunately, in the early hours of this morning U.K time, I noticed two transactions. One from Wallmart groceries and another from a second American company called Instacard (Also a grocery transaction) both were in U.S dollars and converted into U.K pounds. Instacard appears to be an American company that operates a grocery delivery and pick-up service in the United States and Canada. It clearly was not me making those transactions and have flagged Monzo to the fraud - I have been refunded - however I am concerned as to how my details have been accessed and used abroad so easily. Has anybody else had issues similar to this.?

Regards … Ant

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No one can tell you when any certainly, however the likelihood is your details have been compromised from an online retailer or you’ve used a dodgy site, or whatever device you used is compromised.

I wouldn’t worry too much to be fair, just get the card replaced and jobs a good one.

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Thanks for the reply DaveJ. Had the money refunded today - Monzo acted swiftly to be fair to them. Was just a bit concerned that the card had been processed via the U.S (Even having to have the money converted into U.K pounds this end - I would have expected it to be immediately flagged - though this is my first experience with this issue. Regards

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I keep my card frozen at all times unless I’m about to use it, minimises that risk for me, if someone happens to get hold of my details from wherever.

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Honestly there’s not really much advantage to Monzo in doing that. If you had been the one making the transaction you would have been inconvenienced and if they are fraudulent (like in this case), they’ll just do a chargeback to the merchant (for both of these transactions, the merchant would be liable).

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Probably worth pointing out here - unless you’ve done it already - get the card replaced.

Now you know for sure the card details are out there, no matter how they got there, it could happen again and saves inconvenience. I’m guessing that Monzo wouldn’t be charging a card replacement fee on this occasion.

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It’s amazing how they get the details. I was in Italy a few years ago and [in hindsight, stupidly] used a ticket machine for a train journey. Within 15 minutes or so the credit card company sent me a text to call them, which I did. After the security checks the chap said it looks as though you are in Italy and your card has just been used twice in the USA, presumably not by you? Oh, it’s just been used again. We’ve blocked your card, refunded you and ordered replacement cards for you. Do you have an alternative source of funds for the remainder of your trip? Pretty sure the ticket machine skimmed my card. Amazingly it was spotted by a clever bot, reviewed by a human and sorted out in about 30 minutes. Top marks Tesco. R-

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I buy stuff from the US pretty often that gets delivered here. It’s a balance because you want your card to work when you need it too.

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I wish Lloyds would follow this logic, they never let me order from Apple without having a panic attack about it.

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I can’t speak for MasterCard but I know Visa is starting to crack down on banks with very trigger happy fraud systems. If too many genuine transactions are blocked, the bank has to pay a penalty rate.

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You card could have been skimmed anywhere. ATM, online transaction or as @RogerB states, compromised card terminals in transport or even shops. Your number then would have been sold online to someone in the US who is purchasing items.

You need a new card. Get a new card. I’m surprised customer support didn’t cancel it themselves when you reported the fraud.

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Hi - Yes the card is being replaced. Hoping it turns up asap (Was flagged Friday). Looks like Monzo aren’t charging (And I would have expected so.) Thanks for reply

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There’s been trigger happy for sure - but then there’s “Hang on a minuet, this card is not being used in the customers country” and was used the same day in the U.K as it was in the U.S (And for grocery deliveries). Pretty sure I would not regard that as trigger happy, would expect that to be a minimum response, though I am sure there are ‘Trigger Happy’ events - this not being one of them

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Agreed, could have been a shop let alone online

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well the thing about the internet is you don’t have to be in the US in order to make purchases on US websites. As said I live in the U.K. and make lots of purchases from the US online. In a global economy it’d definitely be trigger happy to block every card of everyone who was doing that.

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