Banking/Card (possible) problem

[Mittens]

I'd like to hear from anyone that could shed some light on this, in the meantime im googling like mad but not really getting anywhere ...


today i go to an online site to buy a 5 lever mortice lock.
I have no reason to believe the merchant is a jack the lad - nor do i in fact, but after going through the procdure of buying something online i get to the 'now via the awesome power of HSBC secure transactions' you can enter your payment details.

I fill it all in, then get to the verified by visa section, where i might of entered the wrong password (although i kinda dont think i did).

anyway, the HSBC awesome thingy said transaction declined -- check you have funds etc etc.

so i used the shops paypal option instead, which went through perfectly.


3 minutes later, the phone rings- its barclays anti fraud automated service.
I go through the process but do not recognise 2 of the transactions so I press '2' and get transferred to a human.


This lady told me that these 2 transactions were to a charitable organisation - the name of which i didnt quite get, but know it wasnt something id done, but it was for 1 penny.

Now here's the bit id like to hear peoples opinions etc on.

I dimly recall something on tv about how electronic transactions occur and this 1 penny (which is always refunded - i think) is to confirm a transaction can take place.

Anyway as i told the woman i didnt recognise these charities, and why would i donate 1 pence, she promptly blocked my card and told me id have a new one in about 5 days.

Now, im not moaning that someone is trying to protect me from fraud, but if my dim recollection of why these penny transactions take place, then its probably going to be a very short time before my next card is blocked, and then the next one and so on.

does anyone have any information on these (which never show on my statement by the way) and what am i supposed to do in future ? my card is always with me and ive never had any problems with this kind of thing before.

 

[Deadbeat]

If I were you, I'd stay away from 5 lever mortice locks. That's where your problems start.

 

[RB506]

I used to work in fraud for a competitior of Barclays. The 1p transactions are often used by fraudsters to test that your card is working before they try and take a larger amount, they also often try to target charities as most banks prefer not to block donations to charities if possible. So basically, the bank have stopped you having the hassle of a few hundred pounds taken from your card.

The fraudsters could have got your card details from a number of ways so just be more careful online/destroying bank statements etc is all I can say to that

Edit: Oh and it wont happen to all payments that are made of 1p from your account, just specific merchants which only barclays will know about and potentialy change on a daily basis.

 

[Mittens]

If I were you, I'd stay away from 5 lever mortice locks. That's where your problems start.

thankyou that was very helpful.

 

[Mittens]

I used to work in fraud for a competitior of Barclays. The 1p transactions are often used by fraudsters to test that your card is working before they try and take a larger amount, they also often try to target charities as most banks prefer not to block donations to charities if possible. So basically, the bank have stopped you having the hassle of a few hundred pounds taken from your card.

The fraudsters could have got your card details from a number of ways so just be more careful online/destroying bank statements etc is all I can say to that

Edit: Oh and it wont happen to all payments that are made of 1p from your account, just specific merchants which only barclays will know about and potentialy change on a daily basis.

that was more helpful, and reassuring, thankyou very much

 

[Vixen]

Your bank will issue you with a new card with a different number to the old one, nothing further can be processed on your account. As has been said, it's a test transaction to see if the card is active before using it for something significant and Barclays would have already known it was fraud before contacting you.