Marriott 'Visa' Compromised
 

Returning home yesterday, I had a message from Marriott 'Visa' security that I had questionable charges on my CC. They said to call ASAP and have my CC number handy. First thing I did was check on the telephone number that I was to call. Called the number on the back of my CC to check on the number left. It was legit. When taliking to the 'security' people, I had charges from Brazil and one from Texas. One charge from Brazil was for 40 cents. Weird. Anyways, CC number was cancelled and a new card will be issued in the next few days. One legit charge will be refused- The US Olympic Committee. Will call them. Richard

Sometimes those "40 cent" charges have ben put through by hotels, etc., which you have booked on-line and provided a CC guarantee number..they routinely do this to test whether or not the card number provided is legit.

We've had several of these come through from hotels we will stay in on an upcoming trip abroad.

Hi Dukey; That's good to know. The 40 cent charge was from Brazil along with five others. Interesting that they were not large charges, but in the 20 to 30 dollar range. The one from Texas was a Macy's.

Help me undertand. What is a Marriot VISA? How would a hotel know that there are suspicious charges? Is this just a branded card, but security is VISA Inc.?

Yes. This is a Visa card branded with the Marriott name. We have many of these types of cards in the US.
Usually charges to the card earn the purchaser points towards stays or merchandise or even cash rewards of the brands.

Some years ago when I had a problem, Richard, Visa Security told me that often crooks put through a real small amount for a charge to make sure the stolen card info is valid and that they hope that the card holder and the credit card co. doesn't notice the very small charge. Thankfully Visa did notice the charges on your account.

Out of interest, why post on the Europe board?

Hi LI; My account was off line yesterday so a new card could be issued. Today I saw one charge from Brazil that I received a credit for [$56.50] alanRow; I posted where I thought more people would see and be aware of the problem. A few months age , 200,000 Visa CC were compromised. This card is used to accumulate 'points' and I use it for free nights in hotels. As Sher said, there is a Visa CC for any number of things, including airlines, such as Delta, Visa. Michel; When Visa see's a pattern of charges and then something pops up from Brazil, [me being from the US] it becomes a 'red flag'. When we go abroad, we alert both our Visa and American Express [Starwood] CC exactly what countries we will be in and what time frame. Also do that with our ATM cards.

I received a voice mail from Marriott Visa in October that my card had been used in Canada at an IKEA for $6.xx which was approved by Visa. Then, it was used for a number of other transactions which Visa rejected (don't know why they rejected these transactions but approved the first charge... maybe because it was a small amount).

I returned VISA's call, they credited my account for the $6.xx, cancelled that card and reissued me a new number. I had to respond to a form that they sent regarding the fraudulent charges but everything is ok now.

Ironically, I was in Italy at the time of the charges and had not used that cc.