I am needing some help. I have just received a $ 180 uber charge to my CC. My immediate thought was WTF the kids have used my account. But they all have their own CC's now and separate uber accounts. So I log into my uber account and there are no transactions. This means someone has created a new Uber account with my CC details. So I try to contact Uber by phone. But they dont seem to have a phone number. Could this be correct? My bank says I need to cancel my credit cards and that to further investigate , they need to know the start and finish details of the uber ride. They also say that they can dispute the transaction but that will take 45 days!
This is the other side to Uber. Its not very savory. I expect to be able to have instant access to a fraud department in these circumstances. it seems that Uber just leave you hanging. Anyone have any insight as to how to proceed?
Uber Fraudulent Charge to My Credit Card
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The OP says he didn't make any trips. In fact, I can't see how his query has much to do with Uber at all. Someone has apparently somehow used his credit card number for a Uber trip.
That sounds like a fraudulent credit card transaction, not a fraudulent charge by Uber.
lol, just cancel your credit card and follow your banks chargeback process. If your credit card details have been compromised, then calling uber won't help.
how would I proceed with a charge back without details of the uber transaction? How do i find this out if I cant contact uber?
I agree that it seems to be a CC problem. And I have put a stop to the CC .not your problem, just let your CCC deal with the issue.
If you had to provide details of a non existant transaction, nobody would ever be able to get money back.
EDIT: $180, not 1.80 wow
But they all have their own CC's now and separate uber accounts.
speak to them just to make sure
Bank will do all that it there jobs.
I don't believe its your job to follow up and do the running around for the details. Its a fraudulent transaction which I am guessing you are covered for. If the bank wants to investigate that is their issue.
trying to understand how it happened. changing CC is a pain . with westpac you lose all online statements (we are paperless) . Also have to change all the direct debits from the CC. Not that simple.
You are right. It is a pain. Its very unfortunate it has happened to you however its not your job to investigate who committed the crime is what I am saying.
Pretty sure they just cancel the card and issue you a new one…
Maybe you bought from a dodgy unprotected website?
I get what you are saying now. Yeah it kinda is a bit violating. I recently had the same issue where someone booked on my credit card for flights overseas. Anyway I rung the airline a few times trying to find out where they were going and the names the flights were booked under however they wouldn't give me any details of the transaction or itinerary even though I had paid for it. Pretty piss poor really.
This will just keep happening. It's too expensive to go after the crims so they keep getting away with it.
@cvas: It's up to the police and AFP to go after the criminals, after all it's the crown that brings criminal charges and prosecute, bank would just serve as witness / provide evidence.
Banks can take the matter to court to try recover the money but highly likely criminal has hidden, spent or absconded with the money. Costs more to find the criminal and hire lawyers, far easier to write it off in the balance sheets using clever accounting.
thats exactly right - it is too expensive and not worth it. So we all suffer. Thats why we pay nearly 20% interest - to cover these costs.
The only time that banks get upset is when a service provider eg Uber ,constantly costs them in charge backs. Then it is a business decision for the bank. Do we ditch Uber and not allow CC transactions because it is costing us too much in charge backs? OR do we wear the disputed transactions because the Uber business is too important for us. Unless the banks start pressuring Uber to tighten up their security they wont. again it is a business decision for Uber. Is the extra IT spend worth it? ATM its not- because the banks arent penalizing Uber yet in the form of charge backs/higher commissions. In the meantime, we the consumer, have to suck it up and wear the consequences.Well there are 3 options:
1 - Write it off
2 - For card-not-present / online fraud, generally merchant wears the loss. However Uber is not a small online business / merchant so would not be in bank / credit provider's interests to disrupt this. While they will not cancel CC arrangements with Uber, Uber might still wear the chargeback
3 - Accuse you of being negligent and refuse the charge back.If you disagree with #1 then banks would likely go with #3 before #2 because the losses in revenue with #2 is far greater than 1 customer. Here is one of those instances (Not Australia, UK). However, may be a slight PR nightmare.
- Although from what I've been reading, #2 actually seems to apply, Uber wears the chargeback however these are based off forum posts and unverified articles.
You just tell your bank about last transaction you had, everything after that becomes fradulent. You don't even need to know who paid and what for.
How Uber verifies Credit card when you add it to account ?
dain that is the question i am asking myself. how does someone set up a new uber account with my CC details without the account being verified using my email account (there is no evidence of a new verification email to my email from uber)
You can use someone elses CC to make a payment. My family use my card all the time for overseas transactions.
Your credit card is not tied to your email address. It seems like someone has created a new uber account and use your cc details. Any email verification if any will go to the fraudster email.
@razorack999: This has nothing to do with their security, it's standard practice for companies to accept credit card even if it's already been used on another account previously. Would you say Amazon/iTunes/Google Play/Steam have no security just because you can use the card on more than one account? It's merely a funding source and not a piece of identification. Just report the fraud, get a new card and move on.
@razorack999:
That is how all credit card transactions work…
There are no additional methods of verification available and this is a problem with credit cards not Uber.@Drew22:
+1 To this comment. Fraudulent online transactions and credit card fraud is rife these days - it is literally the fastest growth area for crime, this is not confined to Uber (https://www.naritas.com.au/articles/how-to-protect-yourself-…)If you're really concerned about identity theft or credit fraud you should consider something like Secure Sentinel by Veda as an add-on to your card provider's security measures. Secure Sentinel send you alerts when people try to establish credit in your name, provide insurance that you can claim on to meet legal costs of fighting ID fraud and provide a central point of reference to cancel multiple cards/accounts/ID simultaneously (useful if you've lost a wallet or been fully breached by a hacker).
So you have never had to verify a newly created account via email before? Where have you been ?
Dont they require all require a confirmation link via email? You have just setup a Amazon/iTunes/Google Play/Steam account with no email attached ? So when you order something on amazon /itunes you dont get an invoice?Yes 99% of accounts require an email confirmation but I don't have any ability to view the email contents of anyone other than my own emails. If someone signs up a brand account somewhere and then enters my credit card details the account info is going to be sent to their email not mine and then they can click on the activation link themselves. They haven't stolen your account, as you yourself say the uber journey is not listed in your account. They only have your billing information.
It is true most sites are crap in regards to the security number on the back and just save that detail like any other card details with your account so it is possible whoever has your card info also has the security number. This is something I wish they would change, you should be prompted for that number every transaction rather than it just being saved to your account.
@razorack999: hmm… Uber has roughly $2b in revenue, a huge backoffice and planning, and as far as I know you all relevant security measures, including the number on the back of the card
@Agret: It's always puzzled me why they PRINT the CVN number on the back of the card. It's only 3 digits for God's sake. Surely they could tell you the number and you remember it for each time of use. Personally I have scratched mine off the card of everyone in the family in case of loss.
@razorack999
Basically Email is NEVER EVER attached to a credit card. Banks do not give that information out, therefore cannot be validated.Just because you were stung or careless with where you bought things online which lead to your demise isn't due to the fact that you are blaming a system which has worked. Its not a security flaw, the security flaw is with you the user (e.g. letting a virus into your comp, or buying from a dodgy site).
I'm sure there is plenty of people on the web who set up an account using one email like 5 years ago then forgot the password. Then subsequently changed their email and never used the old email again and cannot get back into it (ISP emails?). If they were to implement Email = Credit card security rule then their call centers will get unnecessary calls to fix forgotten passwords.
Unless you can prove that Uber leaked your Credit Card, then it isn't their fault. 99% of the time it is the card holder in fault and they are the source of the leak (i work in IT Sec).
Uber cannot tell you about the fraudulent ride because they cannot prove if you are the "REAL" or the "FAKE", how do they know if your account is the real one and not the fake one? Privacy laws most likely prevent them from disclosing the information unless you have a warrant.
Don't get angry because what you think maybe common sense doesn't equal it is common sense under law or in other people's opinion.
UPDATE Uber contacted via email. They say that they can see the charge but so far wont give any details about the trip.
Yeah but they shouldn't be handing out trip details willy-nilly - if anyone could contact them and ask for specific trip details about someone else, that would be a huge privacy issue and much worse than the fact that fraudulent credit cards can be attached to an account (as they can with other service providers - just as everyone has pointed out).
As just about everyone has said, the bank should be sorting this out with Uber. What are you planning to do once you find the trip details? Are you going to confront the individual?
In the instances when someone has run up a fraudulent charge on my credit card, I have zero interest in finding out who did it and harassing the retailer/supplier, I contact the financial institution (if they haven't contacted me first) and want them to remove the charge and investigate the matter. This can get referred on to the police or the bank can deal with the retailer/service provider. I'm not going online to whine about how Woolworths or a British Airways or Amazon don't have secure systems.
Why bother speaking to uber? Just speak to your bank.
If the dodgy CC charge was from a store in Argentina you wouldn't be expected to call them over there…
They can but under their privacy policy perhaps a credit card alone isn't enough information to get trip information. This isn't your concern anyway, the bank will have to contact the appropriate authorities to reclaim their lost money. From your perspective the bank will refund you the money for the fraudulent transaction and it's no longer your concern. Just get a new card.
"just"getting a new card involves giving new cc details to dozens of people. It also means that you cannot access your paperless CC statements anymore.
@razorack999: sounds like you need a new bank.
Most banks just issue a new card, not sure why u cant see statements anymore@razorack999: I'm with CBA and when I replaced my card it was still the same bank account details, only the card details changed. I still had the exact same transaction log and direct deposit information. If you lose access to your bank account when you get a new card you should consider changing banks.
I dont either but that is how westpac roll. i cant argue with them. Just change banks
@Agret:
Thanks for the heads up. i think i will change to cba@razorack999: dont go with cba, they have the worst chargeback system. MaYbe it changed but suffice to say i cancelled my cba account due to their process being borderline incompetent.
I still maintain my account with stgeorge, 1 click and maybe 1 sentence for a cc chargeback and they do the rest. None of this 2 page form then find in favour of the online merchant who doesnt ship with tracking.
@razorack999:
'"just"getting a new card involves giving new cc details to dozens of people.'Maybe don't do that next time?
Lol, snap.
Why waste your time?
That's what you pay your bank to do.wouldn't you want to know HOW the fraudulent act occurred? Otherwise you could allow the same thing to happen again.
@razorack999: be more careful with your card.
I should be more careful with my card? what is it in fact that I did with my card that allows me to be ethically billed twice by Uber for the same service?
@razorack999: i wrote that before i saw that ur missus used ur card.
So please disregard that comment@razorack999: Out of curiosity you might what to know how it happened - but how it happened has little to do with Uber.
Most likely, someone has harvested your credit card details somewhere along the way, whether at point of sale (this could be at any credit card terminal - it could be in a cab, or a restaurant, or a retailer) or by hacking into a database that could be stored at any retailer you've used (go look up at what has happened at Target, Starwood properties, Hilton, other US retailers) or multiple other ways. They've probably captured your CCV details as well.
Then, your card details are probably being sold somewhere in batches with other credit cards, possibly in a forum where these sorts of transactions are common. It could be to someone anywhere in the world or it could be to someone in Australia.
Then someone is either using your card for an online transaction or in some cases they will clone physical copies of your cards and then use them like a regular card.
So you could replace Uber with Coles or with your local restaurant or an online retailer. Once the thief has all your details, they can use it wherever you can use a normal credit card.
So really, at the end of the day, it could have happened in any number of ways. The best thing you can do with your card is monitor your statements diligently, report any unusual transactions to the financial institution. You can make a habit of telling your providers when you're overseas so they know when overseas transactions are likely to occur (and conversely, they will be more suspicious of any overseas transactions that happen when you haven't notified them you're out of Australia). You can sign up to Veda's SecureSentinel which looks for your credit card (and other details) being sold on the web.
That's really the best you can do and finding out the trip details where your credit card was fraudulently used is really not going to be of great help to you in preventing future fraud.
UPDATE It seems that my wife used my CC on her uber account. Uber have come to the party and given me details of the trip. The trip was from Melbourne CBD to melbourne airport in off peak. She has a charge of $45.11 on her history same date same trip. Uber have charged that $45.11 the following day. Two weeks later whilst we are are both out of the country, we receive this $180 uber charge. It is for the original date and route which was two weeks later. To repeat there is no history on either of our phones of this charge. But on the same route and the same day there was an identical transaction.
And you didnt think to ask her… Nice.
I think you have an apology to make to uber.
Of course I asked her! It was the first thing I did! She told me that she had used uber on a specific date for $45 -it was the last uber transaction that we made. We got billed for $45. Then 2 weeks later I get a bill on the same travel date for $180. Why do I have to apologize to Uber?
Wondering why there are so many Uber apologists about? Just because Uber saves people money doesnt mean that they are above the law. In this case they have charged twice for the same service and in this instance that amount is 400% more. Whatever. Keep defending them.I have never used uber.
I bet even if uber did nothing wrong you still would have made a thread to complain about them.
If you dont like them that much dont use them.they are not above the law and neither are you.
Just because you can provide the credit card details, doesn't mean they should be giving you account details for which you are not the account holder. Only the police/courts can get this information.
If anything, your wife is the one who has a right to complain for them breaching her privacy.
So I dont have the right to dispute a transaction on my CC that was fraudulent? LOL
Lets recap.
1. It was my credit card that was charged.
2 My wife who is the only other person who has my CC details attached to Uber took an identical trip on the same day for $45.
3 Uber charged $45- That charge was billed the next day. That delay is explainable as it is a US based comoany and they would batch process all payments in USA time, being a US based company.
4. THEN 2 weeks after the date of the transaction , Uber charge my card $180 for the same trip on the same day.Why charge twice for the same trip?
Why process this payment(even if it was non-fraudulent) some two weeks later?My wife and I share all things financial including house children bank accounts and credit cards. I am not invading her privacy.
So I dont have the right to dispute a transaction on my CC that was fraudulent? LOL
I never said that.
The $180 is a different matter. I did not comment on that.
You need to understand that Uber need to act within the confines of the law. They have to follow the privacy account. If the account holder has not given express permission for you to discuss there account, Uber should not be discussing their account with you. The fact it is your wife is irrelevant.
The fact that it is your wife and you don't have to cancel your cards (unsure if you said you had already done this) is great. If it hadn't been your wife, it is not your role to investigate the crime of fraud.
Take the advice of the people on this board. They are giving you the correct advice in telling you to leave it to the banks. They have the resources to investigate and subsequently would have more success catching the criminal within the confines of the law. It appears you would want to become a vigilante.
And please don't suggest I have said things which I have not.
@razorack999: so did you tell Uber that it was charged twice? what did Uber say?
They have not denied it. They have admitted to seeing the disputed charge , but so far cannot explain it. They are now going around in circles asking me for the saem information that I have already given them. They have now taken the original respondent off the case and given it to another person. The issue that still has not been resolved , is whether this is a duplicate charge of the same trip or a separate trip. You would think that would be quite easy for them to answer. What hasent been answered is why the charge was made 2 weeks after the original trip was made.
You are correct- they need to operate within the confines of the law. i dont dispute that (the french and dutch authorities amongst others are saying that they are not by the way- but I dont agree with the authorities)
I dont have an issue with them respecting peoples privacy which you suggest that I do.
What I do have an issue with is a lack of concern for my digital security. Clearly there has been two charges , one of which I as the cardholder was unaware of. My wife took one trip to the airport , not two. The charge that she incurred and remembered accepting was for $45, that was billed the next day according to industry acceptable practices. The $180 charge was billed two weeks later.
I have contacted my bank and it is they who suggest that I get all the details from Uber which i am trying to do. All the bank can do is do a charge back and unless I provide evidence that the service was either fraudulent or the service/goods were not received then the charge back will not proceed. So if I "leave it to the bank"I will end up wearing the $180 charge. So it is up to me to see where the digital trail leads so I can dispute it.
I would be interested in people describing to me, how the banks would investigate this issue without me giving the details that I am already trying to establish.I am not sure what it is that I suggested that you didnt say.
Your bank is letting you down.
If you say you didn't authorise the charge the bank has to reverse it. Often they will give the retailer/provider a chance to explain the charge, the onus is on the retailer/provider. You shouldn't need to give any evidence to your bank other than to say "I didn't authorise this". How in the hell can you prove fraud?!?! It makes no sense.
Move to a bank that can look after you.
I had to dispute a txn a couple of weeks ago. $1,040 to a strange hotel in Canada. ZERO idea how it got on my card. I called the bank and in 20 seconds explained that it wasn't me and I had no idea how it could be on the card, they said they would investigate. That was it. Fast forward to yesterday and the money is back on my card.
can you say which bank this is?
@razorack999: This seems like its heading in the right direction.. im sure it will be rectified in due course. do let us know the end result.
Westpac have reversed the charge. But their initial reaction and response was that I needed to cancel the card. And for reasons that I have already outlined this is a drastic step due to loss of statements and direct debits. We have done it about 6 times in the past few years. Of course if its necessary, then its necessary.
I agree a different bank might be on the cards@razorack999:
If you've had fraud happen to you 6 times in the last few years I think you're the cause of the fraud (for whatever reason, some possibilities have been mentioned in this thread already).I would think most people would never experience fraud even once.
That is the point. Out of those 5(not 6) times that the bank recommend that we cancel our card only 2 have turned out to be genuine fraud. The other 3 times was suspicious activity that the bank suspended our account whilst traveling. We decided at the time to just order a new card rather than investigate. We let the bank investigate.
@razorack999: very interesting. I am with the same bank and had a completely different experience with my $1,040 chargeback.
I also had fraud detected on my corporate card with CBA. They called me before I knew about it and asked me if I'd purchased anything from an online store for a few dollars. I said no, wtf. And they said it was common when a card was stolen for the theives to test it at this store. You cannot imagine how many direct debits I had linked to that card… Epic pain in the arse but they had to cancel it and re-issue.
Was the store Walmart?
@tomsco: nope, it was some chinese online retailer i'd never heard of.
She has a charge of $45.11 on her history same date same trip. Uber have charged that $45.11 the following day. Two weeks later whilst we are are both out of the country, we receive this $180 uber charge. It is for the original date and route which was two weeks later.
Unfortunate that they double billed you but it's normal for credit card transactions to be pending for a week or two before actually going through, it is part of the security of paying with credit. It gives you a grace period to cancel any fraudulent transactions, if you check your online statement the charge should've shown as pending for those 2 weeks before it went through.
No pending about it. It was a charge. You make too many assumptions
It was your generous tip to the driver.
LOL
Enough uber bashing. It was OP/wife's fault and OP is a customer of a crappy bank.
Close the thread.
Oh no! A pro uber comment! Unleash all the taxi drivers onto you!
Uber bashing you say? We haven't even started on how shit their "Cloud hosting and services" are.
why is it my fault?
Taxi bashing, no one bats an eye….if you bash Uber, everyone loses their sh*t!
Be thankful you didn't use your CC in a taxi and then endup with a massive charges!
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-09/credit-cards-seized-in…
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/passengers-warned-about-cr…Could have been worse, much worse. At least uber (in my experience) are far nicer to deal with. If you contact them via the app they usually respond within an hour or so.
Uber lover here, well actually I only like uber because it's not a taxi, which i hate.
i am in the same camp, I think Uber is a fantastic innovation, and the taxi industry deserve all the negative problems that they are now experiencing. They acted too late and when they did it was inappropriate rent seeking- rather than innovate and compete.
But Uber has a side that we all need to know about (or so I thought) That is that your CC details are something that you have to be concerned about (until I am satisfied that there is no fault on Ubers side ) But how else could a fraudster find out a combination of my CC details and at the same time have knowledge of my wifes trip? Surely the common link here is Uber. In other words , yes my CC details could have been stolen (ok that can happen from any number of sources) That may be interpreted as my fault by some of the judgmental posters above. But that shouldnt be the immediate conclusion. It is far more likely that my CC details were obtained illegally and surreptitiously. But how does a russian fraudster(for example) then make use of his ill gotten CC info and somehow manipulate so that there is a double charge to me on my CC to Uber for a trip that is identical to my wifes. There is absolutely no logic that I can see.I can see why you suspect uber fraud. But to me it just doesn't add up. It's more likely to be some kind of glitch with an uber system charging you by accident.
If your suspected scenario if correct. It's a lot of work for someone to go through to make $180… Which is then charged back by the bank.
OP, are you a taxi driver?
Yes and I am trying to take Uber down by inventing a fraudulent case and then publicizing it.
Not everyone who dislikes Uber is a taxi driver. There are legitimate reasons not to like or wish to use a particular service.
This is the other side to Uber. Its not very savory. I expect to be able to have instant access to a fraud department in these circumstances. it seems that Uber just leave you hanging.
OP, I think people are being defensive of Uber because of your attitude. In your opening post, you said you couldn't contact Uber by phone. All you had to do is type "contact uber" into Google and the first result tells you how to contact them. It might not be by phone, but it's certainly not hard to get in touch with them.
Fraudulent transactions happen from time to time. Welcome to the reality of owning a credit card. If you're that worried about it, cancel the card and sort it out. If you don't want to do anything, and these fraudulent transactions continue, that will be your own fault.
Instant access to a fraud department doesn't necessarily resolve your problem. They won't just reverse a charge without investigating it. Uber doesn't have the ability to cancel your credit card either. This is what the bank is for.
Tails , it is a fact that you cant contact them by phone. only email. Their email response is NOT timely - try contacting them in non US hours(go on)
I have outline many and valid reasons for not wanting to cancel my CC straight away. If this is an internal Uber issue then I will have cancelled my CC for no reason . Or would you dispute this?
Why do I think this is an uber issue? Because there were duplicate charges for the same service on the same day.No third party benefited- just Uber
My last contact with Uber was 16 hours ago and counting . I am still waiting for an explanation……
This is the reason why an email response rather than telephone is inferior. This could have been sorted out over a phone call in 5 minutes (fraud or not fraud/error) Instead I have had 22 emails to date that resolved nothing…and now I have Uber not responding. This is definitely not good enough.
By the way. i wouldnt put all these details on a public forum unless they were accurate.I agree with you - not being able to contact them by phone is a bit of a pain. But you at the same time you say you have 22 emails about this matter with Uber, and you only emailed them after you posted here (which the 9th of December). That sounds to me like they are communicating to you quite rapidly, at least within their operating hours.
Have you requested to speak to someone on the phone?
I'm not saying it's not an Uber only issue, but the fact that you might not be sure and time is passing, it might better to be safe, than sorry.
You cant speak to anyone. it is all by email. their timeframe. They choose if and when they will reply.
22 emails back and forth sounds like they're doing a great job at communicating with you, especially considering the timezone issue. Problems with billing are not unique to Uber. If you think it's a billing issue, then it will get resolved. If you think it's credit card fraud, cancel your credit card.
OP now that you've had contact with Uber, have they explained the $180 charge? You've mentioned that the second $45 charge was for the same trip.
Does seem odd. Are they still looking into it?
sounds like his wife paid a bit extra for the ride of her life ;)
Lol. But seriously. I'm interested in what's happened with this $180 now that he's brought it to the attention of Uber. OP has been online, but no response. Unlikely they would ignore the OPs requests as Uber is likely to want to avoid chargebacks.
Are the transaction descriptions idential to the original uber charge?
maybe op realised his wife made another trip and realised hes wrong the whole time and it was non of the cc or ubers fault and hes too ashamed to admit fault on an online forum..
@Thenarrator: OP have you pulled up the Uber trip history on your mrs phone? Is there anything in there?
Yes she has the original trip which was $45. No other trip
really? LOL
Not sure if this is related. There was email asking to add my credit card. These days spam look genuine
Uber <[email protected]> Unsubscribe
"ADD PAYMENT TO START RIDING
Uber is the fast, secure, and cashless way to get a ride around town. To get started you just need to add your payment method."I spoke to a bank fraud manager some time back and he said that a huge amount of the card skimming/number copying is tracked back to taxi rides.
A little point to be aware of: always get them (if at all possible) to give you the terminal for YOU to swipe the card - don't hand them the card. When in a outlet, always try to manage the processing of the transaction yourself rather than allowing the counter staff to do it: they are the front line of recruitment from fraudsters. Even this will not totally protect you, but its a good headstart.
This is a completely valid point in regards to taxis, however you don't have to use a physical card in Uber - the card is linked to your account.
Just flick them an email and and tell them want you want. Give them a reasonable amount of time to respond and go from there bud.
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Uber or not, report fraudulent transaction, ask block you credit card. That's it.