CC fraud victim - getting screwed by bank

imundercover

So I had $500 taken out of my bank account by a company I've never heard of, epassporte.com. Apparently for a virtual credit line or something. I reported the fraud to my bank, Capital One, and they did their investigation. Well, guess what? They decided that I have to pay the $500. I didn't even have $500 in my account when this happened, so I've got overdraft charges that are mounting by $5 a day.

I can't pay the $500 and they are just going to keep charging me $5 a day...forever!?? What can I do? What if I just don't pay? Is it eventually going to be some huge thousands-of-dollars fine? Can they actually do anything to collect it? This sucks.

Mr. White XD

I would look into taking it to court, although I don't know exactly how you would go about doing that.

Zeon

Call them again and say its unacceptable. Say you never bought anything from that company and youre not going to pay the charges. Keep escalating it until your reach someone who will take the charges off your card. Keep bringing up the fact that you use your card online and you think someone may have gotten the number.

Also, epassporte looks pretty legit, so id try calling them and getting them involved. Tell them someones used your credit card and youd like that account opened with it cancelled/investigated, and a full refund issued. If at this point you still havent sorted the issue out with your credit card company, tell them they will have to, press the issue and make it sound like its their fault for even accepting your CC from someone other than yourself in the first place.

Invisible

Looking at their site they have this listed under their "Questions" section:

How does ePassporte's authentication procedure work?

After you enter your credit or debit card information, ePassporte will authorize a pending charge on that card for a random amount between US$0.01 and US$2.00. You will then be directed to contact your card issuing bank by calling the phone number on the back of the card or checking your online statement to find out the exact amount of the pending charge (Note: if contacting the bank by phone, please ask the bank representative for the authorization amount in U.S. dollars).

ePassporte requires you to do this in order to ensure that your credit or debit card is not used fraudulently on our website. This authentication process protects you because only authorized Account Holders can gain access to information such as pending charges placed on your credit or debit card. Be assured, however, that ePassporte will not charge you for the pending charge, and the authorization will drop off of your credit or debit card statement within a few days.

The ePVerify authentication process is actually very simple. After you've obtained the exact amount of the pending charge (in U.S. dollars), return to the ePassporte website and log in using the User ID and Password you previously selected (in case you forget these, your User ID and Password are sent to the e-mail address you gave ePassporte when you signed up for your Account). You will then be asked to enter the amount you've obtained from your financial institution. If you enter the correct amount, you will have successfully completed ePVerify and you may proceed to load funds onto your Account.

Please note that if you use a Visa or MasterCard credit/debit card to purchase or load funds to your ePassporte Account, you may be required to undergo the Verified by Visa or SecureCode authentication process along with ePassporte's ePVerify authentication process.

So in order for them to even sign up for an account they had to get information from your account (barring the chance they just guessed right). Do you do a lot of online banking? Because unless they've obtained your social, as well, they probably compromised your online account.

Deusfaux

great, i just applied for a card from them.


now im scared they're dicks and won't protect me from BS like my bank-backed visa

imundercover

I have ordered a lot online in the past. I tried to set up online banking a while back. The Capital One website said it would take a couple days to verify my information, but they never did send me an email saying it was completed, so I never got into online banking.

I don't think epassporte got my SS#. The response that they sent to my bank basically said they had a valid CVV2 number...that security number on the back of the card, I believe.

Zeon

Invisible wrote:

Looking at their site they have this listed under their "Questions" section:

How does ePassporte's authentication procedure work?

After you enter your credit or debit card information, ePassporte will authorize a pending charge on that card for a random amount between US$0.01 and US$2.00. You will then be directed to contact your card issuing bank by calling the phone number on the back of the card or checking your online statement to find out the exact amount of the pending charge (Note: if contacting the bank by phone, please ask the bank representative for the authorization amount in U.S. dollars).

ePassporte requires you to do this in order to ensure that your credit or debit card is not used fraudulently on our website. This authentication process protects you because only authorized Account Holders can gain access to information such as pending charges placed on your credit or debit card. Be assured, however, that ePassporte will not charge you for the pending charge, and the authorization will drop off of your credit or debit card statement within a few days.

The ePVerify authentication process is actually very simple. After you've obtained the exact amount of the pending charge (in U.S. dollars), return to the ePassporte website and log in using the User ID and Password you previously selected (in case you forget these, your User ID and Password are sent to the e-mail address you gave ePassporte when you signed up for your Account). You will then be asked to enter the amount you've obtained from your financial institution. If you enter the correct amount, you will have successfully completed ePVerify and you may proceed to load funds onto your Account.

Please note that if you use a Visa or MasterCard credit/debit card to purchase or load funds to your ePassporte Account, you may be required to undergo the Verified by Visa or SecureCode authentication process along with ePassporte's ePVerify authentication process.

So in order for them to even sign up for an account they had to get information from your account (barring the chance they just guessed right). Do you do a lot of online banking? Because unless they've obtained your social, as well, they probably compromised your online account.

Well, thats just to initially verify your account i believe. I think afterwards you can top it up with any source of money. So what likely happened is the person who used his card opened the account on his own, then used the OPs card to top up his account. That would be my guess.

But im having a hard time believe capital one is saying flat out "You made this charge" and thats the end of it. Tell them you didnt, and that someone must have stolen your card. Usually card companies take this shit pretty seriously since a 500 dollar loss now is better than a greater loss later when the moron decides to buy a new tv or something with your credit card.

Thanatos

Like everyone else is saying, you need to call your credit card company back. Be polite, yet firm; do not, under any circumstances, take "no" for an answer.