Credit Card Fraud?

Credit Card fraud is a serious problem, but my recent experience with my credit card company was actually pretty funny.

We have had problems twice in the past with this particular card. The first time a fraudulent charge appeared it was for a funeral home in a very bad part of town. I guess it slipped through undetected by our credit card company, it was for a couple of hundred dollars and might not appear suspicious to someone out side of our metro area. The second time a $5000+ charge appeared for steel... that's right steel! I know I always pick up a few thousand dollars worth of steel on the way home from work... don't you? On that occasion not one but two, similar suspicious purchases were on my bill. Whatever! We straightened it out and all was well.

Imagine my surprise when, on a recent trip to New York, our card was rejected, first at the ATM for a cash withdrawal close to home, and then at our hotel in New York. Upon calling the Credit Card company my husband was told that they had flagged the account for suspicious activity, because it was being used out of town. I had to laugh! Buying $5000 of industrial steel was not suspicious, but traveling to NYC and using the card at (of all places) a hotel was! (I later found out the ATM withdrawal was denied because we have never used the card that way before.) Fair enough... but the hotel being suspicious is just hilarious! As we were sitting in the lobby I overheard my husband saying to the person at the credit card call center, "I didn't know we had to tell you we were going on vacation." Oh yeah, you have to really watch those hotel charges, especially when they are in another town that people actually vacation in!