Mr. Pinball's Blacklist--Reporting Stolen Credit Cards
If you are a Visa or MasterCard Merchant, then just use the regular approval
process to report the cards as stolen.
The problem is that if you are NOT a Visa or MasterCard Merchant, then you
have no easy and quick way to report the credit cards as stolen, but it
is possible. You will need to call the Report Stolen/Lost Card
number:
Visa - 1-800-847-2911
MasterCard - 1-800-MasterCard (1-800-627-8372)
American Express - 1-800-528-4800[We've never seen a
scammer use AmEx, so this may not be needed.]
Be aware that it may take 15 minutes to a half hour to report one or more
stolen cards and may take multiple calls and insisting that you are
legitimate and want to help them. You will have to give them your name and
probably your phone number to help convince them you are not doing something
wrong.
Since it can take so long to report the cards, it is best if you have a
bunch to report all at once, but DO NOT DELAY very long. Time that the card
is not turned off is time that scammers may be using the card.
The scammers pay money for each stolen credit card, so turning them off
gives them financial incentive to stop.
Credit Card Fraud Reporting is Broken
We wish reporting the stolen credit cards was quick and easy, but it's not.
Visa and MasterCard don't seem to care!
Here's the problem--if you are not a Visa or MasterCard Merchant then Visa
and MasterCard don't have a centralized way to report stolen credit cards. When you
first try to report them as stolen by calling Visa or MasterCard they
sometimes don't know what to do and will often send you to the wrong
place! Visa seems to be better than MasterCard at directing you to the
right place.
The reason why they don't seem to care is that Visa and MasterCard don't
handle individual accounts. They are merely the central clearing house for
transactions. Fraud is just an annoying part of overhead that the member
banks directly deal with, NOT the parent organization.
To report a stolen or lost card you have to go to the issuing
member bank, which may be a local bank like First Bank of Virginia, or a large
national bank like Bank of America. Only the member bank can close out or
suspend an account. If you look at the back of your own Visa/MC you'll see a
phone number to report the card as lost, etc. That number is not for the Visa
or MasterCard parent organization, but is for your issuing bank or a group
contracting with your issuing bank for this.
So for you or Visa/MasterCard to turn off an account, the issuing member
bank has to be contacted. You have no way to find out the issuing bank
directly. You will have to be referred to the bank by Visa/MasterCard. The
merchant accounts do this as part of the transaction approval process, but
if you're not a Visa/MC Merchant, then it's a big hassle.
Visa and MasterCard just don't have a centralized way to turn these cards
off. Can you believe it?!!! Seems dumb, but that's the way it is.
We tried talking to these places to set up some sort of web page or email
address to report these things and got nowhere. If you work for Visa or MC,
then give us a call and let's figure out a way to do this!
For more information you may contact us by email, or by email form.
