She declined to address why paying off a balance, albeit in an out-of-the-ordinary transaction, would be flagged as potential fraud, especially in light of the fact that the money came from the same BofA account Castro used for all his payments. Castro’s financial safety,” Brown said, adding that the account was reactivated after the company “ultimately confirmed no fraud had taken place.” Castro,” she said, “a transaction that was unusual based on his account history was flagged by our system.”Ĭapital One froze his card “to ensure Mr.
“They couldn’t protect me from baby-stroller fraud but they were more than ready to protect me from myself.”Īriel Brown, a Capital One spokeswoman, told me that “when an unusual transaction occurs, which is defined as something out of pattern based on a customer’s account history, our system flags the incident as potential fraud.” “What bothers me is how they handled this,” Castro said. Capital One in turn unfroze his credit card.Ĭastro isn’t bothered that his card issuer was looking out for his financial well-being. This time a rep had him wait on the line while she set up a conference call with Bank of America.īofA verified that, yes, the over $14,000 payment was indeed made from Castro’s checking account. His card remained frozen.Ĭastro called Cap One again. Nevertheless, he uploaded the bank statements. “I said they were making me feel like a criminal.” “I told them it was the same bank account I’ve been using for years for all my payments,” Castro said. He called Capital One and was informed his account had been frozen until he complied with the request for bank documents. What did happen, though, is that when he tried to buy some stuff at a Ross store, the cashier told him his Capital One card had been rejected. He asked to speak with a supervisor and was told one would call him back. “They wanted me to upload copies of my bank statements to prove that I made the payment,” he recalled.Ĭastro balked at the request. The next day, Castro said, he received a call from Cap One saying a fraud investigation had been opened. That changed a few weeks ago after he refinanced his mortgage and used some home equity to pay off the balance. Then the coronavirus hit, his work hours were reduced, and he and his wife decided they needed to tighten their belts by making smaller monthly card payments.īefore too long, Castro was carrying a debt load on his plastic of $14,300.
That said, Capital One seems a bit overzealous in its efforts - even considering the company was itself a cybercrime victim last year after a hacker accessed the personal data of more than 100 million people and small businesses.Ĭastro told me he’s never missed a card payment but started carrying a hefty balance after plunking down thousands of dollars for season tickets to Las Vegas Raiders games. So it would be foolish for anyone to want card companies to be less vigilant in keeping scammers at bay.
And of those, credit card fraud was the leading form of ID theft. Identity theft accounted for about 20% of all fraud reports.
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