Not fraud is like this.

[charamei]

Note to myself for the future: in NatWest-computer-speak, 'a bookshop in Luxembourg' means Amazon.

Sorry, Fraud Prevention Guy. If the machine had been programmed by somebody with a bit more sense, you wouldn't have had to deal with me being cross at you on my lunch break.

(My account's fine. The suspicious transactions in question turned out to be:

• Moving money into my savings account like I do every month on payday


• Placing an order on Amazon, shock, horror, oh wait I do that at least twice a month


• Buying reusable period towels while being a woman in her early 20s.

Clearly suspicious behaviour.)

The best part is, because they make you call them, I have paid three quid for the privilege of being frustrated by a machine and getting to tell a complete (male) stranger about my menstrual hygiene over the phone. Now that's a con.

Comments

[charamei]

Ouch :(

Someone hacked my Paypal account a few months ago, but I was very lucky - the test transaction they used was £20 of Facebook points (or whatever they're called) and I don't have a Facebook account, so it stood out like the proverbial sore thumb. Incidentally, Paypal are really, really good at dealing speedily with queried transactions, and even gave me a refund.

I wonder how much they really do monitor every transaction, and how much of it is a red flag against an account that's had previous problems. I know my mum has a similar problem every Spring when she preorders all her theatre tickets for the upcoming season.

[lurkingcat]

I have this sneaking suspicion that it's all to do with how the credit card company set the automated parameters for querying suspicious activity and as soon as they tweak one thing another one breaks a little bit. Your mum might be getting caught out by something as simple as "No similar transactions in the last 180 days".

[charamei]

That may very well be the case; as far as I know, it's only ever happened to her on once-a-year charges.