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Comment by patentatt | Hacker News Reader

Oh, you’re giving us Americans too much credit, credit card fraud happens all the time. It’s like a constant thing you have to watch out for, and I’d estimate happens once every couple of years for most people. Either straight up fraud and theft, or just a recurring charge that will not stop no matter what. So the system is super broken and relevant to individuals, which is why people accept all the fees maybe. It’s not a sign that Americans are ok with a communal approach to anything, we’re just as selfish as always with this one. Sometimes it does feel like a third world country.

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> It’s like a constant thing you have to watch out for, and I’d estimate happens once every couple of years for most people. Either straight up fraud and theft, or just a recurring charge that will not stop no matter what.

Not in my experience. I probably have 10 to 15 credit cards for over a decade, and only once have I had a fraudulent transaction. And even if there was, you simply call the bank, dispute it, and that’s the end of that. Same with recurring charges.

It is even less of a problem going forward since EMV and contactless have become standard.

This seems overblown, I've had credit cards for over ten years in the US, using them in person and online, and the only time I've ever had a fraudulent transaction was an hour after my wallet was stolen, which like yeah, kind of expected.

I'm not sure what you mean by "happens once every couple of years for most people."

Your personal experience is not statistically relevant data. It is a major problem here in the US, not just fraudulent transactions, but people signing up for credit cards in your name since the equifax data leak, people creating fake ids to be used to reset your accounts in person, constant phone calls attempting to scam people, and even letters in the mail withhuge print saying “last notice - important - pay now” with very small print saying “this is an offer not an invoice” or like that tricks the elderly and those not careful. All of these and more cause massive amounts of fraud in the US.

Well the post I was replying to specified credit card fraud as the rampant issue, the list your provided seems to just be general financial fraud. I agree that financial fraud in general in the US, and probably globally, is a huge problem.

Maybe I'm wrong and all of that can be blamed on credit card fraud, but I'm not so sure.

Most of the examples I gave are done to steal your credit card information and make purchases and transactions under your credit and without your knowledge, not just sell you once for $10 that you have to dispute later once you talk to a friend or relative and find out it’s a scam. In those cases the credit card companies end up eating the cost, although when they find out this has happened to you specifically several times or in very large amount then, often through no fault of your own, you will get kicked off the credit card so they can save money.

I’ve had at one card # stolen each year for the past 4 years.

I’m pretty sure it’s gas stations and airport merchants. But it could be hacked online stores.

Amex is good at catching it.

Pnc bank on the other hand wad bad. My work card got used shorty after flying from sfo and PNC bank let them ring up 2,000 of hotel fees and didn’t flag any of it, and due to how the work cards work I didn’t find out until a month or more later

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