Quote:
Originally Posted by Ksyrup
Ha, yep!
I've always been fascinated by whatever algorithms the credit card companies use to know which transactions are potential fraud and which aren't - especially in the online age. I don't travel a ton, but when I do, I hardly ever get an alert. I'm going to Nashville next week for a concert and am tempted to charge something to the new card they send me just to see what happens. It also makes me a bit paranoid to think that part of that algorithm involves having access to my email, apps and calendars to know what plans I've made so that they know where I am and when.
For instance, I bought our tickets to Hawaii using SkyMiles and paying for the tickets with my Delta Reserve card, so AmEx naturally knows when I'm going to Hawaii. That makes sense to me. But AmEx has no reason to know I'll be in Nashville next Thursday and I don't often go there. So why won't I get a fraud alert?
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What sucks is when they get it wrong. My MIL had a heart transplant in 2009. We lived in Seattle as you know, and she was in New York. We got the word that she had gotten a heart and we literally purchased tickets at the airport, or maybe online then went to the airport, either way same day. Landed in NYC and hopped in a cab to a hotel. Tried to check in and all our cards had been cancelled because they were triggered for fraud and since we were on the plane they couldn't contact us so they cancelled them.