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Tell HN: Automatic fraud detection is making my life hell

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Re: Tell HN: Automatic fraud detection is making my life hell

#311

Post by corbezzoli »

crazygringo wrote: post #54

Obviously I sympathize, but I find it extremely odd that OP is complaining about cards being declined but doesn't once explain whether he/she tried phoning their credit card to unblock? Because that generally works -- you call once, let them know you're traveling and where, and then your card works fine. Occasionally you have to call again for a specific high-value ($500+) transaction, but it's rarely more than a 5-m…

Unfortunately it’s not always as easy. Last year I tried to do a remittance of 3500€ and it failed on both a debit and credit card of my bank, blocking them. The bank called me to confirm the transactions, which I did. I tried again and they blocked the card again.

So I did an instant transfer to another bank account and used its debit card without a hitch, as usual.

Some banks just won’t let you use your money as you please. Your luck is in finding a bank that does.

Re: Tell HN: Automatic fraud detection is making my life hell

#312

Post by mike_d »

creer wrote: post #291
tracerbulletx wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has nothing to do with wrong assumptions, it has everything to do with the statistical similarity to fraudulent transactions and acceptable failure rates.

Or laziness? "Quick and dirty" is so tempting.

You have no idea how much justification it takes to reject orders. It is not done lightly.

Re: Tell HN: Automatic fraud detection is making my life hell

#313

Post by edg5000 »

gorbachev wrote: post #63

Interestingly I, kind of, have the opposite problem, so to speak. I recently moved to a foreign country, admittedly an "easy" western European country, and I fully expected my credit cards to start refusing more or less every transaction. Not so. Not a single transaction has been delayed, or denied. I travel back and forth my home country and my new home semi-regularly with no issues with using my credit cards. I'm n…

Which "easy" western european country are you in? Credit cards are extremely uncommon in many western european countries. They really only exist here so we can make international payments, primarily to US-based companies. Everything is debit card based. France: PayPal, Carte Bancaire. Most closely resembles the US credit card system. But it seems the french use their local debit accounts to make payments. Belgium: PayPal, BanContact (any local bank debit accounts) Netherlands: iDeal (any local bank debit account) Germany: PayPal, SOFORT (local bank debit accounts)

TLDR: In EU for online purchases, you want to have an PayPal + local debit account to cover most purchases. For interrnational payments, you can have a credit card for those extremely rare cases where vendors only accept credit cards.

Re: Tell HN: Automatic fraud detection is making my life hell

#314

Post by raverbashing »

k8svet wrote: post #113

I have such immense disdain for Capital One and MasterCard for how they implement 3DS. I have been in Germany for 6 weeks. I have spent thousands of dollars between flights, train tickets, and hotels. Guess what I have to do every, single, time I buy a 3EUR train ticket? Receive an SMS on my American cellphone number. Their "solution" is to have a family member in the US add their number to my account, wake up in the…

Yeah a 3EUR charge shouldn't get "3D secure'd" especially for a recurring customer

I think you can even get a prepaid card in Germany for that if the trip is long enough. You might need a mailing address for that

> let me put cash into the non-existent train ticket machines, or to the non-existent train attendants

That's a bit weird, I've always seen machines around

Re: Tell HN: Automatic fraud detection is making my life hell

#315

Post by petre »

wingworks wrote: post #235
cangeroo wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Welcome to 21st century! I travel with debit cards from 3 different banks for this reason. Look for banks that issue virtual cards that can be used with Apple Pay / Google Pay. But you also need ideally two physical cards, since one bank may block your physical card for "fraud" while traveling, and now you're stuck and unable to buy a train ticket. Credit cards are only necessary for car rentals, which is a major pai…

Also need credit cards for some hotels, and a high limit if you plan to stay at several hotels in quick succession, as it takes a few days to weeks for a hold to be released.

Why? Are they afraid of people emptying their minibar and leaving without paying after wetting their bedsheets?

Re: Tell HN: Automatic fraud detection is making my life hell

#316

Post by raverbashing »

jwr wrote: post #11

I run a SaaS based in the EU. Most of my US customers have problems with their subscriptions, because US banks automatically assume that any "foreign" charge must be fraud, and block it. I am wasting so much time explaining that they need to contact their bank, and they waste so much time calling their banks… it's disheartening.

> because US banks automatically assume that any "foreign" charge must be fraud, and block it.

Wow amazing logic there

Sometimes I do wonder if there's one or two thinking neurons in the whole "fraud prevention" department of US banks or if they're just cargo-culting practices someone invented in the 70s

Re: Tell HN: Automatic fraud detection is making my life hell

#317

Post by time_is_scary »

One thing I have started doing is using a VPN with the location set to my home location 100% of the time when home. Then, when logging in abroad I use the VPN to my home location.

It seems that using the VPN 100% of the time has trained many of these smart services to fingerprint that as my default fingerprint.

Of course, this doesn't help when interacting with services that detect/block VPNs. Or the even more annoying situation where VPNs are blocked and also all traffic from the country you are in is also blocked (occurs occasionally when trying to access US sites from SE Asia)

edit: WRT comments mentioning that you can call your bank or set a travel notice: that is how things used to work. Chase, for example, no longer lets you set a travel notice as they use a "smart" automated system. That said, my Chase travel card used via apple/android pay has never given me trouble so their system does seem better than most

Re: Tell HN: Automatic fraud detection is making my life hell

#318

Post by dr_kiszonka »

lisper wrote: post #236
indrora wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll add another to that list: -- People will never have a physical mailing address that contains "funny" numbers like "000", "420", "69420", or "80085".

What’s funny about 420?

Look up 4/20.

Re: Tell HN: Automatic fraud detection is making my life hell

#319

Post by pierat »

Habgdnv wrote: post #44

I wholeheartedly support digitization, having been involved in the realms of development, system administration, and everything computer-related since my early days. However, what irks me is when I'm bound to use products or services from providers who fail to execute their roles properly despite being compensated for it. A recent incident at my child's school serves as a pertinent example. They transitioned from a t…

Taken to the logical conclusion, this public school (which your child is compulsed to attend)is requiring you to agree to a private company's ToS and extreme data exfiltration and arbitration clauses, so your child can be fed.

Even worse yet, by refusing to get a google account, you could be tried for child abuse, since the school won't feed your child if you won't agree to google's ToS.

I really hope you didn't acquiesce. And I hope you hired an attorney to fight these laughable and horrific abuses.

Re: Tell HN: Automatic fraud detection is making my life hell

#320

Post by ImPostingOnHN »

creer wrote: post #283
cj wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://leaddev.com/team/beware-fake-job-candidates

This is a good description of the problem - kinda from both sides. Thank you! But based on this, wouldn't the right defense be to insist for some camera feed? 1) Most phones have a camera now - besides the plausible excuse of the candidate's computer not having a working one. 2) When no camera is working, it usually shouldn't be a big problem to postpose the interview for a few days. The time for a camera solution to…

How would a camera determine their place of residence?
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