Debra called while I was on my way to lunch this afternoon. Somebody purporting to be the Capital One fraud department had left a message on the home answering machine saying that it was imperative that I contact them. They left a toll-free callback number. That got me to thinking, though. How could I trust the number? Anybody could call and say that they’re Capital One.

So I called the customer service number on the back of my card. After wading through several levels of menus and going around the loop twice, I finally started hitting ‘0’ until I got a real person on the line. After verifying my identity, the woman confirmed that the fraud department had called, and she transferred me to them.

Ten minutes on hold later, I got to verify my identity once more and the representative asked me about some possibly fraudulent charges: one for over $1,000 at the Boeing Store, and one for a two-year subscription to Experts Exchange–neither of which I had authorized. The card is of course being canceled and I’ll receive a replacement in the mail soon. But it got me to wondering about several things.

• Why were the charges refused? Perhaps the Web sites asked for the 3-digit security code and when the number entered wasn’t correct, they reported possible fraud? Or maybe the shipping address was different from my home address. I’m curious how Capital One decided that those charges were possibly fraudulent. It’s not inconceivable that I would have made those purchases.
• How the heck did somebody get hold of my credit card number? I guess that in itself isn’t terribly difficult, but you’d think that somebody who was buying a two-year subscription to Experts Exchange would be smart enough to know that he couldn’t make the purchase without the card security code and a confirmed home address.
• How many people would call a number left on an answering machine from somebody purporting to be the fraud department? I think it’s terribly irresponsible for Capital One to leave a callback number. I honestly thought the answering machine message was a scam. It would be more reasonable to say something like, “Please call the customer service number printed on the back of your card and ask to speak with the fraud department.”

Regardless, I’m happy to see that they were able to identify those unauthorized charges and prevent somebody from having fun at my expense. I hope they can track down the miscreant before he does real damage to somebody’s credit.