Consumer complaint received 2023-11-17
Company: DISCOVER BANK
State: GA
Product: Credit card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Card was charged for something you did not purchase with the card

Complaint:
I have been a Discover card member since XXXX. On Saturday XX/XX/XXXX, my husband had a number of credit cards stolen from his wallet while we were out jogging. We discovered this when random charges at an XXXX XXXX in XXXX, GA starting showing up on his phone. He was called or reached out to each of them and they denied the transaction. Then, my phone was notified of such a transaction for {$1500.00} on the Discover Card and I immediately went on the app and froze my account. This was good as the thief then tried to put another roughly {$1600.00} charge on the account, which was denied. So keep in mind that the thief had tried 2-3 times to use different cards before the Discover card went through. So clearly someone at the XXXX XXXX had been allowing them to try this without checking IDs. And then clearly tried to put another {$1600.00} on the account ( which luckily, I had frozen ). 

I called Discover immediately and told them my husband 's card had been stolen and that there was a fraudulent charge pending and could they deny it. I was told that the charge could not be denied, but that I could dispute it after it came through. This seemed weird to me, and I expressed that, but was told that was all I could do. They also cancelled the account and resent us cards. 

Then, today, I went online and saw this notice : Resolution Date XX/XX/XXXX Description XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX {$1500.00} Dispute # XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Transaction has been found to be valid. 
A decision has been reached for this investigation and we have found that this transaction is valid. You can expect to receive information on this decision to be sent to you via mail or secure message at Discover.com. Please review this information when it arrives for important details summarizing this dispute inquiry. Please notify us as soon as possible if you wish to continue this dispute. 


So I called Discover immediately and said that I wanted to dispute this. I went over the details again and I was quite upset. The first man I spoke to said it was my fault because I didn't report the card as stolen -- I just disputed the transaction. This is false, as I called Discover as soon as I found out the card was stolen. He then transferred me to the fraud department and I was assured by the women I spoke to there that this would be re-investigated and that she was sure it was fraud and it would be taken care of. She particularly noted that the attempt to put about {$1600.00} on the card after they had had " success '' getting the {$1500.00} on pending status was a clear sign of fraud. 

Then that same day I got a notice that they had denied my request again. Again, they are treating this as a dispute and not a stolen card and fraudulent transaction. 

I have also reached out to XXXX and started a case with them to investigate this incident. They called the store who now says they also believe that it was an illegitimate charge -- especially since clearly the thief tried several cards before this one went through. But since Discover let it go through, they feel like their hands are tied. 

So I am stuck - XXXX says the charge was fraudulent but wont refund it and Discover wont refund me for the fraud.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief