Consumer complaint received 2019-10-23
Company: BARCLAYS BANK DELAWARE
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid 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:
On XX/XX/XXXX I checked my wife and I 's XXXX Visa card account through online banking. It stated that there were suspected fraudulent transactions on our account and advised us to call in. I called the number provided and spoke to a Barclays representative. She identified several charges that were believed to be fraudulent. I advised that neither I nor my wife had made those charges and she stated they would remove the charges and close my card and send a replacement. She asked about some additional charges, but I stated that I couldn't be sure which ones were legitimate versus which ones were fraudulent because my wife and I were both using our cards at the time and my wife was traveling so not immediately available to review with. She said that would be no problem and advised me to simply call back with a full list of the fraudulent charges. 

On Monday XX/XX/XXXX I called back and provided the full list of fraudulent charges listed below. I was advised that they would be investigated. I did not think there would be any issues getting the charges removed since Barclays had contacted us and knew there was fraud on the account. 

Fraudulent Charges : XX/XX/XXXX XXXX - XXXX XXXX DEBIT XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX DEBIT XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XXXX  XXXX # XXXX DEBIT XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XXXX # XXXX DEBIT XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX # XXXX DEBIT XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XXXX   XXXX DEBIT XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX DEBIT XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XXXX 'S XXXX DEBIT XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX   DEBIT XXXX I learned later that week that I was the victim of widespread identity theft, with multiple accounts opened in my name and multiple other applications submitted that I was able to catch before they were opened. However, I am not sure if this is related to the fraudulent charges. 

On Tuesday XX/XX/XXXX I received a call from a Barclays representative. They asked me if I had been in possession of the card when the fraud occurred. I responded that I had been. As far as I know the card was never out of my possession. Based on that response the representative advised that the majority of the charges would be denied and we would be fully responsible. The representative advised that because these were 'chip ' transactions they could not be fraudulent. 

We subsequently received a letter dated XX/XX/XXXX from Barclay stating : " This will confirm our discussion that your fraud claim has been denied on your XXXX account. As a result, you remain responsible for payment of the disputed amount as well as any applicable associated fees and finance charges, in accordance with the terms of the Cardmember Agreement ... '' Below are links to multiple articles stating that fraud is still possible with chip cards and chip transactions specifically. I do not believe the fact that the fraudulent chip transactions were made while the card was in my possession is sufficient evidence to deny outright and feel that this policy is unjust and predatory. I do not know exactly how these transactions occurred, I am not a fraud expert, I only know that they were not made by either my wife, myself, or anyone known to us, and as such we should not be responsible. I also note that there are at least 20 other CFPB complaints outlining the same issue, so apparently we are not the only victims of this type of fraud. 

Articles stating that fraud is still possible with chip transactions : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX   XXXX After this conversation my wife and I filed a police report ( a copy of the report is attached ). At the time the officer advised they would likely not be able to catch the perpetrator of the fraud. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, on advice of a Barclay representative, we contacted the vendor of one of the fraudulent charges - XXXX. Over the phone the representative XXXX XXXX ( called XX/XX/XXXX @ XXXX ) advised that the transaction was completed by a XXXX XXXX. This person is not known to either my wife or myself. This is further evidence that either - the assertion that it is impossible for chip transactions to be fraudulent if the card was in my possession is false OR Barclays system is incorrectly showing transactions as chip transactions that were not chip transactions. In either case I believe I have provided sufficient evidence from what is available to me for the identified fraudulent charges to be refunded based on the laws limiting consumer liability for fraudulent credit card purchases. 

Based on this evidence I ask that the all of the transactions listed ( total {$770.00} ) be removed from our account as the fraudulent charges they are. In the past calendar year my wife and I have spent $ 68,000+ dollars on this account. The suggestion that we would attempt to fraud Barclays out of {$770.00} defies logic.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief