Consumer complaint received 2020-02-01
Company: UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION
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:
While I was on a XXXX XXXX flight to visit my parents in XXXX, TX ( with my credit card on my person ), 3 fraudulent transactions were made at " XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX '' with my credit card in the amounts of XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX, respectively. This was on XX/XX/XXXX. I received a call later that night from my hotel room alerting me to the fraud, and when I checked my statement, sure enough, there were 3 purchases that I definitely did not make on my statement. I called to verify that yes, they were obviously fraudulent -- I was in XXXX, Texas. I thought that was the end of it. Later, after arriving home from XXXX, I got another call from USAA, my credit card issuer. They asked for more details around the transaction and told me that it was a chip transaction. I told them this seemed weird to me, as I thought chip transactions were not supposed to have this problem. The lady agreed and seemed very cold and suspicious. I said that I didn't know what happened but my credit card was with me the whole time and my family saw me not only vent about the fraud and how I would have to change my credit card number, but also saw me with my credit card on multiple occasions. After telling the investigator I was sure it was fraud, she took some time to do her investigation. On XX/XX/XXXX, the same investigator called me back explaining that it was impossible for there to be fraud with a chip card. She said the investigation ruled against me. 

USAA 's incorrect finding that the transactions were not fraudulent are unsatisfactory and unjustified for two reasons, which I discuss in more detail below : * Their belief that the transaction was not fraud is predicated on it being an EMV " chip-present '' transaction -- these are now prone to fraud just like magnetic swipe transactions * I provided ample evidence to USAA that I was not in XXXX XXXX at the time the fraud occurred A " chip-present '' or EMV transaction is not evidence that the authentic card was present. As USAA may already know, there is a growing epidemic of fraud via " shimmers. '' These devices can be inserted into a chip card terminal and spy on the communications between the bank and credit card. Hackers can use the data from their shimmers to create duplicate chip cards, as described in this article : XXXX XXXX XXXX Furthermore, I have uploaded the following documents to USAA, any of which should be enough to prove that the XXXX XXXX-based transaction was fraudulent on its own : * Signed statements from people in XXXX, TX indicating they saw me with my credit card on the day of the fraud * A MileagePlus statement from XXXX XXXX   indicating I boarded a flight around XXXX to XXXX, Texas on the day of the fraudulent transaction ( and I left for my local BART station much earlier, arriving at the airport around XXXX ) * A used XXXX XXXX  ticket with confirmation number for the above-mentioned flight

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation