Consumer complaint received 2023-05-07
Company: DISCOVER BANK
State: OH
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: Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement

Complaint:
On Wednesday, XX/XX/2023 I reached out to my credit card company, Discover, to explain that my financial and personal information was compromised. 
Leading up to that day of realizing that my information was taken, I had just recently discovered that the girl claiming to have feelings for me and being my girlfriend was part of a " Pig Butchering ' scam. She had sent me a screenshot of her pristine credit report and told me a lot about her job with trading cryptocurrency when we would XXXX. That is why I believed it because we would XXXX and chat on XXXX. I never sent her money but she was able to gain screenshots of sensitive information when I signed up for her financial website and it was actually a cloaking site so that she could grab my information. I didn't know if it was from this online dating encounter or from something else like the XXXX app that asked for remote access to my phone during the process. I still don't know where the identity theft came from I just knew that I was dealing with fraudulent charges on both my bank account and my Discover account. 
What I did know is that both my XXXX XXXX information and my Discover card started receiving fraudulent charges in early XXXX and I called to report this to Discover for the first time on XX/XX/2023 or if it wasn't that day it was definitely before the charges that I will eventually bring to light ( XX/XX/2023 ) I explained to Discover that my information had seriously been compromised to the point where I was opening a whole new bank account at XXXX and I wanted to close my account with Discover. Discover assured me that my security would be protected. They convinced me to keep my account and said that they would send me a new card in the mail. In the meantime, they told me to hold on to the Discover card that I had. They said with the Discover card I had I would be able to make purchases at physical locations, but that they would restrict all internet/online purchases. I was satisfied enough with this resolution because they told me the card would be in three days. 
Fast forward Monday, XX/XX/2023. I still had not received my new Discover card in the mail, so I used Discover card that they told me to keep to buy some candy at a gas station that morning. After the purchase I had some time to kill and I was just checking my online account to see what my balance was and to inquire about why I had not received my new card yet. I was still unable to make internet purchases with my card that I had because of the restriction that I put on for security purposes. When I logged on to my Discover online account I was shocked to see that Discover had charged me XXXX dollars in online purchases to a place I had never used my Discover card in my life XXXX XXXX XXXX  These charges went through to an online gambling site on XX/XX/XXXX in XX/XX/2023 at like XXXX or XXXX in the morning. 
I was shocked and I called Discover right away to report the fraud. I explained to them that I had been with my baby daughter all week and all weekend because I get her split custody. I had no idea what these charges were or how it was possible that they would allow this much to be charged when I had reported a security threat just a week before. 
I reported XXXX dollars ( seven charges of XXXX each ) as fraud and reminded Discover that there was supposed to be an online restriction on my account. I asked them how these charges were possible when there's an online restriction and I haven't even received my new credit card yet. They did not have answers, but were very understanding of the fraud and reimbursed me for all the charges. 
After the reimbursement I was able to establish a brand new bank account at XXXX and I was finally able to get a new credit card from Discover. 
Here is where the problem starts. Discover called me Friday, XX/XX/2023 to let me know that they had reversed their decision of fraud after investigation. They said that their reasons for reversing it were because I never reported my driver 's license as missing and the online site that charged the purchases was able to obtain my driver 's license photo. They also said that because I had a previous fraud problem that they were reversing it. They also said that the charge had been verified through my email at close to XXXX XXXX. on XX/XX/2023. Those were their three reasons, which in my opinion have nothing to do with the problem of the fraud itself. 
They asked me if I wanted to present any new information and have them re-review. I said yes and I reiterated everything that I explained when I first called and reported the fraud two months prior. I explained to them that there is no possible way that I could have ever of made these charges because I never received my new credit card and the credit card I did have was restricted for online purchases because I was having an identity theft crisis with my information and I needed all new financial stuff. I explained to them that my driver 's license could have easily been obtained through the screenshots that I had originally told them about. I explained to them that my email had been compromised and they already knew that. So if something got approved over email it could have easily been manipulated by someone else. I asked them what credit card was used for these purchases because it's no way it's the one I physically had because of the online restriction. They had no explanation for this. 
Anytime that I have ever activated a credit card there or for MasterCard, I have had to be voice activated, especially when I had a security concern already on my account. They told me that there was no voice activation to clarify who activated the card, that some cards can be activated with a dial feature. I told them that that is not true because the credit card I have now I had to voice activate and if you really can dial activate why would they allow that if I had a security concern on my account. Why wouldn't they demand to talk to me in person before that card was activated that was used for the {$7000.00} purchases. They had no answer for any of that. 
There was a security alarm on my account and Discover allowed XXXX of purchases to take place through email verification. I gave them plenty of warning that my account was under attack and they allowed XXXX in the middle of the night when I'm with my daughter asleep and I wake up to it on Monday morning to see that my account have been charged all that money. They still have not given me an answer on what exactly happened and what card was used and how it was activated and how it was verified. That is my proof that none of this is me and they won't acknowledge that. I did not activate or verify the card that was used to make {$7000.00} of purchases. 
Anytime I've ever had to verify a purchase I've had to call into the credit card company and speak to somebody, they said that never happened. Whoever verified it did it through email at XXXX in the XXXX on a Saturday when I'm with my daughter and it didn't even require voice confirmation even though my account was red flagged for the fraud I had reported a week prior. 
You are welcome to cross reference all of this with Discover because I have told them all this and I do not understand why they are doing this. 
I have always paid my Discover card in full. I never even knew that you could use Discover card for online gambling until these charges took place. I have never had a problem paying my Discover bill and I have never come close to spending that much of my credit card limit. I have never spent over {$4000.00} in a month at Discover but they allow {$7000.00} of charges and one night on an account that had a security red flag on it. My credit score will back all that up. 

These charges were completely random and not in line with anything that I have ever bought before and I have never spent that much money before. I have been with Discover over 10 years and never had a problem like this. 

Here 's the action I have taken so far. I reached out to a lawyer and got counsel. Based on the path he laid out for me these are my plans of action. Outside of reporting this to CFPB, I have also written this report to the Federal Trade Commission. I have paid my Discover balance all the way down to where {$7000.00} is left, the exact amount that is in dispute. That {$7000.00} is going to come due and I am not paying it. These are not my charges, these are fraudulent charges and I was not protected when I did everything I could to let Discover know that my information was under attack. I am happy to give more information. However, I know what's going to happen. Discover will be asking for XXXX dollar payment at the end of XXXX and start charging 25 % interest on that XXXX. If that is their plan then I will be writing them a letter of my intention to close my account and not pay the outstanding charge because it is not my debt. It is fraudulent and I reported it as such and I am protected under the XXXX Credit Billing Act for a maximum liability of XXXX XXXX XXXX am willing to pay that to Discover, the {$50.00} if that's what they want. I will not pay {$7000.00}. I still don't know how this got approved, how a card I never received got activated and used for {$7000.00} when I never charged my card like that. I wanted to get ahead of this so that Discover stops taking advantage of me because they're just going to hit me with that interest to try to put pressure on me to pay for something that is not my charge. Plus like they said I can keep presenting new information but it's just a never-ending process if they deny the fraud and I keep having them reinvestigate it then the interest will continue to build on the {$7000.00}. At this point they are leaving me no choice. I plan on closing the account with the {$7000.00} left on if they don't remove it. Upon a closing the account I will not pay the {$7000.00} and if they want to send it to collections I will let it go to court if they want to sue me because I know these are not my charges. I also know that I am protected from fraud and I will fight for those rights. I have the money to pay the {$7000.00} off right now, I could make this problem go away by just paying it. That is wrong though. I was with my daughter when this fraud took place, she is just a baby and needs this money. As a consumer I did everything I could to let Discover know that my information was compromised and they let these absurd charges happen. The reasons they are giving for justifying their decision to reverse the fraud are nothing to do with the fraud itself. I am willing to go to court to fight for all this, to fight for the truth. Please reach out to Discover and let them know that if they don't remove the {$7000.00} from my account before the first interest payment hits then I will be closing my account with no intention on ever paying the fraudulent charges. I will fight this in court if they want to sue. I know the truth and I will stand by it. 
The best resolution would be to honor the fact that they did not secure my account. XXXX has already honored it. I always pay my Discover XXXX and I plan on continuing to do that for the purchases I make. I will not pay for thesecurity breaches of my creditors when I did everything in my power to preemptively stop it and to report it as soon as I discovered it.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation