Consumer complaint received 2022-01-10
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: NJ
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:
This is a complaint about the commercial credit fraud division of Capital One bank. I was at home on XXXX  XX/XX/XXXX when pending charges appeared on my Business credit card account. At XXXX pm I alerted Capital One of the fraudulent charges. They were pending at the time so no further information was available. 
The charges were for {$27.00} at XXXX clothing store and {$11.00} at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX separately occurring on location in XXXX, NJ which is a nearby city. The Available information online suggests XXXX XXXX is a gas station or car mechanic attached to XXXX, the address provided to capital one was that of a car dealership. This information was readily available on XXXX maps. A phone call to XXXX XXXX went unanswered and XXXX  answered and confirmed they do not open until XXXX. 
I was initially issued a credit for these charges and a new updated card. I was quarantining at home on the day in question ( XX/XX/XXXX ) and know full well I was not at those locations. Furthermore, information on my credit statement show both the chip transaction occurred at XXXX XXXX morning the XXXX of XXXX. These businesses have distinct addresses that would make it impossible to transact with simultaneously. Not only that, the clothing store does not open until XXXX. Even if they were batched from the weekend I was not in the city of XXXX at any point in recent memory. Capital One confirmed the strangeness of the charges on my initial report, noting the card was used in a chip reader. 
On XX/XX/XXXX Capital one reversed the credits provided to me and sent a letter claiming they had performed an investigation and determined NO Fraud took place, further citing they believed me or another account holder may have benefited from the transaction. They provided no corroborating evidence and conducted no interviews either in person or on the phone. This is despite the evidence I provided. 
The only claim Capital One asserts is that their chip functions can not be copied or stolen. The claim was said with the same confidence and hubris as the XXXX can not sink when I reported this on XX/XX/XXXX to a customer service agent who then elevated me to a supervisor named XXXX. This is after I was placed on a XXXX minute hold to speak with an agent about the letter on XX/XX/XXXX that was eventually disconnected without speaking to anyone. XXXX, the supervising agent further told me that the investigation was concluded and I could not reopen it. Several minutes later he said if I had documentation to support my claim I could submit it to them and they would evaluate it. Again, his only response to my claims that I did not make the purchases in question was that the chips were impossible to commit fraud with. I asked him for all the information he had on the case to be shared with me. 
Even confirming the time discrepancy and my assertion that the card was in my possession while I was quarantined at home ( and asleep at XXXX for that matter ) and that one of the businesses was far from the other still did not sway his conviction that fraud was impossible. This flies in the face of their fraud protection guarantees. Even worse, this accuses me of criminal activity in falsely reporting theft and committing credit card fraud myself. The agents I spoke with confirmed the only research performed by the fraud investigators was the above assertion of perfectly secured chips and the fact that I told an agent on the initial fraud call that I had the card in hand at the time of the phone call. Even a hypothetical situation where my card was stolen from my wallet and used, then replaced without my knowledge, still was not enough fraud or impetus to reopen the claim according to their policies. 
They did not call the businesses in question ( as I did ), they did not research the legitimacy of the establishments ( as I and XXXX did ), Capital One did not confirm any security camera footage or produce batch receipts from the businesses in question, and they certainly did not conduct a fair and thorough review of my claims. Further insinuating that I improperly benefited from these small transactions and barring me from disputing or appealing their investigators finding is even more troublesome than the initial fraudulent charges. This suggests I am not the only one who has been treated this way. It also suggests gross negligence on behalf of Capital One Bank, a major American financial institution, in dereliction of oversight on commercial credit accounts. They have violated their fraud guarantee and covenant with me and my business.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief