Consumer complaint received 2022-11-23
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems — Add-on products and services
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION (VA)

I received a text claiming that my XXXX account had been hacked. I called the number in the text, a number that appeared to be an official XXXX number that was also appeared to be associated with the XXXX online site. To fix the problem, they instructed me to purchase " security cards, '' which were really XXXX gift cards, to investigate the hackers. While on the line with them, I purchased {$3500.00} worth of cards, which were really just store gift cards, and they pressed me to buy more. Each time, they sent me a text message from the " XXXX fraud team '' that my charges were being refunded to my credit card, including the last XXXX digits of my Capitol One credit card number in the text. Realizing that this was likely a scam, I returned home to try to stop the charges. When I returned home, I checked my Capitol One credit card account online to see whether the funds were being refunded. I saw that the charges for the cards were still pending on my account, and tried to cancel them online. I called XXXX and confirmed that this was a common fraud. I then called my Capitol One credit card company and spoke with an account XXXX, who told me to wait until the charges were posted to file a dispute. I got off the phone with the clear notion of " not to worry '' -- that Capitol One would take care of it. I then thought that perhaps I could return the " security cards '' to the store. I called Capitol One again and spoke with a different account XXXX, who informed me that most likely my account would not be refunded with a dispute. She said that I should call the merchant -- XXXX -- whose credit cards I had purchased. I called XXXX, and was told that the gift cards had already been redeemed, and that there was nothing more that they could do. I called the Capitol One a third time because the charges were still pending. The account XXXX said that because I purchased the cards with a chip, it was not considered fraud, but that I could still close out the card and file a fraud report. I asked her to do this. She insisted that they could not stop the pending charges. She said that the charges would be temporarily credited but would be re-installed after the investigation of the fraud report because I " authorized '' the purchase with a chip. 

I was shocked that the gift card merchant, XXXX, who pocketed the {$3500.00}, had no other recourse of action. I was even more shocked that the credit card company did not consider this a matter of fraud. Even the account XXXX we spoke to last was not aware of this policy -- that such activity would not be covered by the fraud insurance -- and had to consult a supervisor. We asked why, given the irregular pattern of purchases, Capitol One did not put a hold on the card, as we have experienced a couple of times before when irregular purchases have put the account on alert. Given that this is a " common '' fraud scheme, it is alarming that the credit card company has not created an algorithm to help prevent this.