How to Track, Stop and Report Fraudulent Charges

Finding a suspicious charge on your credit card or financial account can be frightening, and you may wonder how you can track, stop and report these fraudulent charges.

Recent studies by organizations such as Intuit have found that more than 450,000 cases of credit card fraud are reported annually, with the majority of these cases being identity theft.

It’s crucial for you to know what to do in the event you find yourself the victim of identity theft or fraud.

This article outlines some essential steps to follow if you find suspicious charges on your credit cards or other financial accounts.

Before we begin, however, please note that the absolute worst thing you can do in this situation is nothing.

At a bare minimum, you should always contact your bank immediately to report the fraud if you find a suspicious charge on any of your accounts.

1. Keep detailed records of your finances, and review them regularly

The first and most important protection you can control is regularly reviewing your finances for errors or instances of fraud.

Most modern banks have safeguards built in to help protect you from suspicious activity.

For example, most new credit cards have built-in security features that can help reduce the risk of skimming and other tactics meant to steal your card details.

Similarly, banks and other financial institutions have systems in place behind-the-scenes to identify and stop most forms of fraud before they post to your account.

However, no matter how secure a system is, there’s still a small chance that a case of fraud might slip through the cracks.

Because of situations where this may occur, it’s critical for you to keep detailed financial records and check them regularly for suspicious activity.

And if you’ve identified a case of potential fraud or identity theft, you should take care to properly document both the original charges and any communication you have with your bank to solve the issue as quickly as possible.

Record any information you have about the fraud (such as the date and the source of the charges), as well as the date and name of each person you contact about the fraudulent activity.

Follow up any phone calls with a written communication (such as a letter or email) documenting and confirming the information that was discussed for record-keeping purposes.

2. Notify your creditors immediately if you identify a fraudulent charge

Notify your bank (or whatever other institution manages the account in question) the moment you identify a fraudulent charge.

Your bank or creditor should have a dedicated resources page, phone number or another form of contact for you to report the fraudulent charge.

Further, they should have systems and processes in place for exactly how you should work to resolve the issue.

Your first action after finding a suspicious charge on your account should be to contact your bank to begin working through their process for resolving fraud.

This will most often mean showing your bank the specific charges you think are fraudulent so they can begin an internal investigation into the fraud.

Often, they’ll look at information such as when the charge was made, in what location and whether the charges match other similar instances of fraud in their system.

If they find that the charge is likely to be a form of fraud, they’ll usually remove the charges from your account (in the case of a credit card) or return money to your account to cover the charges (in the case of a savings or checking account).

In either situation, it may be wise to freeze charges on the compromised account until you can receive a new card in the mail or otherwise secure your financial information.

3. File a report with your local police department

Depending on the severity of the fraud, it may be worthwhile to report the crime to your local police department.

In general, there are two main reasons why you’d want to report the crime to the police:

• Depending on how the fraud occurred, your bank or the service that processed the charges may request a copy of the police report for their records.
• In the event the crime is solvable (such as if someone you know stole your account details), or you experience several instances of identity theft at once (such as if someone stole your Social Security number and used it to open multiple accounts) filing a police report can help you coordinate your efforts with the police and any other organizations.

While some cases may not require a police report—such as if you find a fraudulent charge on your credit card that your bank can resolve internally—there’s typically no harm in filing a report whenever you identify identity theft or fraud.

In more serious situations, however, it may be wise to ask the police to investigate the matter to help protect your personal and financial interests.

4. Report the crime to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) collects data from cases of identity theft and fraud and stores it in a secure online database accessible by law enforcement agencies worldwide.

This system helps make investigating identity theft and other forms of fraud easier for law enforcement and helps the FTC better identify patterns of how this type of fraud occurs.

The FTC also maintains a dedicated Identity Theft website called IdentityTheft.gov that can help you find various private and government agencies that can provide assistance in cases of identity theft and fraud.

Importantly, this website can help you create a personal recovery plan for ensuring your accounts are safe following a case of identity theft.

In addition to customized plans, IdentityTheft.gov also provides a complete list of steps you should follow for other forms of identity theft.

For example, if someone steals your account details to open a fraudulent account at a phone company or to apply for government benefits, this site can help you determine what steps to take.

We highly encourage you to browse through the FTC’s educational resources to better understand the steps you should take to protect your accounts.

5. Contact the three major credit bureaus

Finally, you should report any fraud to the three major credit bureaus so they can place a fraud alert on your accounts.

This can help you prevent new accounts from being opened in your name.

The information for contacting these three credit bureaus is as follows:

TransUnion Credit Services
800-680-7289
www.transunion.com

Equifax Credit Services
800-525-6285
www.equifax.com

Experian Credit Services
888-397-3742
www.experian.com

In some situations, it may also be wise to freeze your credit entirely to prevent future cases of fraud.

Especially in cases where someone used your information to open new credit accounts, fixing the effects of the fraud after the fact can be complicated.

By freezing your credit, you can prevent anyone from opening new credit accounts in your name indefinitely.

Further, freezing and unfreezing your accounts is entirely free, and all three bureaus have easy online portals for doing so.

Finally, you should remember that you can request a copy of your credit report for free once every 12 months using annualcreditreport.com.

By federal law, the three major credit bureaus maintain this website as a fast and secure way to review your credit information.

After an instance of identity theft or fraud, it’s well worth your time to pull your credit reports so you can review your credit history for other forms of fraud.

Take action to prevent fraud and ensure your financial wellness

If you find a fraudulent charge on one of your accounts—or otherwise believe you’ve been a victim of identity theft—you should take immediate action to correct the problem.

To start, you should always contact the bank or financial institution that manages the compromised account.

Often, they’ll have systems in place for investigating the source of the fraud, as well as the ability to correct the issue, either by removing the charges from your credit card or replacing the funds in your bank account.

In some cases, you may also want to report the fraud to your local police department or the FTC to gain access to additional resources for reversing the transactions and protecting yourself in the future.

Finally, you should always review your credit reports after a case of fraud or identity theft to ensure your broader credit remains healthy and uncompromised.

Whether by setting up fraud alerts through the major credit bureaus or regularly reviewing your credit reports, it’s critical for you to take steps to maintain ongoing financial wellness.

If you’re an Associated Bank customer and you have any questions about identity theft—or believe you’ve been the victim of fraud—please reach out to our fraud team immediately.

The best and first step following any instance of fraud is always speak with your banking partner as soon as possible so they can help you resolve the issue.

Our financial security professionals are prepared to help you take steps to secure both your accounts and your financial future.