My credit card info ripped off by Advantage Rental Car in Quito
Replies: 15 - Last Post: Nov 27, 2012 11:01 PM Last Post By: jgcp
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My credit card info ripped off by Advantage Rental Car in Quito
DO NOT RENT WITH ADVANTAGE! My credit card info was stolen and used.I just rented a car with them last weekend from their branch at the airport. A couple days after I returned the car, I received a phone call from my credit card company (in the US) asking about suspicious charges. Someone made a charge for $897 at a ¨best buy¨in guayaquil and attemped to make more charges that were denied. My rental charge was posted by a ¨Team rent a car¨ in Guayaquil so I´m assuming its someone at their headquarters branch down there that handled the processing of my information and used the information to make charges since they had all my credit card info, card number, expiration date and the code on the back. I´m not sure how they were able to make charges without the actual physical card.
When I called the Advantage branch where I rented from, they were of no help and not really apologetic at all. They couldn´t explain what happened and said they have no control of the bank that processes the information.
Then I called the Hertz customer service (they own Advantage) in the U.S. and they said they would look into it and call me back.
My credit card company should refund me the fraudalant charge but I just wanted to let the LP world know.
1
There is nothing like "Best Buy" chain in Ecuador AFAIKCC will reimburse you for sure, but who took your details is pure speculation. They will run investigation and then you may know
They don't need your physical card, if they have details they can just make a clone out of it, and because many cc are not protected by pin and chip, but rather with medieval magnetic stripe and signature it's plain easy to pay with cloned cards
That's why US is pushing the world backwards with their stubbornness of adopting real technology
All my cards are chip cards, but they also have magnetic stripe because of US, without magnetic stripe this scam is possible, you can only use those details online or over the phone, but most companies don't ship to other than billing address
2
yeah I know there is no actual Best Buy chain in guayaquil but thats what the charge is showing up as on my credit card. The person (s) also tried to authorize additional charges at other locations but were unsuccessful as my credit card company declined the charges due to suspicious behavior.Yes are you are right that its pure speculation as to which individual took my CC details but its someone that works for the company and I just wanted to pass on my experience as that person probably has done this before or will attempt again.
3
In a perfect world the CC company will reimburse you, yeah.However, with all the intermediaries banks and agencies jumping in these days, it is not this simple.I have relatives who are still fighting with their credit card issuers about unlawful billings or double billings, even with clear documentary proof. I have had to deal with the intermediary Chilean, and Argentinean banks all year on their behalf, and it is not fun. MASTERCARD and VISA international is sitting back and not trying to get all the squabbling banks to sort things out these days, and more and more card-issuing banks are saying that we have to go to the source and resolve the problems. Why are there so many complaints about unresolved credit card charges on this and other travel forums if it is so simple? It's not.
Travel agents and banks, or others, who say just travel, charge it, and do not worry are not doing service to their clients.
4
This is the first time I used my CC in Ecuador since August (and I used it once then at a major department store) so I'm pretty sure its them. Since I moved to Quito in June, I've used my credit card twice and the fraudulent charges started the same day my rental car charges posted in Guayaquil (and the fraudulent charges were attempted in Guayaquil). And when I called their branch and the Hertz customer service line in the U.S., they were not very helpful at all. I'm just stating my experience, readers can choose to read my post and still use them or not use them obviously.Edited by: El_Capitan
6
That's why a lot of people now are starting to travel with a top up third credit card which can only be topped up by you with your credit card and you only put enough money in it to cover transactions like the one you did with the rental card so no more money than you agreed to pay can be taken from it. I know of several people who travel this way now and they have had no problems being overcharged by various companies or people. They take a couple of these cards so if one does get compromised they use the other one... or as one friend did used one only for credit card uses and the other to draw money out of arms and topped both cards up as necessary over the net via their bank or credit union - can't remember which now so if mugged the thieves could only draw out a minute amount if anything at all...7
#7 I do it with my debit card, I just put the limit in online banking - works the same way, of course getting a replacement is a bigger pain, but I usually have a few of them anyway.For cc you don't really have to care about being scammed, once again it's not your money - you just don't pay the bill with the charges you dispute and that's it. Grace period is usually enough for them to run the investigation.
8
Although they may charge you and the merchants higher fees, AMEX have been proactive with my card recently detecting evidence of fraud before I knew about it and quickly issuing me a new card with chip and PIN. My former AMEX card was a magnetic strip type.AMEX have also debited "chargebacks" against merchants who, although not fraudulent, charged me for services not satisfactorily provided.
9
Chargbacks are not unique to AMEX, both MC and Visa are using same mechanism. I'm not really sure if brand has anything to do with claims, I had to go trough my bank for skimming on my debit card and for dispute on credit, I haven't contacted visa or MC directly - the procedure is different, not sure about AMEX as I've never had one.BTW AMEX is rather poor idea for south america as is not accepted almost anywhere.
Edited by: ban_janti_return
10
That's not been my experience as all my Amex service has been OK. In SA I had no trouble with AMEX acceptance: probably depends how far off the beaten track you venture.One thing I do notice is that only at home in Australia do some sellers (albeit a minority) impose a surcharge of 1% - 3% on AMEX and other brand credit card transactions..... but I digress.
I do agree that you should always take more than one credit card.
14
Well, sometimes they do, sometimes not. Once I got charged twice for the same purchase, exactly the same amount with one minute of difference with Visa in a wellknown argentinean supermarket and an important amount. The system didn´t work well at that moment, that´s why they passed the card twice as the first time it was declined but finally Visa at the end billed me 2 times. If it isn´t suspicious for a credit card, then I really don´t know. Of course I complained and didn´t have to pay but they should have watched better over their own mistakes. Sometimes for much less you just get blockedADVERTISEMENT
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