Qantas Premium Platinum Mastercard (issued by Citibank) - fraud on unactivated cards

[bronros]

Have had my QPP Mastercard cancelled 4 times in succession this year due to fraudulent transactions - the last two were racked up on UNACTIVATED cards. The first fraud was a mere $1.99 charge by 'OnlyFans (London)' - the bank queried it with me and promptly cancelled my card and sent me a new one. The replacement card (#2) got cancelled because I fell for a text scam ('Australia Post'), I entered my card details but did not submit, I rang the bank and they cancelled my card. Got sent card #3, had trouble activating it due to incorrect passwords/PINs. Meanwhile, my husband checks our Qantas Money app and sees that approx $10K has been spent on my card PRIOR to card being activated!!! We contacted Citibank fraud, they confirmed the card was not activated when the fraudent transactions were made ($9,565 spent in one day in my hometown city). They cancelled card #3 and sent me card #4. I received it, decided I would no longer use it as my personal details have been compromised, and set aside the letter with the card still attached to it. Not long after my husband checks our Qantas Money app, approx $7,000 has been spent on card #4 and it was never activated. We reported it to the bank and told them I did not want another card. How does this happen???!!! Very suss in my opinion. The fraudulent transactions were made via numerous purchases at Woolworths, Officeworks, KMart, JB HiFi, Apple Store, LuluLemon, all in my hometown city. My husband has a linked Mastercard (the primary card) and has had no problems with it. Just wondering if anyone else has had fraudulent transactions on an unactivated credit card?

 

[ZigZagWanderer]

It sounds like they have a leak in their system. Either a hacker or a rogue employee skimming details.

I cannot see any other explanation, if the card details were never entered anywhere for the three fraudulently used cards.

 

[bronros]

It sounds like they have a leak in their system. Either a hacker or a rogue employee skimming details.

I cannot see any other explanation, if the card details were never entered anywhere for the three fraudulently used cards.

That’s what I reckon, ZZW - it’s a bit unnerving to say the least.

 

[glasszon]

Something doesn't add up; the whole point of having to activate the card was so people can't steal the card from the mail and go on a shopping spree. Either something went really wrong with Citibank's system that allows people to use unactivated cards (unlikely), or the card came pre-activated (more likely, sometimes I do receive cards that have been pre-activated).

Given the issues you had with them so far, I would raise a formal complaint so you can get someone to go through your file. Don't trust the staff from normal call centres, they are trained to deal with routine issues, not frauds that are in excess of 10k. If you really want to get them moving, find Citibank's contact detail via AFCA, that goes to an escalation team that bypass the normal channels.

 

[bronros]

Thanks glasszon, that makes sense. We have been speaking to Citibank‘s fraud section, but as you say, it is a call centre and I wasn’t impressed with their efficiency or knowledge. At the end of the day, it is their problem but it concerns me that it’s possibly not getting the correct attention and investigation.