Credit Card Fraud (What to do when it happens)

A friend of mine recently had what he thought was a fraudulent charge on his MasterCard while on vacation in Florida. What it turned out to be was the merchant had inadvertently charged the card twice.

There are two ways to go about correcting this: one is to call the merchant and have him credit the amount back onto the card and the other is call the credit card issuer and have them debit the merchant, by disputing the charge. Since the merchant was in Florida and he lives in Chicago, it was more expedient for him to have is credit card issuer recover his funds. If the merchant had been a local business, he could have just as easily went back there to have his card credited to achieve the same results.

The thing to remember is that if you do feel your credit card has been used fraudulently and the merchant is uncooperative, contact the issuing bank of your credit card to dispute the charge.