Help! My credit card fraud claim was denied.

[Self Esteem]

29. I worked in fraud at a major credit card years ago...

When fraud is reported, the credit card will do their due diligence and investigate the charges. This generally results in speaking with the card member, asking them questions about the charge and then requesting information from the merchant related to the charge.

Denied fraud claims are almost always due to the customer refusing to send in specific information requested or it comes back that the merchandise was in fact purchased by the card member (signature matching, the goods were delivered to the address associated with the card).

What I want to know:

1. You claim a third party requested a credit line increase. Did they do this on the website or by calling into the call center? If so, I'm guessing they pretended to be you - is there a record of contact with this third party? In situations where you're investigating what is called 'account takeover' type attributes (meaning, a fraudster called in and changed the info on the account - anything from address on file to requesting new cards or credit line increase), you generally will listen to the call to see if it matches previous calls or if there's anything suspicious about the caller (hesitation answering questions).

2. When a claim is denied, you're told why it's denied. What was their reasoning for denying the claim? If they denied the claim, their fraud investigation team believes you're responsible for that charge. I'm not saying they're right but they don't just blindly deny claims. Reasons for denying claims (beyond what I listed above): you gave someone permission to use the card, you know someone who used the card but don't want to press charges or you bought something and didn't get what you were promised so you claim fraud).

3. Did you file a police report? If you filed a police report, did you give Bank of America the case information?