Debit Card Fraud in Europe

[jeremiah33]

tl;dr - we’ve had fraudulent visa debit card charges twice in 6 months, what are we doing wrong?

We are expats living in Portugal and have experienced two rounds of fraudulent charges on our visa debit card in less than six months. Each time we cancel the card and get new ones.

What are we doing wrong?

What can we do to protect ourselves? Maybe pay for everything with credit card or cash? Only use our IBAN of online payments (where available)? Is there something about transactions in Europe we don’t know? How to spot card skimmers?

We never experience this frequency of fraud in our home country.

Thanks!

 

[robert1849]

@jeremiah33 Can you share any details of the fraudulent activity? I use my debit cards for everyday transactions in Italy and never had a fraud incident on their use. Although transactions are not as well protected as credit cards, charges can still be challenged and refunded if the case for it is strong.

 

[jeremiah33]

@robert1849 The first time was four small charges to the Apple App Store. The second time two slightly larger charges from the Google Play Store. None of my family members made the purchases.

 

[robert1849]

@jeremiah33 Interesting as these sound like online transactions where the fraudster would need to know your billing details as well as the CCV code on the back of the card. If you haven't already, you should look at whether 2FA is available for non chip-and pin transactions on your accounts.

 

[jeremiah33]

@robert1849 Good call! Thank you for the extra help

 

[sadboi]

@jeremiah33 Are using Portuguese debit cards?

 

[jeremiah33]

@sadboi Yes, we have a Portuguese bank account and VISA debit cards.

 

[sadboi]

@jeremiah33 I suggest two things:

1) try to pay exclusively through your phone wallet (I.e. Apple Pay). Avoid using the plastic card

2) talk to your bank to make sure you’ve been able to all the security features. The locals normally use. There may be a second factor or something you don’t realize can be turned on

 

[jeremiah33]

@sadboi Good points! Our current bank doesn’t allow Apple Pay with our cards but we are changing banks soon so I’ll remember to ask about this feature.

 

[nilo74]

@jeremiah33 We have ActivoBank and they have tons of fraud mitigation features. Also, use MBWay as much as you can. Between that and Apple Pay and virtual cards you can greatly reduce your exposure. Portuguese banking has a lot of great features especially when compared to the US.

 

[jeremiah33]

@nilo74 Thank you! We are with ABANCA now and are moving to BPI, which seems to have all the services and protections.

 

[nilo74]

@jeremiah33 I'm not sure where you are from, or what type of banking services you are accustom to using, but one thing I found having moved to Portugal from the US is that there are far more and better ways to pay for goods and services here than I was used to in the US. No need for Zelle or Venmo, those features have been built into the system for a generation or more. Portugal's MultiBanco system never stops impressing me with the services and flexibility it offers. I must admit, though, with minimal language skills it took me a long time to understand all of this, and I'm sure there's even more for me to learn. But now, the number of times where I directly use my bank card has shrunk enormously. For online purchases, I use MB-Way a lot, and Apple Pay for all of my in-person purchases that aren't cash.

So, for me a rather long way of saying that time spent learning new ways of paying for goods and services is time well-spent. Maybe if you have an account rep at BPI and language isn't an issue, that person can walk you through all the various options.

 

[jeremiah33]

@nilo74 Thanks for your response! We are also from the US. The language is getting easier but still challenging for more complex situations. Saudé!

 

[nilo74]

@jeremiah33 Yeah - definitely look into some of the "new" payment options available here. Compared to what we are used to from the US, there are so many ways to pay and to send money to people, especially MBWay

 

[trangbee]

@jeremiah33 Many neobanks have app-based security mechanisms where you can activate online, in-store and payments in foreign countries via a switch. I recommend getting such a bank. I don’t know the Portuguese banking market, just check reviews for “good app” or get a neobank from another EU country, some are available not just domestically.

 

[jeremiah33]

@trangbee Thank you! In Portugal, many shops don’t accept non-Portuguese cards so that might prevent us from opening an account in another EU country but I’ll look into it. Very helpful!

 

[trangbee]

@jeremiah33 Is that still a thing in times of Apple and Google Pay contactless payments? I didn’t have any problems at least as a tourist in Portugal many years ago and guess shops and restaurants have even better acceptance of whatever foreign tourists use for payments (typical any Visa or Matercard regardless of the country), while local authorities (eg. registering a car, get a driver’s license, pay penalties/fees) often accept only domestic cards for fee payments, but you need it only less than once a year.

 

[forgivenessx77]

@jeremiah33 Debit card fraud twice in six months is extremely unusual, it's basically unheard of unless you entered your card details on a fraudulent website and then when you changed bank cards you went back onto the same website and entered your card details again. I nearly fell for fraudulent Apple website once because the Home page, besides the web address, was exactly the same as the real Apple one.

 

[mihailolt]

@jeremiah33 I never do any transactions involving my actual card number or physical card.

In person, I use ApplePay which creates a new one-time number for each transaction.

Online I use the bank's feature to create a merchant-specific virtual card number for each company I buy from.

Since starting these practices I've gone years with zero fraudulent problems.

 

[jeremiah33]

@mihailolt Thank you for this very helpful and concise response I need to learn about the merchant specific virtual cards.