Case Background

Mr. Liu (pseudonym) is a foreign trade business owner who travels overseas for a long time. One day in 2024, he suddenly received a transaction reminder from the bank, showing that his credit card had made large purchases in multiple countries, totaling up to $120,000. However, these transactions were not authorized by him, and his credit card was always in his hands and was not lost.

Mr. Liu immediately contacted the bank to freeze his account and submitted a rejection application. However, the bank refused to refund the full amount on the grounds that "the transaction had been authorized" and only agreed to refund part of the funds. Faced with this situation, he realized that he could not fully recover his losses by relying solely on the bank's handling, so he decided to seek legal assistance.

Rights protection process

Step 1: Case analysis and case filing

After receiving Mr. Liu's commission, the lawyer team immediately investigated the transaction details and found that these fraudulent transactions involved merchants in multiple countries, and the consumption amounts were abnormally concentrated, which was consistent with the modus operandi of professional fraudulent gangs. At the same time, we assisted Mr. Liu in sorting out all relevant evidence, including bank statements, transaction notifications, consumption records, and communication records with the bank, and formally filed an application for rights protection.

Step 2: Payment channel investigation and responsibility determination

After investigation, we found that most of the fraudulent transactions occurred on e-commerce websites and virtual currency trading platforms that did not have strict identity verification, indicating that there were loopholes in the payment risk control mechanism of these merchants. In addition, the payment authorization method of some transactions was relatively special, and the bank failed to intercept suspicious transactions in time, which was to some extent responsible.

The legal team immediately contacted the relevant payment institutions and credit card organizations (such as Visa and Mastercard), submitted evidence of fraudulent transactions, and applied for a dispute refund (Chargeback). At the same time, we required the bank to assume corresponding responsibilities based on the "Unauthorized Transaction Refund Policy" in the international payment agreement to ensure that the rights and interests of customers are protected.

Step 3: Legal proceedings and negotiations

Since the bank initially refused to pay the full amount, we filed a formal complaint with the financial regulator and prepared to initiate legal action. At the same time, our legal team negotiated with credit card organizations and payment companies, exerting legal pressure on them to assume corresponding liability for the loss of funds.

After several rounds of negotiations, the bank finally agreed to review the case and, under the coordination of the credit card organization, compensated for all the fraudulent transactions.

Step 4: Recover funds

In the end, Mr. Liu successfully recovered all the losses of $120,000 and received additional compensation from the bank. In addition, the results of the investigation into this case also prompted relevant payment institutions to strengthen their security review mechanisms to reduce the occurrence of similar cases in the future.

Case Summary

Common methods of credit card fraud

Hackers steal credit card information through data breaches or phishing emails.

Scammers use fake payment platforms or overseas e-commerce websites to conduct illegal transactions.

Make large purchases at merchants with low security levels and exploit the bank's risk control loopholes to complete the fraudulent purchases.

Use "test transactions" to test whether the credit card is usable. Once successful, conduct larger-scale fraudulent transactions.

Lawyer’s advice: How to prevent credit card fraud?

Bind SMS or email notifications to monitor transaction records in real time.

Enable two-factor authentication on international payment platforms, such as 3D Secure, SMS verification code, etc.

Avoid entering your credit card information on unfamiliar or suspicious websites, using virtual credit cards or payment intermediaries (such as PayPal).

Change your credit card PINs regularly and make sure your cards are not stored in an unsecured online environment.

Once any abnormal transactions are discovered, you should immediately contact the bank to apply for freezing and seek legal assistance as soon as possible.

If you or someone around you encounters similar problems, please contact our legal team immediately. We will do our best to help recover the losses and safeguard your legal rights!