Why the Lloyds Avios Amex fraud happened (probably)

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• Ben Chode says:

  31 Dec31 December 05:18

  FWIW: I have used my AmEX platinum multiple times online (at various merchants) simply using the card number and 4-digit code. The expiry date I enter is usually a guess when I don’t have my card to hand it I’ve never had a transaction rejected even after I realise the expiry I entered was completely wrong!

  • JP says:

    31 Dec31 December 08:08

    It will validate against billing address (at least post code) and name though.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      31 Dec31 December 08:12

      Amex doesn’t verify name

      • Rob says:

        31 Dec31 December 11:30

        Correct.

      • Waribai says:

        31 Dec31 December 23:18

        I often find that this applies to Mastercard too. I can enter either mine or my wife’s surname and it makes little difference.

    • John says:

      31 Dec31 December 09:56

      Only the numbers of the postcode are verified

      • RussellH says:

        31 Dec31 December 10:43

        Should check your housenumber too.

  • Mr Dee says:

    31 Dec31 December 17:54

    If the transactions are online then the merchant can often choose which types of transactions to accept based on what security is verified and passed. Offline transactions and in person are different.

• Mr(s) Entitled says:

  31 Dec31 December 05:31

  Headline appears to give a lot more certainty about why the fraud happened than the corresponding article. I’m not a card holder and have no real interest in the story but I fell for the click bate so I guess it worked.

  • Mr(s) Entitled says:

    31 Dec31 December 07:35

    *bait

  • Graeme says:

    31 Dec31 December 08:02

    You poor thing. We should have a whip-round for you.

    • Simon says:

      31 Dec31 December 08:53

      Could add miserable as well!!

    • Mr(s) Entitled says:

      31 Dec31 December 09:11

      Wait…. do you want to offer to refund my subscription as well?

      “Why the Lloyds Avois Fraud Happened” becomes “I was contacted last week by a reader who works in the credit card industry who explained how it could have happened.”

      These are to very different statements and I contend that the headline is misleading and below what I expect from this site based on years of use.

      Criticism can be valid even if fanboys are blind to it.

      • Gary says:

        31 Dec31 December 09:36

        I’m with you on this. The click bait title made the difference between me reading the article and clicking away. So I guess it fulfilled the intended purpose.

      • Graeme says:

        31 Dec31 December 09:39

        well said, from a different Graeme!

      • ups says:

        31 Dec31 December 11:17

        I also agree.
        Rob: Hope you will consider avoiding such clickbait headlines. This and the other article headline (Seven Avios secrets you probably didn’t know) are very much clickbaits and don’t go with the good quality content that you produce. They are more of the Daily Mail variety which I’m sure you’re not aiming for.

      • Rob says:

        31 Dec31 December 11:29

        The guys knows what happened. For legal reasons I have toned it down.

  • Mr Dee says:

    31 Dec31 December 17:57

    I think the truth is known but is often not a good idea to share with the general public the exact details to how some things have been done.

• Genghis says:

  31 Dec31 December 08:28

  OT has anyone’s IHG Creation Dec 17 statement been generated? We’re still waiting

  • Peter K says:

    31 Dec31 December 08:39

    Both my wife and mine have. 27th Dec last and this year.

    • Mr dee says:

      31 Dec31 December 08:55

      Same

    • Graham Walsh says:

      31 Dec31 December 13:14

      Nope, not had my Dec 17 Statement yet

  • Graeme says:

    31 Dec31 December 08:40

    Mine hasn’t generated yet, points transferred over a few days ago though.

  • jason says:

    31 Dec31 December 08:40

    yes around 22nd

    • Genghis says:

      31 Dec31 December 08:44

      Thanks guys. A complete mixed bag then. I always thought Creation generated statements for everyone on the same day.

      • Graeme says:

        31 Dec31 December 08:52

        mine is late though Genghis, previous statements normally generate between 21 and 23 of the month.

      • Liz says:

        31 Dec31 December 08:53

        Same here – pts transferred on 27/12 – the statement has been generated as my payment date says 15/1 but statement not showing to view yet or email received. Very slow this month.

      • Peter K says:

        31 Dec31 December 08:54

        So did I. They have done for my wife and me and we applied at different times.

      • RussellH says:

        31 Dec31 December 10:46

        Mine has usually been 21-23 of the month. December was 27 – points transferred and a statement apparently generated, but not received it yet. Used the card for my final council tax installment; hiopefully will not be billed until the end of Jan.

  • Tim W says:

    31 Dec31 December 09:31

    I’m still waiting for the statement, though the points have transferred and the “recent transactions” has obviously been pruned for transactions on the as yet unavailable statement.

  • thehornets says:

    31 Dec31 December 10:16

    I am waiting too Genghis and have contacted them using their form. Who knows if/when they will reply. Bill was due on 22nd….

    • Peter K says:

      31 Dec31 December 13:02

      It’s are usually earlier in the month but in December last and this year it has been later in the month when the statement has been generated. I imagine they want as much as possible of the xmas buying to be on this statement.

  • Tracy says:

    31 Dec31 December 12:56

    Nope, still waiting. Points have posted to IHG and details are available for payment due date etc

  • Alan says:

    31 Dec31 December 18:01

    Nope – points all across to IHG OK (although thanks to VS transfer had triggered Spire already so didn’t actually need them for that). Suspect we won’t see statement until next working day (2nd Jan in England).

• Siy says:

  31 Dec31 December 09:00

  OT: Can anyone advise how long it takes for the bonus 1000 VFC miles to be credited once the auto-convert has been selected on a clubcard account. I did this for 2 clubcards accounts (quoting the 1 BA account) on the 31st Oct, but am yet to get anything. Just worried that my clubcard vouchers will auto-convert soon if I don’t opt-out again. Thanks

  • Liz says:

    31 Dec31 December 09:35

    Doesn’t look like we got them this time – I switched mine back to vouchers last week. I hadn’t tried it for a while so was hoping to get the points but hey ho !

    • Genghis says:

      31 Dec31 December 11:52

      Current collection period doesn’t end till 25 Jan. I’m leaving mine on until a few days before.

      • Alan says:

        31 Dec31 December 18:09

        Ah OK – I was about to switch mine back (after having a reminder from my calendar!) thinking it was a bust for this quarter but guess can keep going a wee bit longer just in case!

• Genghis says:

  31 Dec31 December 09:12

  I got my last one on 28 Sep after turning on just after receiving the Aug statement (can’t seem to find exactly when generated).

• the real harry1 says:

  31 Dec31 December 09:32

  https://www.firstonetv.net/Live/Germany

  One for Anika!

  And anybody else who fancies a decent TV stream – I’ve been watching it completely satisfactorily out here in the sun, we have broadband, no great shakes, about 12 gigs but I am competing against 3 teenagers 🙂

  Has dropped out a couple of times only.

  No VPN needed, just email registration – seems to run on (very unobtrusive) ads.

  Many countries seem to be covered, eg France has 121 channels to choose from. One to bookmark for your next trip, I feel – or use now to brush up on your French/ German/ Spanish etc?

  Happy New Year!

• Oxonlad says:

  31 Dec31 December 09:43

  As an HFP fan I have to agree with Mrs Entitled, the Lloyds fraud story is poor journalism. It’s one reader’s speculation about the cause.

  Feels like it’s bordering on fake news without any corroboration.

  We’re Lloyds asked to respond to the allegations as per normal editorial guidelines that respectable organisations follow?

  • New Card says:

    31 Dec31 December 11:21

    FWIW Raffles I found the article to be plausible, interesting and informative.

    • Rob says:

      31 Dec31 December 11:27

      The original email from the reader was SUBSTANTIALLY more forthright. This is his job, he knows what happened. For legal reasons I have had to tone it down. I will tweak the headline to keep you happy though!

  • Andrew says:

    31 Dec31 December 11:25

    Generating technically valid numbers is simple enough – whether that is Visa, MasterCard, Amex or just a bank account number. Anyone with a basic grasp of arithmetic can manage it.

    Obviously that account number needs to be “on-file” for it to apply to an account though.

    The contact’s hypothesis is not too outrageous, but I would hope the fraud was far more refined. If it really was that basic there must be hundreds of small businesses, who process offline or have a high threshold for online approval, that have been stung with chargebacks. This would explain the blocking of the relevant number range.

  • Lady London says:

    31 Dec31 December 13:59

    Hum. Let’s just say that a lot of truth can be told sometimes provided it’s not attributed. Headline a bit risky though?

• Ian says:

  31 Dec31 December 09:54

  Re: Lloyd’s Amex

  That seems really far-fetched. Normally, US-based card-cloning scams are carried out using a prepaid or gift card that has had its magnetic stripe overwritten with a different card’s number and expiry. They still use swipe-and-sign in the US, which IMO is why the bulk of the fraudulent transactions occurred there. Some point-of-sale terminals will require the operator to type in the last 4 digits printed on the card to mitigate against this attack, but that’s not very common.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.