Scammed; "Netflix Amsterdam"

G’day,

So, last month I noticed 3 charges by “Netflix Amsterdam NL” on the same day, all for US$11.99 (around $15 AU) on my CBA bank account. I have a Netflix account… I know “internationals” often use foreign countries to avoid taxes… brain said… Arrhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…

Time went by.

Today, I noticed it again - 3 x $15 from Netflix Amsterdam. Actually engaged the brain this time, and remembered - I pay Netflix via PayPal… not c/card! (Transactions as such show up on CBA account as coming from PayPal, not Netflix.)

I contacted Netflix via their website, and they confirmed my account is being paid by PayPal… And 3 other accounts set up under Netflix Amsterdam NL are being paid by my c/card. The Netflix operator deleted the NL accounts, barred the devices that had been using them, and also blocked the email addresses.

Contacted CBA and told them the story, and they are going to refund all the transactions - a total of 9 x US $11.99 (as they’d actually started in April). If “Netflix Amsterdam” dispute the request, CBA have permission to argue on my behalf that I did not authorise the transactions. Hopefully that will be the end of it… (oh, and c/card now cancelled, new one to arrive within 7 days.)

Morale of the story - check your transaction history on a regular basis!

Cheers

cosmic

4 Likes

Hell yeah! I think thats why I like Macquarie so much. Instant notification of spends. Mind you, CBA also notifies transactions of late… maybe a setting?

I think I’d go nuts if I got an SMS every time me / my wife made a transaction… But I’m glad I finally picked up on what was happening when I did. All up it came to around $120 - not crippling, but still a lot of money to us.

You would think though that it should have raised some alarm bells. CBA can tell me for instance all kinds of info on the companies that I transact with… surely a tv subscription in the Netherlands should have alerted them…

The interesting part from my view… The guy from CBA was of the impression that whoever set up the Netflix accounts had not just my wife’s (was her card) c/card number, but also the CCV. I know from my own work that there are payment gateways that do not require the CCV, so I’m not 100% in agreement with that assumption, however it does suggest that perhaps my wife has paid for something online using her card, plus CCV, and that’s how the details were skimmed and passed on… :frowning:

(And she has dealt with, and receives at least a dozen emails every day from people like Cudo, Hippo Blue, Click Frenzy, Deals Extra, Little Bubba, Quickcliq, Wish…)

I know it could potentially have been someone that physically handled her card, but suspect it was more likely one of these online entities. Has opened her eyes at least, and thankfully as noted it wasn’t a gut breaking amount of money, and we’re likely to be fully reimbursed at this point at least.

When I was with ANZ I found they were very proactive with this stuff.

Quite often I made a purchase which threw up flags and they’d call me immediately - and I’m not exaggerating there. Usually 30 seconds after the transaction and there’d be someone on the phone asking to verify I made the purchase.

My credit card is now with a credit union, and they’re a bit behind. Usually takes 3 or 4 days for someone to call and ask it’s legit.

Heya Cosmicboho

I’m also with CBA & I had the exact same unauthorised transactions from “Netflix Amsterdam” occur tonight ($15.77) x 2 within an hour of each other.

I was told the same information as you from both Netflix & CBA, card cancelled & DD card details flag in Netflix system as unauthorised.

I just wanted to ask you what your outcome was in regards to the CBA disputing the case on your behalf? And if you had successfully received the refund?

Also, can I ask if your wife shops online with ASOS? I’m not big on online shopping especially when it comes to international sellers. All the purchases I’ve made online are within Australia & have been safe, so far. I recently purchased a few items from ASOS and now I’m wondering if my card details somehow was hacked from there.

The outgoing notification alerts in my CBA app is what flag me. Definitely worth while turning this on :+1:t3:

I have a similar case with “Ola” charges on my CBA account. 3x charges and they tried the 4th time an hour later but was unsuccessful. It would send me notification for each transaction and this happened around 3am, so I blocked my card via netbank and called CBA the next morning. Not sure how it happened though, I rarely use the card/account.

Ever since, I would review transactions from my credit card and other accounts weekly lol.

I had over $3000 in bogus charges from Sydney last year and I am fairly confident the culprit either worked for Kayo Sports or hacked their systems.

I now use gift cards where possible, although most if not all services require a credit card on file. But by using vouchers I buy from the supermarket, I should never see a CC transaction for Netflix, Stan, Spotify, Kayo Sports, etc

I’ve been done a few times over the years, $10k late last year was the biggest. CBA were relatively good in resolving it. They replaced the card very quickly, but this time round it had maxed out the card which meant I couldn’t use it or re-sign up any of my services to the new card number until they cleared the bogus charges which took about 10 days. It was clearly fraud but they had to go through the motions and couldn’t/wouldn’t release the credit untli they had done their thing.

It’s very interesting this time as it was a local merchant I’d never used where all the were made. Also I use my Apple Watch for almost all transactions so that card very very rarely leaves my wallet. Even then it’s in my hand while I tap… so I guess maybe it was read by a passerby with a card reader?? In any case, CBA didn’t seem at all interested when I handed them the police report and contact number for the Seargent on the case and told them this was an organised attack that had been used multiple times and was under investigation. Seems they just write it off and move on.

Once upon a time CBA provided a Mastercard AND an AMEX with different card numbers. I used the AMEX online and the Mastercard in the real world figuring that if I got compromised it would be online and cancelling/replacing that ‘online’ card wouldn’t mess with my day to day activities. Sadly they stopped doing that so I only have a singe card these days.

I have heard ads for Privacy a bunch of times. They provide virtual credit cards which can be locked to particular merchants and/or individual transactions limits and/or monthly limits. So create a card for Netflix for no more than $20 a month and it doesn’t matter if they ever get hacked because they are the only merchant that can use that number and it’s for a capped amount too.

I’ve not looked into if it’s possible to use in Australia (Privacy being US and all), even then I don’t know if you end up paying for multiple conversions as you pay AUD from USD then pay the balance of USD in AUD?? Would be very nice if there was something like this in Australia. I mean with our online world and the rate of fraud, wouldn’t something like this be ideal?

EDIT: Seems it is US only :frowning:

EDIT #2: Apparently This mob work in Australia, although you need the premium service for disposable cards: https://www.revolut.com/en-AU (which are only single use). I don’t know that it’s worth $11 / month for my use cases, it would be cheaper just to have a second CC that has minimal credit for what I need or a second debit card/account that only carries enough balance for what I need at any point in time.

1 Like

I use Apple Pay everywhere I can via phone or watch. We almost never need to enter a PIN so no account/card number or PIN is exposed.

When we have to provide a card number, or use a real card (no Apple Pay support), then we have a CC that we do not use for anything else. So, if it is compromised, it does not affect any regular payments.

2 Likes

Might be suitable for some:
CBA has 1 CC with a $400 min limit and 3 with a $500 min limit.

I use apple Pay wherever I can, and online its paypal where possible. I do have to use a CC from time to time but its so rare if anything goes wrong I will know where and which company.

Thanks for reminding me @kyte. I forgot PayPal. We use that much more than Apple Pay online.