Many people who hold a Bilt Mastercard noticed unauthorized charges to their accounts starting last week. A Bilt representative confirmed that a global fraud ring targeted Bilt cards issued by Wells Fargo. I’ve been checking my account ever since, and fortunately, our card was not compromised in the attack. Even if it was, I’d have no problem about alerting Wells Fargo of the fraud and getting a new card.
However, the hack has put Wells Fargo’s fraud department on high alert.
I used my card for the first time since the news came out about the fraudulent charges on accounts. I needed to make a few purchases to hit the 5 purchase minimum per month required to earn points.
I needed to reload my Starbucks account, so I set up a $25 reload through Apple Pay using my Bilt Mastercard.
It was declined. I moved the charge to my World of Hyatt card and went along with my day.
Five minutes later, I received a text from an unknown number.
FreeMsg: Verify Wells Fargo activity. Card XXXX $25.00 @STARBUCKS 800-7 Reply Y if recognized, or call 833-240-1469. STOP to stop msgs
I texted back with a “Y” to the message and received a reply.
FreeMsg: Thank you. You may use your Wells Fargo card XXXX. Try again after 1 minute if declined. For help, call the number on your card. STOP to stop msgs.
It was too late to use my card again. However, this wasn’t the end of the messages. I received a push notification from the Wells Fargo app asking for me to accept or decline the Starbucks purchase.
Then I received an email from the fraud department.
Finally, I received a phone call from an unknown number. I bet you already guessed it was from 833-240-1469. They left an automated voicemail asking me to verify recent activity on my card.
I can say one thing about the Wells Fargo fraud detection department. They sure are thorough. Besides smoke signals or a messenger pigeon, they used every other means to contact me.
FWIW, the text message came first. If you ever have Wells Fargo decline a charge, that’s the first place I’d look for a fraud notification.
If you have a Bilt Mastercard, I’d suggest using it now. Better to clear a fraud alert now instead of waiting until the 1st when you’re trying to maximize the Rent Day promotion.
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