I paid with a credit or debit card

A card gives you more ways to get money back than a transfer, a gift card, cash, or crypto. Most of it depends on calling today and telling the bank whether you made the payment or someone else did.

If it’s happening now

The page is still open, or they’re still on the phone. Close it, or hang up. If a code arrives by text, don’t type it in or read it out.

They’re on your computer. Hold the power button until it turns off, and call from your phone. Someone is on the line or on my screen right now.

Then call the number on the back of the card. It’s also on your statement and in the bank’s app. Not a number from a search result or the message. If the app can lock the card, lock it while you wait on hold.

Tell them what you paid for, where, how much, and whether you gave out any code.

What to say

• I paid with this card because of a scam. I need to report it, close the card, and get a new one with a new number. Then I'd like to go through the recent charges with you. I need a case number.

• I made this payment myself, but it was a scam and I never got what I paid for. I want to dispute it. Where do I send that in writing?

• These charges aren't mine. Someone tricked me into giving them my card number. I'm reporting them as unauthorized.

• They also got me to type in a code you texted me. Can you check whether my card's been added to Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Samsung Pay on a phone or watch that isn't mine, and take it off?

• Can you send me that decision in writing, with the documents you based it on?

If something already left your hands

You paid for something that turned out to be a scam. A store from an ad, a toll or delivery fee from a text, tickets, a deposit. Say you made the payment and didn’t get what you paid for, and ask to dispute it. Don’t call it a charge you didn’t make. Have the card closed anyway: they have the number, the expiration date, and the three digits on the back.

You paid for “tech support” or a “fix”. Ask the bank to dispute it, and say they lied to get the payment. The law protects you less when some service was done, but banks can still help. If they were on your computer: I let someone control my computer.

There are charges you didn’t make. Say they’re unauthorized. Federal rules count them that way even though you typed the number in yourself, because you were tricked.

You typed in or read out a code. Tell the bank. On fake toll and delivery pages, the code often adds your card to Apple Pay or Google Wallet on the scammer’s phone. Ask the bank to take your card off any phone or watch you don’t own. A new card alone may not end that: researchers found a card already in someone else’s phone can keep working after the bank replaces it. Code for signing in to your bank? I gave out a code, password, or card number.

You handed over the card itself. Same call. Say whether you gave the PIN. No bank sends anyone to pick up a card. If someone is coming back, call 911. I handed over or mailed cash, gold, or a card.

You used the card to buy gift cards or crypto, or to send money through an app. The store or exchange gave you what you paid for, so the card company often won’t reverse it. Go where the money went: gift cards, crypto, payment apps.

If they say you authorized it

Charges the scammer made: “I gave my number to someone who lied to me. I didn’t make these charges or agree to them.”

The payment you made: agree, then say you didn’t get what you paid for. On a credit card, that’s still a billing error.

If the answer is no, ask for it in writing. They must explain why in writing and, if you ask, send the documents they relied on. That’s true on a credit card, and for charges you didn’t make on a debit card. Then file a complaint with the CFPB at consumerfinance.gov/complaint, or call 855-411-2372.

What the call will be like

A phone menu first: pick fraud, or a lost or stolen card. They may check it’s you with a code texted to your phone. You dialed the number on the card, so reading that code back is fine. They’ll go through recent charges; say which are yours. Expect the card closed, a new one in the mail, and a case number.

What happens next

• A new card arrives. Some automatic payments on the old card will fail: phone, utilities, streaming, insurance. Others get the new number on their own. Real “payment failed” emails will follow. Update each one in its own app or on a site you type in, not through the email.
• A call that says it’s your bank’s fraud team. They have your phone number, and they know the page worked. Hang up and call the number on your card. Someone says they’re from your bank.
• The store may answer the dispute. A scam store may answer with a tracking number for a package that isn’t yours. Send the bank the ad, the site, the order email, and your messages.
• A temporary credit can be taken back if the bank rules against you. On a debit card, the bank has to tell you the date and amount, and for five business days keep paying your checks and automatic payments as if the money were still there.
• Check your statements for a few months, small charges too.

Credit or debit: what the law gives you

Credit card

• Charges you didn’t make: you owe $50 at most, and nothing if only the number was stolen and you still have the card.
• Something you paid for and didn’t get: a billing error under the Fair Credit Billing Act.
• For both, call, then put it in writing so it reaches them within 60 days of the first statement showing the charge. Use the address on your statement for billing inquiries, not the one for payments. Certified mail with a return receipt proves they got it. Already paid the bill? You can still dispute it.
• Once it’s in writing, you don’t have to pay the disputed amount or interest on it while they investigate. They must confirm within 30 days and decide within two billing cycles, 90 days at most. If they rule against you, the interest that built up is added back.

Debit card. The money comes straight out of checking.

• Charges you didn’t make, card still in your hand: you owe nothing if you report within 60 days of the statement that shows them.
• Card lost or stolen: $50 at most if you report within two business days of noticing, up to $500 after that, and possibly everything taken more than 60 days after the statement.
• The bank has 10 business days to investigate, or it must put the money back for now (minus up to $50) and finish within 45 days, or 90 for debit card purchases. If it asks you to confirm in writing, send it within 10 business days of your call, or it doesn’t have to put the money back while it investigates.
• Something you paid for and didn’t get: the law doesn’t promise a refund on debit. Some banks try anyway. Ask.

Many cards promise more than the law. Visa says you won’t be held responsible for unauthorized charges on most of its cards if you report them right away. Ask what yours promises.

The rest

That’s the urgent part. The rest can wait a few hours.

Anyone who offers to get your money back for a fee is running a second scam, including people who say they’re from the FBI, IC3, the FTC, or a law firm. Disputes go through your card company. Someone offers to get my money back.

1. Made an account on the fake site? Change that password from a device you trust, and anywhere else you used it.
2. Save the messages, the receipts, and every case number. Save evidence without spiraling.
3. Report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, and at ic3.gov if it happened online or by text. Forward scam texts to 7726.
4. If you’re 60 or older, or helping someone who is, the National Elder Fraud Hotline (833-372-8311) assigns a case manager to help with the reports. Any age: the AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline (877-908-3360).

What it looks like

Last week your bank closed your card and sent a new one. This email arrives.

Your payment didn't go through

Q

Quillray <[email protected]>

7:42 AM

We couldn't charge your card ending 4471 for your Quillray Premium plan ($17.99).

We'll try again in 3 days. To keep watching without interruption, update your payment method.

Update payment method

Questions? Visit the Quillray Help Center.

What do you do?

• Tap Update payment method and enter your new card
• Delete it. Anything about your card right now is a scam
• Open the Quillray app, or type its address yourself, and update the card there

Show the answers

• Wrong move Tap Update payment method and enter your new card This one is probably real: you did close the card ending 4471. But a fake version looks the same, and its link opens a page that asks for exactly what you'd type: your new card number. You can't tell which one you have from the email.
• Okay Delete it. Anything about your card right now is a scam Safe, but this one is probably real. A new card number breaks some automatic payments, and the service stops when the retries run out. Update it yourself.
• Best move Open the Quillray app, or type its address yourself, and update the card there If the payment really failed, the app will say so and take the new card. If it shows nothing wrong, the email was fake and you've lost nothing.

A replaced card sets off real 'payment failed' messages. Update each one in its own app or on a site you type in yourself, not through the message.

You paid $189.00 by credit card to a store you found through an ad. Three weeks later, nothing has arrived and your emails to the store come back undelivered. You call the number on your card.

(312) 555-0136

Outgoing call · 10:05 AM

1. Rep Thanks for holding. I see a $189.00 charge on the 14th to LUMAVENHOME.SHOP.
2. Rep Did you make this purchase?

What do you say?

• No. Report it as fraud so it gets handled faster
• Yes, but nothing ever arrived. Ask to dispute it as not received
• Yes, and ask them to close the card

Show the answers

• Wrong move No. Report it as fraud so it gets handled faster You did make it. A claim that starts with something untrue is easy to deny once the store shows your order. The true version has its own protection.
• Best move Yes, but nothing ever arrived. Ask to dispute it as not received Paying for something that was never delivered is a billing error under the Fair Credit Billing Act. Ask where to send it in writing. It has to reach them within 60 days of the statement that first showed the charge. Ask for a new card on the same call.
• Okay Yes, and ask them to close the card Worth doing, since the store has your card number. But closing the card doesn't get your $189 back. Ask for the dispute too.

'I didn't make this charge' and 'I made it and got nothing' are different disputes. Say the true one. On a credit card, both can get your money back.