Hello, first post here. Thought I’d share this hidden advantage to Tiller’s Autocat.
So, I categorize all my transactions. I don’t keep an eagle eye on my transaction activity, but I auto-categorize as much as I can and take a quick glance at the transaction sheet every so often. However, I only categorize the transactions I recognize, leaving unknown transactions blank.
This is how I found out my card information was stolen. It started out with a $1 - $2 charge with a description I didn’t know what it was for. I wasn’t super alarmed since some subscriptions and gas stations have some hard to cypher descriptions. So, I left the transaction uncategorized. Fast-forward a month or two when I catch up on auto-categorizing and I notice these same transactions continue. They started with $1 - $2, and like clockwork would double every ~2 weeks. After further investigation, I realized these were fraudulent charges. I wouldn’t have even paid attention to these smaller charges without Tiller’s auto-categorization!
For anyone wanting more detail and what to look for. The transaction descriptions were associated with a website. There was actually two websites that started these transactions around the same time, faxsender[dot]site and newslide[dot]us. Those sites are both set up to look like they offer legitimate services. The fraudulent transactions I received would seem legitimate since they match the arbitrary pricing shown on those sites. But, those websites are clearly fake considering the domains were bought only 1-2 months ago.
Agreed. tiller has helped me spot and reverse charges several times . For me it happened with PayPal and Venmo. I always wonder how many folks just allow these transactions because they don’t track their spending and assume their correct. Great job.
Yeah, I was thinking the same. Do you use PayPal a lot / do you like it? Before I would rarely use it. But now I started switching all my subscriptions over to PayPal with the idea it would keep my card more secure. But, it seems there’s still PayPal fraud regardless?
To keep an eye out for fraudulent charges, we use text messages for all of our credit card transactions over $1.00, including those where the card was not present for the charge. It does not take much time at all to glance at a text and see if it looks valid. An added benefit of the text messages is that you have an easy way of seeing pending activity that hasn’t posted yet. Restaurant charges come through without the added tip but that’s ok with us. It’s kind of fun to see how fast the text message comes through when we are out shopping - it’s usually while we are still at the register completing a purchase.
We have been able to close compromised cards within minutes of the first fraudulent charge this way.
Ah very cool. I also get text messages on one of my credit cards, I don’t happen to use that card often though, but the text messages are very fast for sure, and it does only take a second to check. Thanks for the tip.
I manually categorize all my transactions and since I am in Tiller every day or so I catch fraudulent activity when I categorize. Not as fast as a text but it serves me well.
I just saw this, and coincidentally, discovered the same thing last night via my Tiller uncategorized transactions. In this case it was multiple Uber charges coming from India, and we do not typically use (or autocat) Uber.
That is terrible. Over the last few years, I estimate I am getting a new credit card (because of fraud) every 9-12 months. We all need to assume our credit card information is available to the fraudsters and act accordingly. Checking Tiller daily helps. Someone mentioned the other day about setting up text alerts with the credit card companies. I think I am going to do that. Also, I have credit freezes with all of the credit bureaus and just recently got an IP PIN from the IRS for my tax returns. Stay vigilant. Be safe. Blake
