Australian number, a robot announced that Visa had detected $1600 of gift cards had been bought with my credit card - press 1 to decline, 2 to confirm.
So, I pressed 2. It put me through to a very polite gentleman who had no idea what to do if the person they’re trying to scam says they did spend all that money on the gift cards, and after a very confused attempt to convince me I didn’t buy all the gift cards, he hung up. They maybe need to improve their script.
Just an FYI - Visa won’t call you directly about suspicious activity on your card, that’s the job of your bank. If you get a call like that and you really can’t be sure it’s a scam, hang up and call your bank with whatever number is on their website and get them to confirm.
I knew the scam was a scam instantly, because I have set the limit on my credit card as low as it can go, so it is actually impossible to buy so many gift cards with it. Always set your credit limit as low as you can handle to limit your risk if you do fall for a scam.
Have a low limit on your card, for big purchases that you want to use your CC for, just over load it up to the required amount.
e.g. I have my limit set to $500…if I want to buy a new bed that is $2500, I just add the extra money to the CC from my online banking after I decide which particular one I want and know how much it will cost.
It is not a perfect system, but it does limit my potential loss to the limit of my CC.
With some banks, you can just put a transaction limit on the card and still keep the higher credit limit in case you need it later.
For example, via the commbank app I can implement a transaction limit or apply a spending cap (basically drop the credit limit temporarily with no paperwork). I can also block certain types of transactions such as online international, in person international, cash advances, and gambling.