I'll be willing to wager that your accounts are being rolled over so that they can make a change in the terms and conditions, or hike your rates?

I'd be interested to see if the account terms, interest rates, fees, etc are the same on the "new" cards/accounts.

Another possibility is that some retailer reported a data breach, and they are proactively closing compromised accounts. This has happened to me at BoA.

Isn't it possible that this card was on file with a company that had its system compromised? It would be more efficient (and less embarassing) for a company to go through the credit companies than the consumers if this occurred.

I have an Amazon Visa and go no phone calls or notices.

I have the Freedom card, but haven't heard a thing.

I'm not sure which I have - it used to be a "double platinum" but when that one expired they sent me one that was just branded "Chase." I did get a call from the fraud dept last week, but I'm assuming it's because I hadn't used the card in a while and all of a sudden charged about 500 bucks to it. Once I confirmed the charges, that was it - they aren't closing/resending out new cards.

I had something similar to this happen about a year ago with my chase card. Apparently someone has called in and tried to check my account balance. The call came from a number that was automatically flagged as a fake number. Chase blocked my card and sent me a new one. I activated my new card and the same thing happened - someone from another state called in and tried to see what my account balance was on the new account. This happened 3 times until I was done with it and just canceled my Chase account.

So they're issuing new cards and accounts. But didn't we recently learn that people/companies that supposedly had the proper authorizations on your behalf could still make a charge against a credit account you had closed...and it would be *honored* by the bank, even if you had closed that account specifically because of fraud/theft?

@Sidecutter: Wouldn't surprise me if the same were not true for accounts closed by the bank rather than yourself. Your closing an account probably doesn't matter too much to them, however their closing an account probably does.

This happened to my Chase Freedom card just a week or two ago. They said someone attempted to use it at Macy's and Bed Bath and Beyond for around $1,000 worth of charges. The weird thing was that I rarely use the card and I still had it in my possession...

@KIRZEN2007:

Well, gee, they didn't need any excuses (or notification) to do that before, what's changed?

Have they just pissed off enough people doing it without a cover story that they're worried about getting sued for it?

I have a Chase Freedom card and a Chase Amazon card. No calls from Chase about them as of yet, though.

I also had my Chase Amazon card compromised. Chase called the day after I noticed a $2+ charge on my account (online) and asked me to verify it and another $9+ charge. Both had been made by others prior to attempting, I can only assume, a larger charge at Abercrombie.com which had been declined by Chase. My account was canceled, a new card activated, and fraud affirmations sent for me to sign.
Impressive F A S T work by Chase -

I have a Chase PerfectCard and haven't heard anything from them. I wonder where the (likely) breach was.

i have a chase freedom card and love it. Hopefully this nonsense doesn't start

I have a Chase Freedom Card and the only nonsense they've pulled is not honoring the 1 year of no interest promised to me when I signed up for the card.

So I paid it off in full, will be calling in to say the card has been "lost". When it comes I wont activate it and I'll just throw it in a drawer.

I recently got a Continental Airlines Chase card. I was dutifully checking it online every day waiting for the first automatic pay statement in full payment to be processed to make sure it didn't screw up. Then one day I couldn't log in. Called them up to be told it had a hold on and was passed on to fraud to clear it up. Turns out they seem to closely monitor new cards in particular and obviously I had been suddenly using my card to buy things in such a shockingly normal way they put a hold on. After verifying all the recent charges it was released and the auto payment went through as normal.

I actually appreciate it a little when things like that happen as it gives one hope they might catch the real fraudulent charges.

They gave me a call over the Christmas holiday after I was declined trying to purchase a new computer for my mother. It made sense though, because I very rarely use it for anything but gas (it's a BP Visa), I just used it because it has a higher limit than my mastercard. Kinda irritating in a packed out Best Buy before Christmas though...

I don't have a Chase card, however, my Citibank debit card was hit with several fraudulent charges several weeks ago. Many of my friends and co-workers (I lost count after 20) have also had their Citibak and Chase debit cards and credit cards all compromised within the last several months. The charges seem to come and go in waves, the first round being used to purchase items at drug stores in Texas, and the recent round was gas in Kissamee Florida. The fraud rep from my bank inferred there was a breach at a credit processor somewhere, but I couldn't get any more details than that. The day I went to pick up my replacement card from the bank, there was a whole stack of overnighted envelopes with replacement cards waiting at the desk. (and it was the last working day before christmas, of course). I'm still waiting to get my money back from the bank :(

My Chase Visa got compromised a month or two ago; someone bought $250 worth of gas in Louisiana and then tried to use it at a Wal-Mart next door to the gas station.

Chase called me within a couple of hours, closed the card, and sent me a new one. I filled out a fraud affidavit and was not responsible for the charges.

Same thing happened to both myself and my sister (I live in Louisiana, she lives in Georgia) with our debit cards on Monday. Talked to a few other people with Chase and about half of them have had the same thing happen.

The ridiculous part is that they just leave a voicemail asking you to call their fraud department at 1-800-whatever. So, I called them and they asked for my card info, to which my reply was, "Uhhh...how the hell do I know this is actually Chase?"

The rep acted like it was the first time she was asked that question. I ended up calling the number on the back of my card and asked them to transfer me to the fraud department.

Anyway, neither my sister or I actually had any fraudulent charges, so that's good. Just pisses me off that they won't tell me how it was compromised.

I got a letter from chase the other day saying they have received my inquiry and are looking into it and will get back to me. I had made no inquiry and got on the phone to them right away. They confirmed that no inquiry was made and it looked like a mistake. Just are not known for service, but they have good rewards.

Call them back right away on a number you know to be good to confirm the details. The numbers on the bill are a good bet.
It may not stop the cancellations if they are legitimate, but they will be aware if there is some other issue (someone trying to compromise your cards).

It's not the type of card you have, more likely a place where you used it. A restaurant I go to had a data breach. They contact the credit card companies, the credit card companies do whatever their policy dictates. I got an e-mail, my sister didn't hear anything (different cc company).

Wow... I've been traveling on my Amazon VISA for two weeks. No one has called me. Hmmm... Wouldn't charges in Virginia and North Carolina qualify as susicious?

Edit to last post: I live in Minnesota.

My fiance has had some phony calls to her parents house about her credit card (which is also inactivated and has been for years); though her parents arent connected to any of her accounts and never have been. IDK what shennanigans are being pulled over there at Chase but nothing BAD has ever happened in my experience with them.

I also have an Amazon Visa card and have not received any calls.

I am actually the person who sent this story in. I'd be surprised if it was to change terms, especially the Freedom card that I just got. I was suspicious of the number at first, so I logged in to my online account at chase and it too said both accounts were closed, so I was fairly confident it was legitimate. Luckily there were no bogus charges to the cards. I plan on calling tonight when I have more time to see if I can find out exactly why it was flagged.

They called me a few months ago about 5 minutes after an online purchase. The lady said she was from Chase and could she please get my account number to verify it was me. Giving out my CC number to a random person seemed to be an un-good idea so I said "No Thanks" and hung up.

You know, after reading all these posts, I have to wonder what happens when someone fraudulently purchases $250 worth of gas? I mean, they bought the gas, so it's a consumed good, gone, done. So....where does the difference come out? Your interest rates? Crazy fees? No wonder this country is heading south financially. Bring back cash!!!!

paypal tried to do this to me when their site had a bug and kept crashing when i was making payments/transfers. they wouldnt tell me what caused my account to be flagged or what I could do to prevent it happeneing in the future, just that it was suspect for fraudulent activity and they would lock/close my account if i didnt follow their stupid prodcedural verification process

@erratapage: Depends... Did you buy airline/train/bus tickets or leave a trail of gas stations to the east coast with the same card?

Elislider...If you got that via an email from PayPal that is a commonly known scam from scimbags able to "spoof" a company's email & websites. Paypal and Ebay are common targets. If you get an email like that, forward it to spoof@paypal.com or spoof@ebay.com.
As for the Chase thing, the fraud dept always calls for the most inane $9.00 purchases or the like. They totally ruined my husband's Christmas present by calling then reading off the last several purchases, one from a place that only sells one thing (his present). Nevermind when he flies all over and makes a purchase in one state in the morning, and then another state that evening....does fraud dept care then? No...it's the $9.00 at Target that gets them crazy.

scUmbags, I meant ;)

@LadyCarolineLamb: Actually, PayPal will flag an account and send you an email about it. The key difference between a real PayPal email and the phishing ones are the PayPal ones don't have a direct link to their site. They tell you to log in to your account and follow the steps in the "Resolution Center." The whole process is a total pain in the ass.

I have an Amazon.com Visa through Chase and got a call today (1/2/08). I didn't really pay attention to the number they left on my answering machine. Instead, I called the number on the back of the card and was automatically transferred to their fraud prevention dept. I verified three recent charges, all of which were legit, and all of which were less than $50 each. They basically said, "thanks" and that was it.

very strange . . . .

@LadyCarolineLamb: Credit card fraudsters often make several small purchases before the large ones, at least that's what teh Wiki says.. So, assumably, that's why they care about the $9 charge.

Speaking of voicemails with numbers you can't know to trust, when BoA put a fraud alert on my card (for a purchase I was trying to make, GRR , they had me call a number then had me give some weird number they left in the voicemail. Then it confirmed the card number and the suspect charge, without having me enter any card info myself. Seems like a reasonable way to show trustworthiness, as the only other places that would know both pieces of info would be the retailer or some credit processor.

@marsneedsrabbits: Word. It sounded like a phishing scam to me, too.

Just got a call from Chase within the last hour - same situation. They verified the last few transactions, though nothing was out of the ordinary. The rep told me that even though there were no fraudulent transactions, they had information that my card number was compromised and were canceling it and issuing a new one.

Someone big must have had a security breakdown.

I'm going through the same thing.
Chase canceled my card right before Xmas and sent me a new one, and then called me two days later to verify charges, and then called me again today. In fact, I sit on hold with them as I type this.

SOMETHING odd is going on.

JPMorgan Chase are a bunch of crooks. They pulled a variety of loan shark scams on my credit card. There is no effective way to complain. Cancel your Chase cards before it is too late. They will take advantage of you no matter how long you have been loyal.

This sounds like a typical data compromise to me. Not odd at all... it's only been in the news for 5+ years.

About the different phone number for fraud lines, I have no idea why they do that either, and I've worked in fraud for three separate banks. Call the number on the back of your card (or the number you know to be customer service, whatever), and, if you're especially skeeved out by random number = asking you to verify info = actually your bank, WRITE A LETTER to management. Don't bitch at the CSR, they hear about it 100 times a day, have likely voiced their concerns to management already, and can do zip about it for you. Or, still bitch, but know that they've gone into glazed don't-care mode and are likely thinking about lunch as you calmly state your rational point with oratorical mastery.

Just wanted to provide an update that I got my new cards for both accounts today. Also my online accounts were, to my suprise, actually ported to my new account numbers and all the information (charges, rewards, balances) were all accurate.

To the poster who mentioned you were travelling outside your home state; those charges would show as suspicious if you were simultaneously using your card in your normal area at the same time, if the charged included any cash advances, or if the purchases are for a large amount. Keep in mind that card companies have to balance keeping you safe from fraud with keeping the card convenient, and I'd bet that's a thin wire to walk.

Just yesterday my attempt to purchase gas at the pump with my Chase BP was denied. I immediately went on- line to check my statement and it wasn't available. I sent an email via their website with a response to call fraud protection. And sure enough, even though my card was safely in my wallet there were thousands of dollars of charges not of my making. Now my account is closed and waiting for my replacement card to arrive. They did not offer or share how my account was compromised. Now I need to check my credit standing at all the credit reporting companies. Yikes!