Fraudulent credit card use

Someone stole my Swiss credit card details and made fraudulent purchases. How can I get my money back? Any experience with this?

In Switzerland, each credit card issuer has its own policy for dealing with fraudulent credit card transactions. Some Swiss issuers expect you to pay a deductible for each fraudulent transaction, but do not hold you responsible to pay the remaining amount.

For example, a deductible of 100 francs applies to each reported fraudulent transaction at Cornèrcard, while payment for the portion of the transaction above that amount is waived. Viseca and Swisscard waive the full fraudulent transaction without a deductible.

Some issuers (like Bonuscard) include CHF 0 liability for fraudulent transactions as a benefit on their high-end credit cards, but do not include this perk on low-end cards. In some cases, this protection is offered as a separate benefit for an extra premium.

All issuers expect you to exercise due dilligence in protecting your credit card information. Standard due dilligence procedures include:

• Signing your credit card as soon as it is issued.
• Never storing your PIN and credit card in the same place.
• Safely discarding receipts of purchases.
• Comparing receipts of purchases with transactions.
• Never sharing your credit card with a third party.
• Contacting your card issuer and having them freeze your account as soon as you realize your card is missing or your card information has been stolen.

If there is doubt as to your exerising due dilligence, your card issuer may hold you liable to cover the full cost of fraudulent transactions.

Best regards from Moneyguru.

More on this topic:
Protecting yourself from credit card fraud
Card skimming: How to protect your money
Phishing: Protecting your money from identity theft
Swiss credit card comparison