A domestic YouTuber reported that a taxi fare of 1.8 million won was charged for services not used in China.
Travel YouTuber Birdmoi posted a video titled "I was charged 1.8 million won at a Chinese airport" on his YouTube channel on the 28th.
According to the video, Birdmoi discovered an unused taxi fare on his credit card statement from October of last year. At the time Birdmoi was on a flight from China to Egypt, 1.8 million won was charged across nine transactions via the overseas taxi-hailing app Uber.
Birdmoi noted, "Something very strange happened. Yesterday was the due date for my credit card payment, and my card bill came out to be twice the expected amount. Originally, I usually spend about 1 to 1.5 million won per month, but 3.6 million won was charged. Excluding the flight cost, I had no reason to spend money."
He added, "A total of $1,259 (about 1.8 million won) was charged on October 15 alone through the Uber app. The timing doesn't make sense. $57.80 was charged at 2:38 p.m., $73 at 2:37 p.m., and a total of 9 charges were made within a minute," emphasizing that "it was even charged in British pounds."
Birdmoi stressed, "The more surprising thing is that I was on a flight at a Chinese airport at that time. I had no reason to take an Uber," adding, "I can prove that I was on the plane."
He expressed his disbelief, saying, "What kind of fool charges 300,000 won multiple times on Uber? I've been living abroad for seven years, and this is the first time such an incident has occurred."
Birdmoi, who arrived in Korea in December of last year, filed a dispute through the credit card company’s customer service. He noted, "They say Uber, being an overseas merchant, can take at least 50 days and up to 90 days to resolve issues."
Birdmoi suspected that his credit card information had been duplicated. He said, "On October 15, I traveled from Korea to Egypt via China. Looking at the timing when the card was duplicated, it was at the Chinese airport. I took out my card to buy liquor at the duty-free shop, but my credit card kept getting declined. I tried several times with different machines. Eventually, it didn’t work and I paid with WeChat Pay; that’s when I think the duplication happened."
He stated, "After filing a dispute, I received a message from the card company, and time passed. It seems the card company cannot provide a clear answer. There appear to be more cases like this than expected. If the card company progresses slowly, there is also a way to contact the FSS."
He went on to say, "It’s the Lunar New Year, and many people are traveling abroad these days, so please be careful of card duplication. I realized my mistake was turning off the notification for my credit card payment records. I found out a month later when I saw the bill. It’s better to check thoroughly and immediately."
According to the FSS, to prevent fraudulent transactions, one should enroll in the overseas usage assurance setting and subscribe to the overseas entry and exit information utilization service before departure. By applying for the overseas usage assurance setting service, users can set the country of card use, per-use amount, and usage period to avoid unwanted overseas transactions, such as fraud. Additionally, agreeing to the card company's overseas entry and exit information utilization can block overseas offline payments once there is no record of departure or after confirmed entry into Korea, preventing fraudulent card transactions.
Meanwhile, while the credit card company is generally responsible for fraudulent use, if a cardholder is found to have been negligent, such as not signing the back of the card or transferring the card, some responsibility may also fall on the cardholder.