My wife and I had to travel to Dallas in separate vehicles on Monday. We came back yesterday. I was following her, and we both stopped for a bio break and to get some gas. We both pulled up to the gas station at the same pump, here minivan on one side, my car on the other. I used my credit card on my side of the pump, then I handed the same card to her on the other side. So we had two transactions on the same card at the same gas station at the same pump with 15 seconds of each other.
Now I know I just presented a scenario where this could happen. But my mind immediately started wondering if I was going to get a call from Visa. This just seems like the type of thing that should kick off a warning. I wouldn’t think they would wonder if my wife had used her card and I had used mine, since obviously we can be in two different locations at the same time. But I don’t think this would be classified the same way.
Of course, I did receive calls when I started travelling to Dallas frequently, but after the second time I told them that I would be going to Dallas a lot, so I think they started filtering those transactions. But I wonder if this should not have set off something.
Vet
The Issuing Bank, and their Risk/Fraud Department would be responsible for this type of fraud or velocity checking, not Visa. Visa is an association of member banks, and most likely the banks outsource the processing to a 3rd party processor.
Generally 2 transactions is a small limit for a velocity check, and these are set much higher in practice and generally would look at aggregate $ amount as well, and also based upon a lot of usage in different states and/or countries (depending if it is a card present or card not present transaction)
Additionally, velocity checking within a specific timeframe is an expensive process to perform from a CPU and I/O and Database perspective. and are mostly identified via batch processes, and prevented before the transaction settles, rather then real-time operations on a financial authorization switch.
Additionally, Visa,MC and the order card brands, do what ever possible for “acceptance” of the card. So blocking transactions using velocity checks with a high rate of false positive would make people use more cash
Regards,
DB