You've been a victim of fraud - what happens next?

You're absolutely right. Fraud happens. From my experience it is common but the response from card issuers can be excellent or abysmal. Customers judge by experience.

Ideally I want to be proactively informed when a fraudulent transaction happens. But whether I'm notified or notice a spurious charge I expect it to be reversed immediately while the matter is investigated and plain and straightforward paperwork sent to me quickly to certify that the transaction is bogus.

Sadly the response from different issuers varies markedly with the best earning my trust and the worst leading me to dispair. The quality of response has no bearing on the size of the institution or the apparent spend on fraud prevention. While many Banks track their customer experience it's amazing that they seem unwilling or blind to tracking experience when customers are subject to fraud. No one yet has asked "How did we do and what could we do better" after I've been the victim.

Far the worst in my experience is Citi who openly admitted that they were six weeks behind in dealing with fradulent transactions and who even now continue to charge interest on fradulent transactions they finally reversed almost two months after being notified of the fraud. If the biggest issuer can't get it right what hope do we have?

Greater than one in seven of all fraud victims break up with their bank or card issuer after fraud occurs, according to Javelin research data. One in two fraud victims are the first to discover fraud, and victims often feel that they want to play a more significant role in their protection. This rotten economy is the perfect backdrop for banks and service providers to innovate ways of finally getting all fraud victims to work together against common enemies. Its time for bankers and card issuers to finally let identity holders (consumers) play a significant role in fraud mitigation, with the reward being loyalty.