HugeNerd - 4:11 pm on Feb 16, 2009 (gmt 0)

I just found out this morning that thieves do the exact same thing--seeing if they can get a $1 charge to authorize through some service like Itunes...

My understanding is that gas station pumps are a favorite place of thieves to test stolen cards. This is because they can walk-up with a gas tank in hand and easily hide their face from identification. Not to mention that gas stations, until rather recently, made no attempt to verify billing address, etc. Also, gas stations rarely trigger fraud alerts because, well, who hasn't used their credit card at a gas station to avoid going inside? -- so the charges never seem out of the ordinary.

As for the Amazon $1 charge, I don't have an exact answer to share... However, I get my car insurance through Progressive and have them automatically withdraw the payment from my account. Every time, right before the payment hits, I see a charge for a small amount. I am assuming this is to make sure the card/account is still valid a few days prior to withdrawing the full amount; doing so gives them time to contact me and resolves any problems before the payment is actually due.