My bank froze my account in Chiang Mai because of a 'suspicious' coffee purchase

I was buying a coffee for 80 baht and my card got declined. The bank said the small, foreign transaction looked like fraud. I had to spend three hours on a terrible phone line to get it sorted. Has anyone else had this happen with their home bank while traveling?

4 comments

4 Comments

karencampbell2mo ago

Oh man, my bank did the same thing over a $5 sandwich in Toronto! It's such a pain.

terry8352mo ago

My buddy's card got flagged for a coffee last week, same deal.

-1

willowg882mo ago

Yeah, it's wild they'll let a huge purchase slide but flag a coffee. Makes you wonder what their fraud system is actually looking for.

mary_nelson711mo ago

Oh man, that is super frustrating... I actually read something the other day about how banks use location data from your phone to check fraud now. But like, if you're in Thailand and you normally live in the US, it probably doesn't matter if you're buying coffee or a car. I heard that some banks look for patterns like small test purchases because scammers will do tiny transactions first to see if the card works. Still doesn't explain why they'd freeze your whole account over an 80 baht coffee though... seems like they could just send you a text first. My sister had a similar thing happen in Vietnam with a bowl of pho, and she was stuck on hold for two hours too.