Just made a purchase with an expired card

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Thought this might interest those of you who are operating under the belief that you are "safe" from unwanted charges if you change the expiration date on your credit card. You are not.

Recent discussions about Pearson Vue accepting a valid card with an expired date piqued my interest more than usual. So I just went to an online retailer that I have used before, and made a purchase. I changed my account information so that the card's expiration date is different (and in the past), and then submitted my order.

Guess what? My item is now on its way to me! Expired card and all...except it ISN'T expired, it's valid, so my bank will make good on my authorized payment. And I wouldn't dare dream of challenging it, LOL, as I do want the thing I just bought ;)

Pearson Vue has attempted charges to a card that had no funds, and people receive a "card declined" message. That's because the card was NOT VALID, there was no way for PV to collect funds on an account that can't be tapped for payment. Some of those people pass, and some fail. Means nothing other than the candidate confirmed that their Happy Birthday WalMart gift card had no $ on it, or at least that it was less than $200. FWIW, I also remember some weird anomaly in which someone had five bucks on a gift card, kept submitting over and over and over until PV TOOK the charge, collected the five bucks that was available, but did NOT give the person a new registration (after all, they were $195 short!). THAT was a mess.

Be smart, be careful, and think before doing this game, hmm?

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

People willingly offer up the money; can't blame PV for taking them up on the offer. Unfortunate side effect of the instant gratification expectation that the internet (among other things) has brought us.

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Yep. Discussion on another thread was interesting, with one side saying PV would be forced to refund any money paid if a person passed (and didn't need another exam) and the other side saying the person authorizing the payment knew they may or may not need another exam, doesn't matter.

Thing is, the part I think people completely forget (or maybe ignore in their rush to play the game?) is that they are paying for the creation of a REGISTRATION to take the exam. PV tells candidates that they are not permitted to create a duplicate registration, and that if they do so they do so with the understanding that they will not be reimbursed if they do not NEED that registration later on. The service provided by PV is the registration, for $200.

Anyway, I just thought it might be interesting to see if I could pay for other stuff without having a valid expiration date on my otherwise valid credit card account. I could ;)

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

Yep, read that thread. Then backed out of it before I posted something that would get me in trouble. Did you see the one thread where someone offered to email their study plan, and suddenly there's about 15 pages of people publicly posting their email addresses? How naive can people get? Between thinking they can give away money and then get it back plus publicly posting email addresses, all I can do is shake my head.

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Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.
Yep, read that thread. Then backed out of it before I posted something that would get me in trouble. Did you see the one thread where someone offered to email their study plan, and suddenly there's about 15 pages of people publicly posting their email addresses? How naive can people get? Between thinking they can give away money and then get it back plus publicly posting email addresses, all I can do is shake my head.

Do you know how hard it is for me not to take all those e-mails & not start e-mailing those people or signing them up for spam? I know, bad OrganizedChaos, bad!

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

I felt the same way. Hello, I am a Nigerian prince looking to give away my fortune. In order to send you some, I'll need your bank name, account number, routing number, social security number, mother's maiden name…

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LOL at both of you! :D Yeah, the threads of post after post of people putting their email addresses (frequently with their real names easily identifiable!!) just make me smh. It's really a spammer's delight.

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What did you buy?

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Do you know how hard it is for me not to take all those e-mails & not start e-mailing those people or signing them up for spam? I know, bad OrganizedChaos, bad!

Oh do it! Do it! It sounds like great fun!:D

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What did you buy?

A goofy t-shirt for one of my kids :)

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
Yep. Discussion on another thread was interesting, with one side saying PV would be forced to refund any money paid if a person passed (and didn't need another exam) and the other side saying the person authorizing the payment knew they may or may not need another exam, doesn't matter.

Thing is, the part I think people completely forget (or maybe ignore in their rush to play the game?) is that they are paying for the creation of a REGISTRATION to take the exam. PV tells candidates that they are not permitted to create a duplicate registration, and that if they do so they do so with the understanding that they will not be reimbursed if they do not NEED that registration later on. The service provided by PV is the registration, for $200.

Anyway, I just thought it might be interesting to see if I could pay for other stuff without having a valid expiration date on my otherwise valid credit card account. I could ;)

I gotta tell ya, I admire your tenacity. I don't think you're going to make a dent when it comes to the non-believers, but maybe you'll save one person from spending $200 unnecessarily.

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
I felt the same way. Hello, I am a Nigerian prince looking to give away my fortune. In order to send you some, I'll need your bank name, account number, routing number, social security number, mother's maiden name…

I keep getting calls from Nigerian scammers telling me the federal gov't has randomly selected me for a refund. I've been extremely rude. I've answered the phone and spoken in several foreign languages. I even tried preaching to them. Now I just don't answer the phone.

If you get a phone call from 202.666.(insert any four digits), tell my Nigerian scammer pals I said "Hi."

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