How I got my money back with the help of AI

Neuk_ said:
Am I correct that you simply paid whatever balance was on your credit card statement without checking what had gone through the card on said statement?
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I always had a balance. And yes I was negligent. But the impression I want to make is that with todays tools getting your money back is much more probable than previous years.
 
I was going to stop reading here,

Then she asked something else:. Had I used the card overseas? As it happens, yes, I'd been in Europe in August. She asked whether I'd noticed "continuous transactions." Something in my chest changed. I opened the app and started scrolling. DeepSeek. Anthropic. Uber Eats. Uber Rides. Others. I immediately disputed them on the call, one after another, and she said she'd open an investigation.
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but then I got intrigued by what this sales pitch might be all about. The Q&A trap. So, what is the method, sorry I meant the solution?

All banks, and I have experience with both ABSA and FNB, have some user-pattern algorithm. Their apps would have sent you a notice; I think all amounts over R99 are automatically sent to your banking app or via SMS.

Bookkeeping is on the user; learn how to do reconciliation. It also helps with taxes and planning. There are also many apps available that are assistive. On my mobile I use Wallet.
 
Nerfherder said:
The FNB "private banker" is actually an AI bot so you can get it to do all this directly from the chat window.

I was querying outstanding authorisations on my credit card and I got it to list everything that was unbanked (usually you can't see this).
Its pretty cool. I don't know how long it will be before they lock this down though.
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Great info. I didnt know that. Also not FNB client. But good to know and thanks for sharing.
 
ridewane said:
Thanks Ettiene, appreciate the like. 🙏

You've got the whole point of the post exactly right: it's not really a story about a bank — it's to show that an ordinary person, with the tools that are already available to anyone right now, can take on a bank and win. I'm not technical, I'm not a fraud investigator. I just refused to let a "no" that didn't add up be the end of it.

If a post like this helps even one person realise they don't have to accept being short-changed, then it did its job.
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Nobody "thanks" someone for a like and then goes on to respond as if they had responded.

Why are you using AI to respond? Have you got an automated bot linked up to your browser?

The initial post was clearly helped by AI (no issue with that, I use AI myself), but then the responses here on the thread contain em dashes up the wazoo and is basically dripping in AI fingerprints.
 
ridewane said:
Fair point, and honestly that's the point I was trying to make.

For two years nothing caught this — no fraud alert, no call from the bank. I only found out because my card wouldn't swipe at my desk one morning. So the "negative" isn't the story; it's the setup. The system simply wasn't watching out for me.

The story is the other half: with tools that are available to anyone right now, I did in an afternoon what the bank told me would take them 14 days — twice. No tech background. Just described the problem, worked through it, and ended up with a reconciliation solid enough that the bank reversed itself and paid. That's what's achievable today — and it's the part worth talking about.

The tools don't care whether you think of yourself as "technical." If you can describe the problem clearly, you can use them. That's the shift.
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There is a great tool that is available to everyone, its called your card statement, read them. There is no shift other than you being useless.
 
B-1 said:
Yeah this is clearly ai junk. Probably a hacked dormant account that will soon start spamming.
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It will probably be telling us about libertarianism and an independent Western cape in the sports threads by the weekend.
 
Dead Internet theory is no longer a theory. Sigh. @Jan here is another article for you guys if you want to at least attempt to help some people understand the sophistication of the BS they are going to be forced to navigate going forward.
 
Fulcrum29 said:
I was going to stop reading here,



but then I got intrigued by what this sales pitch might be all about. The Q&A trap. So, what is the method, sorry I meant the solution?

All banks, and I have experience with both ABSA and FNB, have some user-pattern algorithm. Their apps would have sent you a notice; I think all amounts over R99 are automatically sent to your banking app or via SMS.

Bookkeeping is on the user; learn how to do reconciliation. It also helps with taxes and planning. There are also many apps available that are assistive. On my mobile I use Wallet.
Click to expand...
No pitch, there's nothing for sale here.

On the alerts: that was my assumption too, so it caught me off guard. No SMS, no push notification, nothing. I found out because the card stopped swiping one morning. So either the pattern didn't trip their algorithm, or the alert never came. If you're ever in it, that's a fair question to put to the bank.

And on the last part, I actually agree with you. Reconciliation is on the user, and that's the whole point of what I posted. Learning to read your own statements and reconcile them is the skill that matters; everything else is just a tool that makes it quicker. It pays off for tax and planning anyway, like you say. I'll have a look at Wallet. Thanks for the tip
 
ridewane said:
I always had a balance. And yes I was negligent. But the impression I want to make is that with todays tools getting your money back is much more probable than previous years.
Click to expand...

Perhaps I am one of the few, I know where every cent of my money has gone at just about any time, in any of my accounts. Not that I haven't been affected by fraud before but more that I know within a few hours of it happening and take immediate action.
 
ToxicBunny said:
AI story with AI stuff.

I may be very very wrong, but as far as I know a bank won't refund you for transactions in 2024/2025.. so best you get your agent to go check the rules from your bank about disputes before making up stuff again.
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I have all the evidence and i can send it to you with names and account numbers blacked out. You dont have to believe me but neither do you have the evidence to claim that this is made up.
 
ridewane said:
No pitch, there's nothing for sale here.

On the alerts: that was my assumption too, so it caught me off guard. No SMS, no push notification, nothing. I found out because the card stopped swiping one morning. So either the pattern didn't trip their algorithm, or the alert never came. If you're ever in it, that's a fair question to put to the bank.

And on the last part, I actually agree with you. Reconciliation is on the user, and that's the whole point of what I posted. Learning to read your own statements and reconcile them is the skill that matters; everything else is just a tool that makes it quicker. It pays off for tax and planning anyway, like you say. I'll have a look at Wallet. Thanks for the tip
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If you CARED about sharing the information on how you did it so others could be helped you wouldn't be going "comment SECRETSAUCE in the comments for the info" you would just have shared it.
 
Neuk_ said:
Perhaps I am one of the few, I know where every cent of my money has gone at just about any time, in any of my accounts. Not that I haven't been affected by fraud before but more that I know within a few hours of it happening and take immediate action.
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Me too... on my budget I mark off my debit orders and the date they go off. On my personal AND business accounts.

The bad part is I know how much I spent on stuff like 20 years ago. There was a time my budget was down to how far work is from home, how many km/l my car gave me, what the petrol price was and therefore how much I had to spend on fuel.
 
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