I used my Discover Card for the first time ever on Monday. The aftermath of this act gave me two distinct, conflicting opinions on Discover as a company.

(Why am I, after being credit card debt free for the first time in a decade, using a credit card, you ask? I’ll explain the method to my madness in a future blog post. For now, just know that I will continue to be credit card debt free because I will pay my balance in full at the end of the billing cycle).

I got the card last November when I began my journey to eliminate the Visa debt I accumulated in college. The Discover card had 0% interest on balance transfers for one year, so I got it and transfered as much of the balance on my main Visa card onto it. This allowed me to save some money in interest charges while I paid down my debt, and in the end I estimate I pocketed several hundred dollars thanks to the endeavor.

However, in all that time, I had never (obviously) used the Discover card for any purchases. Until Monday.

On Tuesday, I received a phone call from an area code I did not recognize, so I let it go to my voice mail. When I checked it later that day, I heard a message from the “Fraud Prevention Department” at Discover. They were concerned about some possible fraudulent activity on my account, and gave me a 1-800 number to call.

Two thoughts immediately came to mind:

1. I am really impressed. The card had never been used – it should be flagged when it’s used all of a sudden. If my card was ever stolen, I like the chances that Discover will promptly act.
2. Shouldn’t a “Fraud Prevention Program” know better than to leave someone a voice mail message that sounds like fraud? Leaving someone a message with a phone number to call about “important information regarding your account” is something a scammer would do.

Based on the timing of the phone call, I was 99% certain it was a legit message from Discover. Still, I did not contact them via the 1-800 number they gave me (a number I could not confirm was legit at Discover’s website). I called the main Discover phone number advertised on their website, told them what happened, and had them transfer me to their fraud department.

I’m paranoid, you say? Yeah, paranoid like a fox.