Four times over the last two months, I've had mysterious charges from various online sites "pending" on my account. A day or two later those charges just disappear and my funds are available again. These charges are anywhere from $1 to $395. My bank has no answer and say they can do nothing until a transaction actually posts. What is up with this?
If you have a debit card on your account, it may be that someone has fraudulently been using the card number to attempt to determine whether your account has sufficient funds for a significant transaction. Another possibility is that someone is fraudulently attempting to determine which numbers in a group of card numbers are attached to accounts and which are dead-ends.
You could print out and take this question and answer to your bank to discuss the possibilities. Perhaps your bank has other accounts that have similarly experienced the same sorts of phantom pending posts. That would be a sign that your bank's card account base could be targeted by some significant fraud attempts.
It would be prudent to ask the bank to reissue a new card with a new number. Then, you should continue to watch your account activity as you have in the past.
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If you have a debit card on your account, it may be that someone has fraudulently been using the card number to attempt to determine whether your account has sufficient funds for a significant transaction. Another possibility is that someone is fraudulently attempting to determine which numbers in a group of card numbers are attached to accounts and which are dead-ends.