I've been burned one too many times by "incorrect" tip amounts being added to my card. What is the best way to catch this without having to check my account every few days?

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I always take my copy of the receipt. I do this in hopes the server thinks I’m someone who pays close attention to finances. Even though I’m not.

A food truck didn't give me a receipt to sign and they gave themselves a 20 dollar tip. The total was under 15 dollars.

Many many years ago, in Mexico, they changed this system because it was rife for abuse.
The system over there does not allow for changes after the fact anymore, so they bring the terminal to you, and you add the tip there, always.
It's honestly much better, not sure why it's not more used.

Yea it's fucking absurd that there's no notification for when the initial charged amount is INCREASED after the fact.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Chase/comments/17rmd0q/are_there_alerts_for_when_your_initial_authorized/ 

The problem with making things end in .00 is that someone could easily add whole dollar amounts to the total and it would be easy to miss.

Instead, I always make it so the total after tip reads the same backwards and forwards (some tip calculator apps call this a palindromic total). It's subtle and unless someone is familiar with this method it looks fairly random.

Example:
28.37 Total; 20% tip would be 5.67 for a total of 34.04
I'll adjust +/- (almost always up slightly) as needed so the final total is something like 34.43

For larger amounts
153.15 Total; 20% tip would be 30.63 for a total of 183.78
In this case I'd adjust up slightly for a final total of 183.81

Take a picture of the receipt. If they see, they're less likely to try something, and even if they do try to cheat you, you've got evidence to help your case.

I write “cash” in the tip spot and leave cash as a tip. The price of the food/drink is only what’s going on the card

I don't knownifnit helps but I have never noticed it happening to me...

I always fill the tip spot up with a large clear dollar sign before the amount I choose. Do the same on the total. My hope is this prevents extra digits being added.

I also always fill out the customer copy and take it - maybe this is a signal a customer watches closely or does expensenreports and will notice / deterrent to crooks.

Who knows? Good luck =)

Take a photo of every receipt. I like the QR codes they have now that let you pay your receipt with your phone. Server isn’t even involved.

Ask for a receipt for the final transaction instead of just signing your slip and walking away. 

You need to stop eating at those places or you need to start tipping in cash. I’ve never had this happen, which certainly doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen, but if this is semi regular then there’s certain places you should stop using your card in.

Pay in cash. Or at least tip in cash.

Cash tips only. Write CASH in the tip line. Never had a problem other than remembering to have actual cash with me.

I just take photo of my receipts. If anything is added, I have proof and the server will definitely get fired for theft.

We pay cash for tips and write "on table" on the tip line

I've never had to deal with this. Anytime I've ever left a tip >30% I've gotten an automatic text from the credit card company confirming the number.

If it were to happen I would start by calling the restaurant. Most servers aren't going to risk their job for a couple bucks, and anything larger is too obvious to get away with.

Capital One hilariously would just notify me when things went awry and I’d need to dispute a charge. Zero idea how they’re so accurate outside that I guess they know how I tip…

Outside of all the paying for my medical care posts in this subreddit, this is one of the most American things Ive seen in a while. You're still writing a tip on a piece of paper and hoping they enter it right? Its not the 00s anymore.

Tip with words not numbers. Much harder to fudge.

Say my bill is 22.73 and I want to tip it up to 27. I'll write on the tip line: "Four.Twenty Seven" and on the total write "Twenty Seven".

This also has a bases in US Case law. Words supersede numbers. In the even a check has a different written total on the line than in the box, the words written on the line are what the check is good for.

Other things you can do is report it to the restaurant. This is fraud, and they will take it seriously, or rather they should. You can also take a photo of your receipt. And dispute EVERY false tip with your credit card provider. This will trigger a chargeback, and the restaurant will eventually face sanctions.

You can do a partial chargeback, and that's what you want to do. "I am disputing the $15 tip, not the whole charge $35 charge. The meal was $20, I tipped $5. The extra $10 is fraud."

Finally, don't ever go back to a restaurant that changes tips, and warn all your friends.

How are restaurants in the United States not using a credit card machine that is carried to the customer who inputs the tip they want?

I bring some cash and write the word “cash” on the tip line and leave them actual cash instead of putting the tip on my card.

I had a server in a restaurant add an extra $10 to my 20% tip. According to the CC company, it was intentional. They have to put the tip amount and the written total from the receipt and if there's a typo, it gives an error.

When I called the restaurant, they said the manager was out but "he'll be back later". No call for 3 days, then a call from a woman who said that she couldn't do a credit, but that $10 in cash was waiting for me at the register. Server was a woman. So the employees are aware of this practice and are keeping it from the manager. One star review on yelp and google. That won't help their business.

My credit card company flagged it, otherwise I'd have never noticed. "Did you just tip 34% at Tokyo Sushi?"

I don’t think fraudulent tipping is a universally common problem, more of an honest error. Honestly if it’s been a recurring issue for you, I would consider maybe you are difficult to serve and are creating enemies of your service staff everywhere you go? Or perhaps you aren’t signing the tip area correctly…. Idk but I really don’t think other people struggle with this as a general experience, and I feel like it may be a you thing.

Always tip in cash and write "cash" where the tip goes.

Lock card after purchase, keep your copy of the receipt, put a dash after total amount and tip amount, diagonal slash through zeros. These are all ways that I avoid getting things added onto a bill and things I’ve seen others use.

I have literally never had this happen. Do people really experience this often?

take a picture of the receipt you just signed.

If you don’t tip then cross it out. If you do tip then write “cash” and leave whatever you feel is appropriate.

Pay and tip with cash so they don't have the opportunity to change it on you.

This problem is so American it screeches eagles. The rest of the world has moved on and you get the payment terminal at your table. You enter the tip and never give anyone your payment card. No waiter or back of house creep can change the transaction after the fact.

You can try scribbling on your receipt but the fundamental tech of the magnetic strip means anyone that has touched your card can make transactions with it until it’s cancelled now.

America could have chip+PIN mandatory and make this problem disappear but I guess you just won’t?

I enter it in YNAB while I’m sitting there.

No solution, sorry, just a comment: I live in Denmark, but travel quite a lot in the US. I cannot understand why you have to live with this crappy solution! Besides the insane tipping culture in the US, you on top of that have to use a system that is so poorly designed it invites for fraud.

In Europe, IF we choose to tip, it is an option on the credit card machine that you enter yourself. This could easily be the default system in the US.

The answer to this is to use the kind of system that's in common use in Europe. There the waitstaff brings a little machine to the table and runs your bill right there. Tips are much smaller but you can add it right there and see the total on the CC receipt. They rarely take your card away to some work station to execute the transaction. (Note: since tips at my level of restaurant in Europe are one or two euros, I usually leave cash anyway.)

That said, I've only had two tip cheats on my CC in my life.

I keep a note of receipt costs in my phone and upload to an excel weekly.

But I also only tip up to a flat dollar amount so it's nice to look at - if something comes to 18.90 I pay 20.00 cause it's easier to track in my bank if it comes out to a flat number

Tip in cash. I set up text alerts for every transaction so you know right away when there's a charge. I've had fraudulent charges before and this helps me know right away. No one runs my card without me already writing the tip amount on the receipt when I first give my card so it's not been a problem yet.

Maybe bring cash for tips when you go out. Then you’ll never have to add a tip to your card. 

I don't understand how they don't have mobile POS systems and you pay at your table and be done with it in America. My parents were very taken back by this in USA - unless it was only some places.

I get this wayyy more than I should. I always check the receipts against the CC amount before I shred them. If they don’t line up, INCOMING CC DISPUTE! Some are small…$4…but I once caught an expensive restaurant charging me over 2x for 2 drinks! It was like $60 overcharged. Maybe they ran it twice?

Do you guys still not enter your own tip into the machine in the US?

Make it so all your restaurant charges come to an even dollar amount.

So if the total ends in .56, your tip should end in .44, so your bill ends in .00.

Any restaurant charge not endng in .00 would have been messed with.

I read somewhere to underline the cent portion of the tip , and to put the numbers smaller with the line under them.

I always tip so that the total ends in 00. So if my bill is $10.12, I will tip 2.88 so the total is $13.00 flat. This way you know if your account shows anything other than $xx.00, you were wronged.

Just to check: Are you sure the initial notification includes the tip at all?

In some countries (koff USA koff), handwritten credit card tips have to be entered manually during reconciliation, while the amount of the bill is immediately entered for hold by the POS system. This reconciliation is a periodic task that might be done by the server at the end of shift, by the manager at the end of the night, or by a lazy manager or owner whenever they feel like. This can easily have the effect of appearing to be tip increase/fraud, if you only see the first number.

Note that this only applies to write-in tips; modern portable POS machines (and the ipad consoles at the register, etc.), that have the electronic tip prompt should include the tip amount in the initial transaction value, and any changes to that would certainly be fraudulent, but also require more permissions to manipulate in the system (manager or owner, not server).

I have never had a restaurant mess with my tip amount after a meal, and I do keep my receipts and double check against them.

The closest I've come was one time I was on a work trip and I tipped such that the amount of the total was exactly my daily meal limit. (You don't get to keep what you don't spend, so you might as well hand it out as a tip.) Unfortunately whoever entered my tip must have fat-fingered the last digit and they added 2 cents to my tip. Nobody is risking their job over 2 cents, so I'm sure it was a genuine mistake. But it was a nuisance because I had submitted an expense receipt with a different number on it and I had to report it in the expense tracking software for someone in accounting to deal with. In the end the CC company just ate the 2 cent difference rather than spend the time and effort adjudicating a chargeback for 2 cents.

I take a photo of my receipt after I put the final tip amount in. When I notice a discrepancy I immediately contact my card company and ask for a photo of the receipt along with putting a stop on payment. When I get a copy and it was rewritten I contact the owner or manager of the restaurant and tell them of the problem but not the photos. Their response determines if I start contacting the Business Bureau and press the fraud issue with the authorities. Almost always it is a discrepancy on the banks end so pushing it as far as I can rarely happens, or the owner has no idea and the server either owns up to it and doesn't do it again or gets fired.

I use YNAB budget software. When we go out to eat, I enter the transaction manually for the full correct amount including tip in my budget. When the cleared transaction comes in, it should match exactly. If it doesn’t, we’ve got a problem.

only tip cash

i do the cents .00 smaller and underlined so they know its cents but that just might be a bit much

I write the dollar sign right next to tip amount and round up the cents so there’s no way to add for example if the bills is 22.75 I’ll write $4.25 then write the total in too so the it shouldn’t be anymore than the total and there’s no way to add

Dine at places/area less prone to ripping you off. I've been using a CC for 30 years - it's happened once to me. And yes I check every month.

Really? Tip totals are off by that much? I'm not sure I've ever seen a tip total that was off.

And you keep going back to these establishments that are trying to rip you off? Why?

Instead of your "tip," why don't you simply refuse to return?

If every restaurant in town is trying to rip you off, you have a gullible face.

Just to make sure, because I've made this mistake twice in the past year: are you certain that this has nothing to do with restaurants/fast food now being allowed to push the credit card fee onto the customer? The fee is a percentage of the total, so the amount is always going to be pushed higher by the addition of a tip. You need to recalculate after the tip is added.

Carry cash for the tip(s) and use the cc for only the store/restaurant purchase. Keep the receipt(s).

Clearly x out the tip line on paper bills that ask for signature, make certain you write the total onto the total line always.

On paperless transactions make certain you see the transaction close, do not be texting or otherwise involved.

Write no tip and give cash. One of the few reasons I keep cash on me now.

Jokes on them, I'm too poor to eat out!

In over 40 years of using credit cards I have only had one time where an extra tip amount was added to my bill and it was from before I started my trick to prevent them. Once you have determined the total amount write the amount out in words it across the face of the charge receipt that you are leaving with the waiter. It’s hard for them to argue that the written amount that is in the same pen and your handwriting is not the correct amount. I started doing this after I got hit with a $100 extra tip from a bar.

Nobody puts dashes around their tip amount?

Example

Tip -10-

Total -58.50-

There are a lot of good ideas people have posted.

You could pay the bill in cash. Don't use your cc at all.

Tip in cash. Carry some cash for this. You can pay the bill with a card and tip in cash.

The obvious easiest way, though maybe not the most practical: Only tip with cash. And servers will appreciate it more as it's not subject to the 3% credit card fee and more easily/quickly pocketable to them vs waiting for their paycheck.

I've had different amounts be charged to my card a few times, it's always been for less than what my total including tip was for. Though I'll add a tip amount such that the Grand total always ends in $*.42.

Man that's crazy. Say, how much do you normally tip?

god I hate the mental math and extra steps we have to take to protect ourselves from fraud. america sux in this respect

I carry a pocket full of $2 bills just for leaving tips. Considering how utterly useless a single $1 bill is by itself, I think twos are the perfect denomination and they ought to be more commonly used.

Calculate out your tip to ensure the final total round to the nearest dollar of your desired tip. Bonus points for rounding to the nearest $5 increment cause you're actually incentivizing better service without overly punishing service a bit below par.

I take my receipt and I also have my card on automatic alerts so I see the charge as soon as it's made.

I get notifications from my cc company within less than a minute of a charge being posted to my card.

I feel like cash is the only secure way of tipping if you aren’t in a restaurant you trust to be honest.