Your card is declined due to suspicious activity

For years I've always used travellers cheques. Great for travellers, as if they go missing you are guaranteed replacements. I've previously only needed this once, when a bunch of cheques were stolen from my room when travelling through Java. So before I left I loaded cash onto my card at Heathrow, stating I was travelling to India - only to find that on using it in Delhi it was blocked! Thank goodness I had another credit card. Then came a painful game of ringing tag, as I had to arrange for master card to call my hotel to sort this out. Now I can get rupees at ATM - hurrah!!! So much for suspicious activity when I told them where I was going...