Someone stole all my money. Help!!

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stoofa said:
Cotton Traders had their servers hacked and credit/debit card details were stolen - this happened around 6 months ago however Cotton Traders didn't tell the public about it until much later.
The fact that it was an old debit card that was used for the fraud - this is the only thing I can think of.

Unfortunately your security is only as good as that of company's you deal with.
Cotton Traders have not had any repeat purchases from me as I don't want them knowing my new card details in case it happens again!
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Illogical attitude really, having been hacked (and a big name) their security will likely be among the best around now. Nothing like bolting the stable door etc...

Seriously though, why avoid them when they'll have beefed up their security after that, you should be far more worried about the thousands of other online shops with absolutely awful security that you don't know about.
 
Had something similar happen to the wife's card a couple of months or so ago. Fortunately, we spotted it within a couple of days of it starting, but they still managed to rack up £2.5k of transactions. As soon as we reported it, the bank cancelled the card, and didn't charge any more of the transactions to her account. We were down £400 for a couple of weeks, but they refunded it.

EVERYTHING we buy now goes in one credit card, which gets cleared at the end of each month, which firewalls our personal accounts, which is just how we prefer it.
 
EVH said:
I've been super-strict about my spending habits.
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EVH said:
I've always tried to avoid credit cards because I never want the temptation to spend more than I have (hence the low overdraft).
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These two statements contradict each other. For a careful spender, credit cards make perfect sense.

Also, what happens about the overdraft limit? If it's breached surely they can't charge me £30 now that I've reported it under fraud.
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You'll get it back/won't be charged. I'd be more worried about getting the bank to make sure that it doesn't get recorded on your credit file.
 
Energize said:
And they wouldn't have been wrong... If you want to withdraw money, buy lottery tickets, post something at the post office or do a million other things, you must use your debit card because credit cards aren't accepted for them. Also there's the fact that you get your money back on both cards if defrauded and both offer chargebacks.
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There are a few examples of which you have picked all of them, there are not many others. All of the above except unavoidable cash withdrawals are doable with cash if you so wish. No-one is disputing that you will get the money back with both routes, however one is one hell of a lot less hassle than the other, and that is worth a hell of a lot - this thread is a perfect advert for how annoying it is when a debit card gets abused. If this were a credit card it would have been one phone call and that would have been that, no loss of funds, even for a second, no inconvenience whatsoever. This is before we even come to the extended protection you receive from a lot of credit cards with regards to non delivery of services etc, just look at the XL saga.
 
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Jez said:
And there were people calling me an idiot for commenting that all purchases are safer through a credit card, and that debit cards are simply dangerous and pointless.

Best of luck sorting it all out, and in future think about perhaps using credit to pay for things. There will then be zero impact to yourself if something like this happens. :)
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I've started using my credit card for buying my goods. If people use debit cards a lot perhaps you should get your debit card protected. I know Lloyds TSB offer this through sentinel protection (something along that). Its a few pounds a month.
 
MeatLoaf said:
Well if the 02 money was used to top up a phone then the police could find out whose number it is and at least theyd have a starting point, assumimng of course they had registered.
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it's a very common method for doing a test transaction to see if it works, it will often get flagged by your banks fraud department at this time if it's something you dont normally do. And it's a pay as you go phone/sim as good as untraceable.
 
I paid for my registration at a conference in Amsterdam about a month and a bit ago, for 600 euros via paypal. Cue my card being frozen for a week whilst I waited for them to send me a letter with a reference number I had to quote to get it lifted, which was a pain. Nice that they act so quickly on suspicious circumstances, though.
 
the horrible part is when you think that some selfish failure of a person is currently benefiting from your earned money. io feel for you :(

hope it gets sorted soon
 
Jez said:
This is before we even come to the extended protection you receive from a lot of credit cards with regards to non delivery of services etc, just look at the XL saga.
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Visa debit cards have the same thing.

Jez said:
this thread is a perfect advert for how annoying it is when a debit card gets abused.
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Yeah one phone call and branch visit and the bank sorts it in a few days, so much hassle...
 
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Energize said:
Visa debit cards have the same thing.



Yeah one phone call and branch visit and the bank sorts it in a few days, so much hassle...
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Considering some people have jobs to do, finding time to sit and explain to someone in a branch usually means half a day off. And it's still your problem until they refund the money, credit card the money was never yours so there's far less to worry about and it's usually just a phone call then forget about it.

I know which I'd rather deal with.
 
Dj_Jestar said:
I paid for my registration at a conference in Amsterdam about a month and a bit ago, for 600 euros via paypal. Cue my card being frozen for a week whilst I waited for them to send me a letter with a reference number I had to quote to get it lifted, which was a pain. Nice that they act so quickly on suspicious circumstances, though.
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Partly true, I'm getting a little annoyed with my banks anti-fraud systems at the moment, they block seemingly random transactions and they block too many. The reason of course is in their book it's better to block it despite the hassle for the customer because if it is fraudulent then they're liable.
 
gumbald said:
Unlucky EVH, hope you get it sorted soon and without too much hassle.
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Thanks for the support, guys.

I went down today.. took some old statements to highlight the anomalies and to chat with someone at the branch. Checked back as far as April 2008, and it's all fine.

The fraudulent transactions are for multiple purchases to 02 UK (PrePay) and www.jackwills.com :confused:

Anyway, they only appear to have been made over the last 2 days and nothing before the high-street "incident" which makes me all the more suspicious of it. Glad I got it now, instead of waiting a week before realizing what had happened.

I don't know if it's worth chasing but I've stumbled over this..

All live footage recorded by a CCTV camera is considered under the Data Protection Act as processing personal data and therefore Data Subjects have a right to request all footage and images where they are featured.
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Also, why would they query a £8.90 purchase in person when I've bought stuff (My Mac Pro) online without any hiccups? Another mystery..
 
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I am with Barclays and something similar happened to me a few years back. Someone used my debit card to rack up a £300 bill on some online gambling site, called Barclays fraud department and explained my situation. They immediately put £300 back into my account whilst they investigated and cancelled and reissued me with a new card.

I wouldnt worry about it too much, theres a very high chance you ll see your money back
 
Dont keep all your money in your current account. Set up and online savings account with no transactions going on, just you moving the money in or out.
 
I got a call today from the NatWest credit card fraud people. Someone's got my card details, put through a £5 transaction to the Red Cross then tried to buy some Symantec software.

They phoned, I told them to put a block on the card (I unfortunately need to use it before they can get a new one to me) and that was it.


I don't even know where they could have gotten my details from. Although that Cotton Traders thing is interesting, but would it really have taken that long? The other option is that it was skimmed in a petrol station a few days ago.


Definitely going to cut down on debit card usage after this...
 
If I was 18 I'd be using a credit card for pretty much everything, I tend to keep a current account with my solo/maestro with about £100 available at any time, then I have a minisavings account which is used for short time savings, and only accessable via web transfer.

Savings account somewhere else with a cash card and nothing else.

£4k in a current account really puzzles me.
 
Sorry to hear about this I hope they resolve it for you soon!

This happened to us last year - the fraudsters skimmed the details off our debit card at one of those unmanned petrol station machines. They stole £800 but we got it all back within 10 days I think it was.
 
EVH said:
Also, why would they query a £8.90 purchase in person when I've bought stuff (My Mac Pro) online without any hiccups? Another mystery..
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Don't look too much into that, there are all sorts of reasons for a referral on a purchase. It can be due to having already spent a lot on the card that day, or a lot of transactions, or even just totally random. Online transactions go through slightly differently, so it possibly did ask for the banks confirmation, but the store would deal with the bank directly and give them information you've already given them.
 
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