Girlfriend got conned...need some advice

Soldato
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My girlfriend got a call the other day from someone who works for Consumer Credit Services...now don't get this mixed up with CCCS, it's not the same place.

She calls me from work, says that she's been called by CCS and they can probably get her back any bank charges she's paid over the last few years. I said fair enough, get them to send the info, i'll take a look, if it's nonsense, we can just bin it.

Now, my girlfriend isn't an idiot but she can be a little naive. She has lived here in England about 4 years and still hasn't realised how many people/companies here will scam you for a litttle bit of money. They asked for her credit card details so they could "check" what money she is entitled to. They said they would hold them on file, if she was happy with the information they provided, she would be billed £199.99 and this would get refunded with any money they could claim back for her.

At no point did they say they would take the money straight away. Anyway, she gets home and explains a bit more to me. Sounds like a scam so I tell her to call them up and explain she's not interested and doesn't want to proceed.

She calls, get's through to a friendly person on the other end, they say no problem, they won't do anything further.

Yesterday I check the credit card online, there is a pending amount for £199.99 despite them saying they won't take anything.

Spent a while on google last night, this is a pretty well known scam, they take the money, keep offering refunds, saying cheques have been lost in the post, then every few months change their phone number. They also claim to be endorsed by the Ministry of Justice.

Here are a few links I found about this scam:

http://www.freeindex.co.uk/profile(consumer-credit-services)_225034.htm
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2200023

The thing is that might stand in our favour here. She never actually authorised them to take the money, as far as she knew they were holding her details pending approval and wouldn't take any money until she ok'd it. Surely this consitutes fraud and the bank can issue a reversal? She's with LloydsTSB, has a platinum account with all the extras...surely they'll be willing to do something or are they likely to just say tough luck?

One more thing...i'm posting for advice, if you're here to say she was stupid, her own fault, should've known better, we know! People make mistakes, if you can't understand that and want to make yourself feel big by rubbing someones nose in it, don't bother. Jog on and waste your time on another thread, i'm specifically asking for advice/info and not a load of pointless "ha ha, you got conned comments"...thanks :)
 
it's on a credit card, they've not taken the money off her yet, just off the credit card company, they will fight your corner
 
Just call the cc company and say it is an unauthorised transaction, 99% sure they will refund you.
 
Just get your credit card to not authorise the payment if it has not gone, or give you the money back if it has (claim fraudulent transaction). Should take all of 5 minutes.
 
it's on a credit card, they've not taken the money off her yet, just off the credit card company, they will fight your corner

Or cancel the payment from fully clearing. CC companies are normally pretty good.

Give them a ring, sooner you do it the better.
 
Thanks for pointing out the obvious that I hadn't though of. :D

However, a few people have posted on various forums/BBS about doing this and then CCS simply retry the transaction a few months later and it goes through. Can the CC company block them from doing this?
 
it sounds like it is on his current account. For the Lloyds platinum account you should be registered with sentinal card protection. Give the bank a call and they should sort this out...
 
If it was the card number she gave them and it is reported as a fraudulent transaction surely CC company would block the card and send a new one out, if not ask them to do this.
 
it sounds like it is on his current account. For the Lloyds platinum account you should be registered with sentinal card protection. Give the bank a call and they should sort this out...

It's a credit card not actually tied to the current account itself, she has a seperate debit card for this. However she was given the credit card when she signed up for the account.
 
hmm the credit card company should bar any future payments to the company should they try to charge your card again.
as far as getting your money back is concerned, i believe you will as you are protected but it wont be straight away. i bought nearly £500.00 worth of furniture from a furniture company which went bump on my credit card and am still waiting for my money back 8 months later :(
 
When you upgrade to Platimum Sentinel will send you forms you have to fill out....

I just spoke to her about this and when they upgraded her account in the branch they said all the benefits of the platinum account were automatically applied. She never received anything from sentinel through the post, i'm 100% sure about that.

Anyway, she's going into the bank today, hopeful will have some better news later on :)
 
Well my missus just called me at work and it's all good. The bank were very understanding and have cancelled her existing card number, she'll have a new card/pin within the next 7 days. They have told her the transaction will still go through but as she never actually authorised it she should received the full amount refunded to her card within the next 14 days.

I must say i'm normally sceptical of banks helping out when people have problems but LloydsTSB has been a pleasant surprise in this instance.
 
Banks - useless money grabbing.....etc

Credit Card Security department - Excellent, highly efficient, friendly, 24/7 availability. Just a shame that all there departments can't be as good.


Glad its sorted.
 
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