Been defrauded - Anyone else in the same boat?

Columbo · 28 Sep 2007 at 14:43

Found out yesterday that my bank card has been cloned. Checked my balance online and saw £180's worth of transactions to the likes of T-Mobile, Vodafone and 02 head offices that were not mine.

I have'nt got a clue where and how its been done. I've never used that card online etc so it must have been at a cash machine or restaurant.

In a way I suppose I've been lucky that I caught it so quick as there was quite a substantial amount in the account (which has now been moved..!!) but I was just wondering if anyone here had been in the same situation and how long it took to resolve?

Samtheman1k · 28 Sep 2007 at 14:52

Yes, I've had this. Just tell the bank they are unauthorised and you'll get the money back in a few weeks.

TheMightyTen · 28 Sep 2007 at 14:56

Had my egg credit card cloned. Credit to egg, they phoned me up within 2 hours of it being used on a US gambling site (Long before I would have known anything was wrong) to query whether the transaction was mine. They then refunded me the full amount and had a new card to me within a week. I can't ask for better customer service than that.

roysters · 28 Sep 2007 at 14:59

I've lost count how many times this has happened to me. In the last few months I've also had my gym locker broken into 2 times. They managed to take my nokia 8800, money and cards... *sniff

Masterdog · 28 Sep 2007 at 15:17

Had my HSBC card cloned...they didn't notice it, but after I phoned em I had the money back within a day. The banks tend to be very good with this kind of thing.

maddness · 28 Sep 2007 at 15:22

funny thing, HSBC rung me up the other day telling me there was £300 or so attempted on my credit card which was detected by their fraud systems from some sort of gambling place, nevertheless they stopped the transactions and sent me new cards, i stopped all my cards the same day incase!

grumblenoise · 28 Sep 2007 at 15:25

Never had my card cloned (thankfully) - I've been in the shop trying to pay for something which was quite expensive (£2000) and my card was blocked. 2 minutes later my phone rang and it was my bank asking if I just tried to buy something for £2000... Which I did of course

quite impressed with the way banks handle this kind of thing now.

Senture · 28 Sep 2007 at 15:31

grumblenoise said:
Never had my card cloned (thankfully) - I've been in the shop trying to pay for something which was quite expensive (£2000) and my card was blocked. 2 minutes later my phone rang and it was my bank asking if I just tried to buy something for £2000... Which I did of course quite impressed with the way banks handle this kind of thing now.

I had the same thing (just not exactly

) with HSBC. Except the transaction failed 7 times, each time the auth code had to be manually reversed. Gave up in the end lol

SteveOBHave · 28 Sep 2007 at 15:48

Dunno - there is a flip side to it - HSBC has left both me and my girl stranded in Venice with no money and 6 hours to reactivate - all it would've taken was an intial call rather than the standard disable and call. Very very frustrating.

Now we have to call the muppets every time we go overseas - if they can disable then call then they can call then disable just as easily.

Wicksta · 28 Sep 2007 at 15:53

ManCuBuS said:
I have'nt got a clue where and how its been done. I've never used that card online etc so it must have been at a cash machine or restaurant.

I don't know why people expect online transactions to be more of a risk than giving your credit card to some random scrote who works in a retail outlet. I know the thought crossed my mind when I worked in Sainsburys though! (long before credit card fraud was a common thing)

Jimmeh · 28 Sep 2007 at 15:55

Natwest carry-out similar policies to those above. I put down a large depost on a flat about 3 months ago (well over £3,000). The Estate Agents first tried the transaction and were asked to phone someone. I was then asked to identify myself with various security questions.
Very secure, fairly quick and piece of mind for me!

Stellios · 28 Sep 2007 at 16:08

Had it done to me last year, someone got £130 off me. Lloyds gave me the money back within about 4 days of reporting it.

Mint_Sauce · 28 Sep 2007 at 16:11

I get frustrated with the security. It's a gamble every time I use my card, half the time the transaction gets flagged. Was very annoying when in Rome at 4am trying to get cash from a machine to pay a big taxi man. Luckily I hadn't closed a different account and had the card with me, that one worked but otherwise I might have missed my plane or ended up with a black eye!

I understand why it's done but it's got to the point when I order online I have to make a follow up phone call to make sure it hasn't been declined. I've talked to my bank and they said they could remove the flagging but then I would be accountable for any fraudulent activity.

I think it's because I have no real pattern and make infrequent and large purchases, probably spazzes out their coding.

Columbo · 28 Sep 2007 at 16:13

I just hope the Halifax are up to the same standard as some of the above tales. Its not necessarily the money aspect for me as its not a huge amount. Its more the knowledge that I will be protected against this type of thing in the future.

Meridian · 28 Sep 2007 at 16:21

Yes. Mine was the opposite though - ONLY used online, which generally is far safer. Card has never even been seen by anyone else.

M

twistedheat · 28 Sep 2007 at 16:23

Barclays have never called me. Should I be worried?

psyr33n · 28 Sep 2007 at 17:19

Meridian said:
Yes. Mine was the opposite though - ONLY used online, which generally is far safer. Card has never even been seen by anyone else.

M

This, only used with Amazon and PayPal; I just realised that the one which got defrauded hasn't left the house in about a year. Any idea on how the criminals do it? The worrying thing is, I had to find out myself why my card wasn't working by ringing HSBC—they didn't notice that someone was trying to spend £450 on designer clothes from an account with only £70 in it at the time...

So yes, anyone know how they do it?

Columbo · 28 Sep 2007 at 18:03

I wish I knew. I dont even get bank statements etc. So its not even the identity theft type scenario. Only thing I can think is it must be one of those cloners stuck onto a cash machine that reads your card when you stick it in hole.

Vixen · 28 Sep 2007 at 18:15

SteveOBHave said:
Dunno - there is a flip side to it - HSBC has left both me and my girl stranded in Venice with no money and 6 hours to reactivate - all it would've taken was an intial call rather than the standard disable and call. Very very frustrating.

Now we have to call the muppets every time we go overseas - if they can disable then call then they can call then disable just as easily.

I don't know about HSBC, but with RBS/Natwest, the fraud department always tries to call the customer first before blocking any cards. You do realise that they probably couldn't get in touch with you as you were abroad? I bet if it hadn't been you making the transactions and they didn't stop the card, you'd be complaining about that too.

Azagoth · 28 Sep 2007 at 18:22

A mate of mine had his card cloned a while back and someone charged close to a grand on it. Funny thing is, all the charges were in or around the Derby area, he's from Scotland, but at the time of the charges he was somewhere in the middle of the Persian Gulf.