Credit Card Fraud - never thought it would happen to me

asim

asim

asim

Soldato
Joined
24 Oct 2002
Posts
5,103
Location
edinburgh
Hey.

So here is the story. I'll keep it short.

A couple of weeks ago I noticed my credit card was in a negative balance in my online banking account. I was kind of confused but thought, hey maybe its a glitch, something that will sort itself out after the next payment is covered. Paid some money in to cover it and thought nothing of it, then a week later again I noticed the balance drop. I am not a big spender on my credit card because I never believed in them and have NEVER been in a negative balance. Still I'm thinking hmm maybe my spending between two cards and quite a few online accounts are catching upto me. Paid it off again.

Now 1 week later I get a phone call from a betting company asking me if I'm enjoying their online service and could I comment on it. I thought maybe its just something I forgot about so I humoured him, he said he'd credit 20 quid to my account so I can play with it. At that point I got really confused. I dont gamble, I'd never registered an account and yet this guy is quoting my full name, my address and has my phone number. I hang up and call my a couple minutes later asking one of the betting agency guys about the email account, and he tells me my credit card has been submitted. Warning lights flash in my head, I connect 2 and 2 together and figure out someone has gotten my details. I tell this guy and he immediately closes the account. Following that I phone the bank and find out someone has been buying stuff with credit card online. I had no clue, completely fooled.

They've killed my credit card and said they'll send me some legal documents to sign. I'll most likely get my money back because its a credit card. I feel so stupid :( I thought I was computer savvy yet somehow they've beat me and I've been burned.

How could they have gotten my details? What can I do to prevent this from happening again?

Few words of support would be nice thanks. Atleast they didnt take too much.

Asim
 
If I see money come out of my account online and don't know why, I ring the bank immediately. Not being harsh or anything but you took way to long to check what was happening. :(

Unlucky though, however I'm sure you'll get your money back though. :)
 
asim said:
How could they have gotten my details?
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Anywhere you used your card. Either online (keylogger/trojan) or physically, it's so easy to get the details. Coupled with your adress, bingo, free money.

Bad luck dude, update your AV software and get a decent firewall.

Don't let your card out your sight. Ever.
 
Firstly, it happens a fair amount im afraid, so dont worry youll get your money back without a problem, wether it was a Debit or a Credit Card as long as the PIN safe and card signed, your basically covered.

There can be a lot of ways details are taken, keyloggers, people writing it down, cards going behind bars for tabs, skimming devices etc.. etc.. etc.. - Just make sure its always in your possesion, never keep the details on the PC - be careful of the website you use and keep up2 date with virus scanners / spyware checks to remove anything nasty.

Other then that not a lot you can do, the bank will investigate it and like you said they've stopped the card and i new one will be on its way with all new details.

Chin up ;)
 
sorry but i'm with royalty on this one, way too long to do anything about it.

if i think something is dodgy in my account i call the bank straight away, i know all to well about fraud and card cloning my brother lost £350 when his card was cloned.

luckily he got it back from the bank, but he had to go without food pretty much for 2 weeks whilst they sorted it out.
 
rollins said:
Fingers crossed, but your CC company should get it all resolved for you - might be worth buying a shredder if you dont have one for all your CC bills.
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a lot of banks wont view a Statement as a security risk, because there is no physical card the only details they have are the card number, name and address, for an online/phone purchase they'd also need the expiry date (possibly the start date) and the CVV2/CVC number on the back (incidently this number isnt stored anywhere that can be checked, not even by the bank normally - they just have a system to enter a number and have the computer say if its valid or not). So its unlikely, and bank statements only have the sort code and account number which are not used for transactions so not a problem there.

Still a good idea to destroy them properly but it'd be a tough job for anyone to use them
 
Im so sorry for you mate, I bet its a horrible feeling to know that someone has been stealing from you, but I guess it is a life lesson, always make sure your money is kept up-to-date, keep a record on your computer of your purchases and statements and if anything goes wrong you can refer back to it.
 
I dont know what they were attempting with the online betting but thank god for that otherwise I wouldnt have noticed all those transactions until the next statement. The card was supposedly first used on 10th of May. So its been two weeks. The bank said they found one of the accounts used registered to a london address, dont know if someone would be that stupid but maybe they'll get caught. Highly unlikely though.
 
Has happened to me 3 times now.

Everytime, I get a phonecall from HSBC asking me if I've authorised payment for £xx amount at some retailer, I say no, they cancel the card and send me a new one.

The last one was for £20 credit at O2, and then £1000 at Argos.

Apparantly they try a small amount first, hence the £20 credit, and if that gets authorised then they'll hit you with the big amount.

They usually catch it before I even see the transaction via online banking, let alone on a posted statement.
 
I wouldn't get too worried about it. You aren't personally out of pocket. The credit card company will write the amounts off, and it won't cost you anything more than a little bit of hassle waiting for a new card and filling in a form or two.

Now, imagine if it had been a debit card. The money would have been gone from your account, and you would havt to go through all sorts of hassle to try and get it back.

This is why I always use a credit card, and not a debit card. Last year someone somwhere got my card details and spent about £2500, but in my case my credit card company noticed it before I did (Natwest) and rung me up to ask if I had spent that money. I said no, they cancelled the card, sent me a new one removed all the dodgy transactions off of my statement and all I had to do was sign one form.
 
chippie said:
I wouldn't get too worried about it. You aren't personally out of pocket. The credit card company will write the amounts off, and it won't cost you anything more than a little bit of hassle waiting for a new card and filling in a form or two.

Now, imagine if it had been a debit card. The money would have been gone from your account, and you would havt to go through all sorts of hassle to try and get it back.

This is why I always use a credit card, and not a debit card. Last year someone somwhere got my card details and spent about £2500, but in my case my credit card company noticed it before I did (Natwest) and rung me up to ask if I had spent that money. I said no, they cancelled the card, sent me a new one removed all the dodgy transactions off of my statement and all I had to do was sign one form.
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Rubbish, exactly the same process for Debit card and Creit Card - you'd still get money bank and it would be treated in the same way - granted there would be more hassle in the sense the money in the bank account would be needed for living etc.. but the bank will often setup a temp overdraft to accomodate for such things anyway.

I dont know why people assume because its a debit card they wont get any cash back, its simply not true.

as long as the PIN is not disclosed, and cards are signed etc.. the banks will cover basically everything, its very rare the banks dont pay out
 
McDaniel said:
Rubbish, exactly the same process for Debit card and Creit Card - you'd still get money bank and it would be treated in the same way - granted there would be more hassle in the sense the money in the bank account would be needed for living etc.. but the bank will often setup a temp overdraft to accomodate for such things anyway.

I dont know why people assume because its a debit card they wont get any cash back, its simply not true.

as long as the PIN is not disclosed, and cards are signed etc.. the banks will cover basically everything, its very rare the banks dont pay out
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because credit cards are there with this protection in mind, i know when my bro had his debit card cloned and they stole £350 from him he had to go through stupid amounts of hassle to get the money back!

the case of proving it wasnt him that took the money out was the biggest trouble!
 
chippie said:
Isn't that what I just said :confused:
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You made out that it was a longer process and not as easy, which it isnt - and like i said OVerdrafts can be setup to allow funds in the account untill its been sorted

also a lot of people use there Credit Card rather then bank card to survive, so its touch n go

And with card cloning an ATM fraud - i know with Lloyds the branch deal with ATM Fraud wether its a Credit or a Debit card so it really wouldnt matter what type of card used
 
Good luck getting your money back, my girlfriend had 300 taken from her debit card which had insurance etc. Rang the bank, as her card was missing in the moring, realised 300 had been withdrawn though a atm machine (i.e. someone knew the pin) and she never got the money back!
 
thepharcyde said:
Good luck getting your money back, my girlfriend had 300 taken from her debit card which had insurance etc. Rang the bank, as her card was missing in the moring, realised 300 had been withdrawn though a atm machine (i.e. someone knew the pin) and she never got the money back!
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What Bank?

And did she say the PIN was missing, did she have it written down or anything?
 
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