santander scam phone call

I wouldn't worry, automated voices frequently mispronounce names (and many other words). It seems quite common for call centres not to know about this type of call, probably a debit card transaction appears unusual/suspicious.

Yes, I have a particular dislike for this type of thing. On one hand, banks tell people to be on their guard and not respond to suspicious calls and ignore emails that play on terms such as "very important security" and "if you don't respond, your account will be locked".

Then they make unsolicited computer-generated calls from numbers that their staff aren't aware of, often stating that this is an important security announcement and failure to comply will result in your account being blocked.

It's taken YEARS to get Joe Public to stop clicking on links in emails and teaching them to be suspicious of cold calls. The banks are undoing all the good work that's been achieved in the last 5 - 10 years and this is, to my mind, one of the biggest scandals of the last couple of years.

When you do speak to the Security department, they seem oblivious to the fact that customers should be suspicious of Metal Mickey asking for their personal details.

Natwest uses a computer voice message for possible fraud and sadly I experienced it a few years back.

Haven't experienced it, but Egg also uses one but not just for possible fraud, but also if you don't keep your account in order. They even have a link on the website for customers so you can hear what the message will sound like.

Once again this morning I got an automated call about 4 transactions they consider that need confirming by myself ( I get these a lot) and of the 4 transactions I recognised 3 but one I did not .It was for 78p and I could not hear the details clearly so I went in to my online account but the 3 appeared OK,one being a £2 Tesco Grocery order charge that they always claim until the order is completed ...the other 2 had already been paid and appeared on the statement .The 78p was not there at all ,not even in the difference between the balances showing .

I called the number and spoke to someone in Portugal and all she could tell me was that the 78p was for today (14Nov) with a company called PSE and I did not recognise that . She said that was all the info she had and that she would stop the card and issue a new one and when I asked what I was supposed to do when I went out today she said I could go to a branch ....I had to remind her that this was a Sunday ??? She asked if I wanted to confirm this 78p and I said that was HER call but she insisted it was MINE so I told her if that was the case then I was unhappy about her being unable to just stop this one transaction and I would be complaining about it ..Santander's UK Fraud do not work on a Sunday so I could not speak to them but I'll definitely be speaking to them tomorrow .
I definitely did not make any transactions this morning as I was still in bed when the call came and for such an amount it's unlikely to be genuine .
One problem is that online company names are different from their "banking" names so it might not be immediately obvious who they are . Also I wonder exactly what Santander's system considers to be suss...The Tesco £2 and the others were from well known UK companies ,one a well established website and the other a UK baking utensils retailer ..

My last Halifax CC statement had a note on it advising of this sort of thing, including telling me to make sure they have my mobile number - nothing about if one doesn't have a mobile, even if I did I wouldn't have it switched on 24/7 anyway.