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Card payment fraud -13k in 48hrs -Help!

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Just had a day from hell.

I was horrified to notice two card payments had debited my Abbey current account on Friday 24th Oct.

One for approx £6700, and another for approx £3100. Both were destined for the CO-OP bank. The large one was for ‘CO-OP COLLECTIONS’, which I presume is a debt. management dept .There was another £3100 transaction awaiting authorisation.This debited Saturday as Abbey refused to stop it.

I also noticed four other card payment transactions, all fewer than ten pounds, each which debited the account two days earlier. These were all destined for a PAYPAL account.
I immediately rang ABBEY and was transferred to their Visa disputes dept. So far so good. An employee told me not to worry and that she would process a claim for these transactions and forward the case to the fraud dept.

When I asked why such large transactions had been authorised, I was informed no one could answer this! This all eemed strange as only two weeks earlier I had tried to pay off my Barclaycard (£1034) and my card was declined, despite having sufficient funds. I was informed at the time it was due to the large size of the payment and this was declined to prevent fraud. How ironic.

My card had been used for the large transactions and my wife’s for the small PayPal transactions. Abbey informed me they would immediately cancel both cards to prevent any further fraudulent transactions.

The operator also agreed to finally speak to the fraud dept. for further guidance. I was told that she could not connect to this dept at the moment as there was a technical fault with fraud’s telephone lines. I was asked to ring back in half an hour, by which time the lines should be working. I asked what time the fraud dept. closed, and was informed “Five o’clock”. It was quarter to five. The operator asked me to ring back tomorrow.

On Saturday 25th October at 8.27am I rang the Visa disputes direct line but an automated message informed me the dept was closed and opened Monday to Friday. I then rang the telephone banking helpline and asked to be transferred to the fraud dept. The young gentleman informed me that the fraud dept. did not open on Saturday. I explained my situation and asked if anyone in the Abbey could help me on Saturday. “Unfortunately not”. The reply was depressingly all too familiar. Undeterred, I asked for the fraud depts. direct number and rang them shortly after 9am. They were closed. Do Abbey believe that fraudsters and crooks only work Monday-Friday,9-5?

I am now feeling extremely desperate and am without any money as the cards have been cancelled. At no time have Abbey informed me that I could go to my local branch and withdraw funds if I had a passport/driving licence to confirm my identity. (My friend has just told me about this).If it was not for my parents support this weekend, I would have had no money.

I believe there is one final twist in the tale. I recently applied for a personal loan with the Abbey. This was approved and placed in my bank account on the 9th October. No one except my wife and I knew about this loan, apart from Abbey employees. It was a couple of days later that I attempted to pay my Barclaycard bill of £1034, which was declined. When I tried to ring the Abbey, three foreign call centre operators failed to help. Two cut me off! I eventually was transferred to the authorisation dept. that after numerous security checks authorised the payment.

Who would know there was £12000 sitting in my account? This was an unusual amount and was only placed in my account on the 9th October. Had I alerted dishonest employees as to the loan funds sitting in my account?

Why would the fraudsters target this exact amount in such a short space of time?

Who would have access to both my card details and my wife’s?

Why would the fraudsters take such large payments and why were they approved?

Some people would think this is an ‘inside job’.

The postman today delivered a CO-OP credit card bill which was addressed to someone I have never heard of. This bill was for £3100. I rang the CO-OP who confirmed it was in receipt of my money and it was all fraudulent. They also confirmed they declined a payment from my card on the 22nd October as the adress did not match the card. The same day, the fraudster rang the CO-OP and changed the adress on the credit card account to my home adress .

How could the fraudsters also know my address?

Abbey don't seem in the slightest interested and they told me today that they are only just processing 'Visa Dispute' claims from the 9th of October.

Sorry to go on. It's my first post and I am not sure I will ever see my money again.
Can anyone help?
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Comments

  • best to contact credt card company
  • certainly sounds like it is someone who has access to your relevant information!! silly to ask but i assume you have involved the police???? that should shake them up a bit!!! surely it can be traced through the payment which you say could be to pay off a debt?? it must have gone to someones debt!!! and the co-op bank account it went to must have a name and address?? hope it all works out ok.xxx
  • You will see your money again but it will take time.
    If because of the Abbey not chasing the debts in time before the fraudsters withdraw them, then its Abbey that will take the loss.
  • Thanks for the replies.

    Spent an hour with the police. To be fair, they are not experts in this particular field.

    You would also think this is very starightforward as the recipients details must be easy to trace. All seems too much for the Abbey.
  • xplora
    xplora Posts: 156 Forumite
    I would not feel surprised if this is done by employee. Report to the local branch and fill the complaints form, and they will investigate the fraud for you.
  • The problem is Abbey are only processing claims from the 9th October. It could be another 18 days before they look at my case.

    The bounced DD's and charges will soon roll in along with my credit rating being affected.

    Abbey have said they will reimburse these fees but not for some time. How can I make them get their finger out?
  • i'm a victim of fraud so i know what you're going thru
    Time is the best teacher
    Shame it kills all the students
    :p
    *******************************************************************************************
  • xplora
    xplora Posts: 156 Forumite
    The problem is Abbey are only processing claims from the 9th October. It could be another 18 days before they look at my case.

    The bounced DD's and charges will soon roll in along with my credit rating being affected.

    Abbey have said they will reimburse these fees but not for some time. How can I make them get their finger out?

    I've got a friend who faced the same problem as you but it was Savings Account with 10,000-11,000 pounds. It took about a month to refund half of them and another 2 weeks for other half. Since it involved so many transactions about 40 and involved in different county (and foreign country), only about 95% transactions were refunded. The bankers told us it involved West Midlands Police, London Police etc etc. I suspect your refunds will be faster because it is just few transaction. It was awful, trust me. Furthermore they refund each transaction, NOT in one go.
  • Help. Still getting nowhere fast.

    Abbey have confirmed this morning that their fraud dept. has still not began to investigate this fraud. Th CO-OP have confirmed the funds have been used to purchase a car in London. I live in Tyneside!

    Abbey have also confirmed they have never seen a card fraud payment so large. So why are they not prioritising this?

    How do I get the Abbey to pull their finger out? I have written to their Chief Exec and spoken to their complaints dept. Still no progress.
  • xplora
    xplora Posts: 156 Forumite
    Help. Still getting nowhere fast.

    Abbey have confirmed this morning that their fraud dept. has still not began to investigate this fraud. Th CO-OP have confirmed the funds have been used to purchase a car in London. I live in Tyneside!

    Abbey have also confirmed they have never seen a card fraud payment so large. So why are they not prioritising this?

    How do I get the Abbey to pull their finger out? I have written to their Chief Exec and spoken to their complaints dept. Still no progress.

    Have you tried the manager/chief manager when you call fraud dept? Ombudsman is your last choice but not sure if they deal with fraud
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