Card cloning

hackedoff0101 · 24 October 2016 at 1:21PM

I wasn't sure where else to post this but thought somebody here might have some thoughts to share.

Long story short my HSBC debit card was cloned for the 4th time last week, I have no idea where or how this could have happened. Bank have refunded the transaction, issued new card, but don't seem to give a damn that this keeps happening.

The transaction was for £20 to Lebara Mobile.Surely from this information they could trace it back to whoever did it?! In the past it had only been the odd £1 here and there. Does anyone have any thoughts on how this keeps happening? I very rarely use cashpoints and I'd like to think that all the online retailers I use are reputable (or at least well known). My partner is with Natwest and has never once had this problem, despite using many of the same online retailers as myself. Could this be an inside job?

eDicky · 24 October 2016 at 5:44PM

There would be no need for someone to clone your card for them to top-up an unregistered Lebara prepaid account online, perhaps using your name. They would need only knowledge of your card details. Any possibilities..?

darkcloudi · 24 October 2016 at 5:57PM

I guess it depends where you used it, I know I used my credit card at cdkeys and then had several top ups to various companies Three, EE and GiffGaff. It was the only place where I used the Visa card as it was duo so know this was the only place the details may have got stolen from.

Have you ran a virus scan on your computer to make sure you don't have malware on it?

Anthorn · 24 October 2016 at 5:58PM

If I was HSBC I would be accusing you of being negligent in the security of your card. You do have that responsibility. Or to put it another way, it's your responsibility to protect your card and not the bank's responsibility. I wonder whether the new cards have a different card number.

If you're worried it's going to keep happening get a Soldo prepaid card and turn it off when you're not using it. Or any prepaid card and just top it up with the bare minimum you're going to need.

hackedoff0101 · 25 October 2016 at 12:22PM

It was definitely cloned, there was also a transaction for 35p. I must add that I have no idea about these transactions until the bank calls me, they cancel them before they appear on my statement. Previous times this has happened they have only taken a couple small amounts of £1 and under. Each time the bank sends me a new card. There's definitely nobody who could have access to my card details, and this £20 has coincided with a small amount like when this 'usually' happens. When they send me a new card the PIN is always the same. The past 2 cards have been basic Visa Debit- I told them I no longer wanted contactless in case it was happening via that somehow, but obviously not after this.

Anthorn- I'm not sure how much more responsible I could be, Short of not buying anything online ever? Very rarely use cashpoints. Card mainly used in big chain supermarkets and a few 'reputable' online retailers (could it be Amazon? PayPal? Ocado?) I have run Windows Defender, Spybot S&D, Malwarebytes Anti-malware which don't find anything.

I keep a spreadsheet of my finances so I can try to see some kind of pattern in where this might be happening, but I can't see one. The same thing has happened to my mother (also with HSBC), but not to my partner (Natwest).

m4rc · 25 October 2016 at 12:45PM

Change banks?

hackedoff0101 · 25 October 2016 at 1:14PM

I am considering changing to Natwest, I just want to be sure I'm not missing something obvious only for it to happen again. I'm going through my paypal activity now and really, the bulk of my 'other' online spending has been done through Paypal, so I'm completely stumped !

System · 25 October 2016 at 1:15PM

It depends on what checks the retailer does on the card number.

I worked for a company that had issues checking cards issued from a particular country and many of the (successful) fraud attempts were made from various banks from there.

A prepaid sim card is ideal for fraud as there is no human intervention.

hackedoff0101 · 25 October 2016 at 1:43PM

@Heng Leng do you mean that the security of our card details depends on what method the retailer uses? In which case it's not really safe to purchase anything online at all?

takman · 25 October 2016 at 2:30PM

How do you know your card is definetly being cloned?. A cloned card means that they physically copy the card. This means it can only be done where you hand the card to the person and they copy it out of your sight. If your using a cash machine or putting the card in the machine yourself it is extremely unlikely to be cloned. Plus if it was cloned then they would have to use it personally in a shop and the bank wouldn't be blocking the transactions because it would seem like it was you using your own card.

The most likely thing that is happening is that they are getting hold of your card details (long number etc) and using this to make fraudulent transactions. Is there a website that you have entered your card details into every time you get a new card?.

Also what version of Windows are you using?. Windows Defender is not an antivirus program on windows 7 and below. Plus the other programs you have mentioned are not going to give you any active protection. You need to buy a full antivirus program such as Kaspersky to fully protect your PC.
But until you do this then just use PayPal for all your online payments and link it to your bank account via Direct Debit. This means you won't have to enter your new cars details online again.

hackedoff0101 · 25 October 2016 at 3:56PM

It's HSBC who are using the term 'cloned', every time when I ask them how it happened, they say that mine was 'part of a batch which have been copied'. Every time I press the matter further, suggesting that surely they can trace this back to a common denominator, they're not interested and I get the same stock responses parroted at me. They can't even tell me whether it was online or in a shop. I can't even remember the last time I handed the card over to someone!

The only common place I have re-entered the card details are a chemist in Scotland, (it's for a treatment in a form that the NHS don't routinely supply so I send my prescription to them)- it's all kosher and the transaction page is https secure connection.

Windows version is 8.1 and the tech support at my Uni were happy that this was enough. (my past experiences of 'official' antivirus software has repeatedly been that the computer becomes a clunking useless shambles in next to no time! *cough* Norton). Thanks for the PayPal tip, I shall do that, although my chemist will only accept card so not sure how to get around that one.

Card cloning

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