HELP!!! Debit card has two charges on it not made by me - Fraud???!!!

Night-owl_6

Hi

I am not sure if I am posting this in the right section so feel free to move it to the correct area of the forum if need be.

I paid in £100 into my Alliance & Leicester current account today as I needed to pay a bill via my card.
When I went to pay the payer via my debit card the card was instantly declined for £70 which I knew there was over £100 in the account, the casher tried a second time at my request and what do you know, it was declined again.

I have logged on to internet banking just now to find that my account balance is £127.00 and available is £77.00!!

What the hell, I have no direct debits on this account nor do I have any card payments coming off it, its simply for bills and I have'nt ever used it online for this very reason.

Anyway, I contacted customer service and Alliance & Leicester and the guy I spoke too after I explained to him the problem said my card sounds asthough it has been compromised and asked if I was 100% sure I had'nt used it, which I was, I have'nt used it in a month for anything.
He they said he will need to cancel the debit card with immediate affect and reissue the card and PIN number.
He has also said he has now passed my account on to Fraud investigations at A&L and that they will now contact the person whom the payment was requested by to see what the payment was for etc.

Can anyone give ant advice, Ia m always so careful with using my debit card anywhere, I always cover my PIN at the ATM and when out shopping and never ever use it online for anything and I have no payments ever coming from it.

The guy I spoke to at A&L said that two payments of £25 each had been requested by a unkown drawer on my card, but they will know tomorrow, possibly late tonight.

He also said its possible my debit card has been cloned???!!!

Please help!

Night-owl_6

Can can someone also put some light on what a fraud investigation will intail, such what will happen etc as I have never had this problem before

prettypennies

My OH recently had over £700 taken from his current account (debited from an ATM in Georgia Russia!!!) he is very careful with his card, does not use to buy online, seldom uses in stores. We think his card may have been cloned after we used it to pay for a hotel break (can't prove anything though) After OH informed bank of the fraudulent transactions, they stopped his card and several days later sent out some forms for him to complete.
He had to tell them about:
all the fraudlent transactions (7 in total)
when he last used his card at an ATM
when he last used it instore
who lived with him
who may know his PIN number
if he ever allowed anyone else to use his card on his behalf
if he had written his PIN number anywhere
if he suspected anyone of taking the money.

The form needed to be returned within 10 days.

Witihin 2 weeks the money + any fees incurred, was re-credited to his account.

We did contact the ploce, but they were not interested, just said the bank's fraud team would deal with it.

OH was a bit annoyed that the bank had not noticed the unusual transactions and informed him, he had to tell them.

Night-owl_6

prettypennies wrote: »

My OH recently had over £700 taken from his current account (debited from an ATM in Georgia Russia!!!) he is very careful with his card, does not use to buy online, seldom uses in stores. We think his card may have been cloned after we used it to pay for a hotel break (can't prove anything though) After OH informed bank of the fraudulent transactions, they stopped his card and several days later sent out some forms for him to complete.
He had to tell them about:
all the fraudlent transactions (7 in total)
when he last used his card at an ATM
when he last used it instore
who lived with him
who may know his PIN number
if he ever allowed anyone else to use his card on his behalf
if he had written his PIN number anywhere
if he suspected anyone of taking the money.

The form needed to be returned within 10 days.

Witihin 2 weeks the money + any fees incurred, was re-credited to his account.

We did contact the ploce, but they were not interested, just said the bank's fraud team would deal with it.

OH was a bit annoyed that the bank had not noticed the unusual transactions and informed him, he had to tell them.

What really bothers me is not the lost money a big deal, but I now have to wait upto 10 Days for a new debit card and PIN and I have a bill to pay start of next week that can only be paid by debit card, and I have no other debit card, so I can only hope it comes before then.


I used my card in Sainsburys was the last place, a round a month and a half ago and I have heard people tell me they have had money taken from there card after using Sainsburys and it has been in the papers that they sell you card details abroad!

I now cant pay my bill today, I could be charges a late fee of £15 and also may not be able to pay the other bill next week.

I used an ATM last week, but I covered my PIN and no one was standinga round nor waiting to use it, but in my area recently there has been alot of cloning whereby criminals are putting a thing where you put your card to obtain the details.

PROLIANT

Hello mate, the A&L fraud dept will investigate it and you should get your money back, they will ask alot of questions and may record all conversations with you, don't worry too much but could take a few weeks to get the coin back in your account.

Night-owl_6

PROLIANT wrote: »

Hello mate, the A&L fraud dept will investigate it and you should get your money back, they will ask alot of questions and may record all conversations with you, don't worry too much but could take a few weeks to get the coin back in your account.

Thanks Mr P.
As before, Ia m now concerned about using my A&L account again, even with a different card, so after thinking about it tonight I amy open another current account with another bank, as I have been needing a push and this has more than done that now.

I cant understand how this has happened to me, I am so so careful and no one knows my PIN, I dont have it written anywhere.

I am so angry that someone has done this and feel like a victim now, Ia m be over reacting but when it happens it isnt as easy as people might think.

A&L ahve said there fruad department are sending me a leter and declaration out that I must sign to disclaim the transactions and allow an investigation to be launched, they have said my account isnt locked and wont be as it appears to be only my debit card that was used.


I will never use a debit acrd in a stores again through risk of this ever happening again.

I just hope I get my replacement card by next week or I will have late fees and I doubt A&L will give me them back

latecomer

Why dont you ask whether they will give you an overdraft to keep allow you to meet your payments for the next couple of weeks? Got to be worth asking.

prettypennies

I understand how upset you are as my OH was the same. He has had his account for 10 years (small business account so alot of money in it) Up until this year he refused to have a debit card. But these days it is difficult to manage without one.

He has only used it as a debit card a handful of times, incidently Sainsburys petorl station was one of them, but we thought it was more likely to be the hotel we stayed at.

My OH has been considering changing account since it has happened as he didn't feel like the bank really gave a toss and is concerned about exactly what personal details these fraudesters may have got about him

Rosemary7391

Night-owl wrote: »

Thanks Mr P.
As before, Ia m now concerned about using my A&L account again, even with a different card, so after thinking about it tonight I amy open another current account with another bank, as I have been needing a push and this has more than done that now.

I cant understand how this has happened to me, I am so so careful and no one knows my PIN, I dont have it written anywhere.

I am so angry that someone has done this and feel like a victim now, Ia m be over reacting but when it happens it isnt as easy as people might think.

A&L ahve said there fruad department are sending me a leter and declaration out that I must sign to disclaim the transactions and allow an investigation to be launched, they have said my account isnt locked and wont be as it appears to be only my debit card that was used.


I will never use a debit acrd in a stores again through risk of this ever happening again.

I just hope I get my replacement card by next week or I will have late fees and I doubt A&L will give me them back

Why not phone up the people whose bills you are paying, explain what has happened and ask for another week to pay them? The worst they can say is no!

Night-owl_6

Thanks to everyone for there replies.

After many telephone calls to A&L today they have found out who the drawer was, WHSmith.
They took two payments to verify my card, without me know for an order I placed over 4 months abook on pre order, however they state that they dont take any money from your card and that they verify it by other means therefore I have brought this to the attention of Trading Standards.

A&L have said they think the first person I spoke to was a little eager to cancel my card so quickly and said sorry and that has a goodwill my money will be returned to my account within 12 hours rather than the normal 8 day wait for pre verify transactiosn which was nice after a manager was spoken to about it.

Still angry with WHSmith, I never use them again as they have caused un needed stress

prettypennies

Glad you got it all sorted in the end.