Fraudulent use of Barclays debit card.

swanny65

My friends have come to me in desperation at a decision they have received from Barclays Bank following the fraudulent use of one of their debit cards. Their case is as follows.

Received their July bank statement and notice two transactions they did not make. Firstly in the morning a £200.00 cash withdrawn from a cashpoint at the local Asda supermarket. Followed by BP petrol station debit card deduction of around £45.00.

I told them to contact Barclays and the Police to report the fraudulent unauthorised use. When they reported the incidents to Barclays they were told not to involve the Police as Barclays would deal with the matter in house.

This week they received a letter from Barclays stating they will not be getting a refund. They visited Barclays and were told the chip used was the one in the husbands card. They have pointed out if the card was cloned then the chip details would appear to be the same. They also told Barclays at the time of the cashpoint withdrawal the husband was dropping off their daughter at nursery and at the time the petrol was purchased his wife had their car at work. The husband cycles to work. The member of staff at Barclays said they could appeal to the bank but they had no chance of winning as the "chip" issue meant the decision would not be reversed.

I am prepared to accept they are entirely innocent. They have 3 children all under 8 so none on the children could have used the husbands card.

How should i tell them to proceed from the initial refusal made by Barclays?

Many thanks.

simongregson

1. If the transactions took them into their overdraft, their debit card has been used as a 'credit token', and therefore their maximum liability under the consumer credit act is £50, the rest must be refunded.

2. the banking code, to which Barclays subscribes states that they must be able to shown to have acted with negligence. Ask them to provide the evidence that you have acted negligently.

I would suggest they write a letter to barclays marked 'complaint' and state that they require the money to be refunded. If they still don't refund, pass the complaint onto the FSA ombudsman, this will cost the bank £400 anyway, so you may well find that they pay out.

swanny65

Thanks for your reply.

I have read a few postings on here about recent cloning of card "chips" and whether the matter should be reported to the police.

My friends tell me when they initially visited Barclays they were told not to go the Police. However when they visited Barclays most recently they were told they should have reported the matter to the Police. Could it be Barclays have used this as part of their judgement and should this form part of the compliant.

Finance101_2

swanny65 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply.

I have read a few postings on here about recent cloning of card "chips" and whether the matter should be reported to the police.

My friends tell me when they initially visited Barclays they were told not to go the Police. However when they visited Barclays most recently they were told they should have reported the matter to the Police. Could it be Barclays have used this as part of their judgement and should this form part of the compliant.

It appears the advice you get depends on who you speak to at Barclays. The first time my card was used fraudulently abroad, I contacted the Police and was told to report it to the bank who will contact them if further investigation was required. Barclays told me the same thing.

The member of staff at Barclays said they could appeal to the bank but they had no chance of winning as the "chip" issue meant the decision would not be reversed.

What does 'chip' issue mean? Sounds like an attempt to get them to give up. In my experience, what they write in the dispute claim form also gives weight to whether Barclays refunds the money or not. If they have stated that they have ever given the PIN to anyone else or have it written down somewhere, Barclays could claim they have been negligent so they don't have to pay out.

I think your friends should take simongregson's advice.

James

Sorry to learn of this but this is becoming more and more common. Your friend will be forced to go down the Financail Ombudsman Service route, which I can assure you can take anything up to a year. The bad news is the FOS are finding in favour of the banks WITHOUT the banks proving that the cardholder was careless with their PIN.

It maybe worth your friend considering the small claims court vice the FOS service. Links to Watchdog and Newsnight Videos and other recent News articles below:

I've also made this posting on another string that other victims may find useful and it explains (even at this late date) why victims of fraud should report it to the police.

This was in response to this posting (click here).

The good news is under the Banking Code you should get your money back - unless you’ve been negligent with your PIN (seems unlikely in this case – see below), or you have acted fraudulently or (the crunch) without reasonable care. The bad news is that more and more banks are refusing to cough up and reimburse victims.

What I’d do now and why:

Report this to the Police and get a crime reference or incident number.

Why?

By reporting this to the Police it will help convince the Bank your really are a victim.

Allows early intervention by the police if ATMs or shops PIN Pads have been tampered with. It may also point to a data breach. But don't expect the police to investigate.

Follow up your original phone call with a letter and put everything in writing soonest. (Keep a copy, send letter recorded and request a receipt).

In the letter give your card issuer the Crime Ref or Incident No.

Ask your bank if the crime was perpetrated using your Card Details, or if your Card was Cloned and the transactions authorised with your PIN or a Signature.

Why?

The letter will prove you reported the crime as soon as you noticed it.

Although it sounds as if your card details were used, by asking how the crime was perpetrated will allow you to take the necessary steps to protect yourself from further frauds.

Video's & recent Media Articles:

BBC Watchdog Chip & PIN and The Banking Code.

BBC News Night (Chip & PIN Take-over and Fraud Risk Part 1)

BBC News Night (Chip & PIN Take-over and Fraud Risk Part 2)

If you watch the above News Night videos consider the following:

Asda Gosport (chip & PIN entry devices hacked).

Eire (Chip & PIN entry devices hacked).

I suppose someone challenging their bank to prove they were careless with their PIN, and the bank couldn't. I'm sure any reasonable judge, furnished with the above informaiton would come down on the side of the victim.

Good luck.

Mayday

I hope your friends get sorted out soon - it's not a pleasant situation to be in.

I got caught in the CottonTraders hacking incident, and my Barclays debit card was used to purchase a bed from a firm in Telford to be delivered to a South London address. Luckily the site owner had had a string of suspicious puchases and didn't process the order, but managed to contact me to warn me. As I had just moved, the transaction wouldn't have gone through, but it was still scarey.

Good luck to your friends.

swanny65

Many thanks to all who replied. I have passed the details to my friends for them to continue with as they see fit.......