Robbed from account?!?!?

Meerdorf

My wife has had someone order £30 of O2 Pay As You Go vouchers directly from O2 using her account or card information. We reckon her card had been cloned, but thats another story, atm we just don't know... she still has her debit card, so they can't have stolen that! Now, I know it's only £30 (that's not the point!) ut that £30 has taken her past her overdraft limit meaning she will be charged ANOTHER £20 from Halifax... is this fair? She is putting a fradulant claim form tomorrow at her Halifax branch WILL SHE GET HER MONEY BACK? What are peoples experiences of these dirty schemes people use to rip other people off unfairly?! Thanks in advance.

M_Thomson

Meerdorf wrote:

My wife has had someone order £30 of O2 Pay As You Go vouchers directly from O2 using her account or card information. We reckon her card had been cloned, but thats another story, atm we just don't know... she still has her debit card, so they can't have stolen that! Now, I know it's only £30 (that's not the point!) ut that £30 has taken her past her overdraft limit meaning she will be charged ANOTHER £20 from Halifax... is this fair? She is putting a fradulant claim form tomorrow at her Halifax branch WILL SHE GET HER MONEY BACK? What are peoples experiences of these dirty schemes people use to rip other people off unfairly?! Thanks in advance.

Once the transaction has been proved fraudulent she should get all charges and the amount that was stolen backdated to the date of the transactions.

jonesMUFCforever

M_Thomson wrote:

Once the transaction has been proved fraudulent she should get all charges and the amount that was stolen backdated to the date of the transactions.

Are you or a close member of your family with O2?
Could someone have used your card without knowledge and then put it back without anyone knowing?
Are you willing to report this to the police and obtain a crime reference number?

Just a few questions you are likely to be asked - make sure you say the right thing.

Meerdorf

Absolutely NOONE we know is on O2, and there is no chance anyone would have used the card details in our family... the two kids are too young to know what to do with a card. We are prepaired to get a crime reference ID as we are both fuming!!!! :mad: Its sad that people have to steal rather than to work hard like we do to earn our money! :money:

Sleekit

Meerdorf wrote:

My wife has had someone order £30 of O2 Pay As You Go vouchers directly from O2 using her account or card information. We reckon her card had been cloned, but thats another story, atm we just don't know... she still has her debit card, so they can't have stolen that! Now, I know it's only £30 (that's not the point!) ut that £30 has taken her past her overdraft limit meaning she will be charged ANOTHER £20 from Halifax... is this fair? She is putting a fradulant claim form tomorrow at her Halifax branch WILL SHE GET HER MONEY BACK? What are peoples experiences of these dirty schemes people use to rip other people off unfairly?! Thanks in advance.

The exact same thing happened to me back in August - O2 in Slough, £30 transaction. I've never been to Slough in my life. RBS insisted I had to go to the police and report it and get a crime number for their fraudulent claim report, but luckily there's a police station across from the nearest branch.

It was a couple of days before pay day, and the £30 put me over my O/D limit. I had also gone to Tesco that day and the day before, so I ended up getting stung for £130 charges all in.

The £30 fraudulent transaction was refunded within a couple of days, but it took 4 weeks and a letter to the branch manager before I got the charges refunded :mad:

Meerdorf

Thanks Sleekit mate. Wow, its uncannely the same! She might get stung more too, she signed up to Friends Reunited and did a little shops... so our charges might be EXACTLY the same!

bargains83

Meerdorf wrote:

Absolutely NOONE we know is on O2, and there is no chance anyone would have used the card details in our family... the two kids are too young to know what to do with a card. We are prepaired to get a crime reference ID as we are both fuming!!!! :mad: Its sad that people have to steal rather than to work hard like we do to earn our money! :money:

These won't be actual O2 vouchers which have been bought. O2 allow you to top up your pay as you go mobile directly via an automated top-up system. It then asks you to enter your card number, followed by the expiry date, the card security code, then the house number and digits from the postcode where the credit/debit card is registered.

O2's Billing HQ is in Slough and this is why Slough comes up on your statement, it doesn't mean your card has been cloned in Slough. This may also appear on your statement if you use one of O2's Virtual networks like Tesco Mobile for example as even though you are with them you still use O2's network and billing systems.

Sadly O2 are the only network which don't require you to pre-register your card details with them before you can make a top-up so it is a pretty insecure system if you want my opinion.

Still, a hell of a lot of information must have been provided for these top-ups to go through so it must be someone who has the card details and your address. My advice is to check if anyone close uses O2 or an O2 Virtual network then failing that sit down, and think whether you might have left the card laying around anywhere where anyone could have copied information down. Lastly, look through your statements and think back if anything suspicious was conducted in the past when you completed a seemingly genuine transaction.

Meerdorf

Only thing I can think of is that the wheelie bin was knocked over 2 weeks agos... crap everywhere.. Babies nappies THE LOT! That was on bin day and a few others were knocked over, so I thought nothing of it. I suppose the missus could have had a statement in the rubbish... But then again so could I... Could they get all the info from a statement? Surely they would also need the security number on the back of the card which isn't on a statement?

zag2me

Always shred any bank statements.

bargains83

Meerdorf wrote:

Only thing I can think of is that the wheelie bin was knocked over 2 weeks agos... crap everywhere.. Babies nappies THE LOT! That was on bin day and a few others were knocked over, so I thought nothing of it. I suppose the missus could have had a statement in the rubbish... But then again so could I... Could they get all the info from a statement? Surely they would also need the security number on the back of the card which isn't on a statement?

The card itself would be needed for the security code and expiry dates and the debit card number as none of this information is reported on a bank account statement.

This makes it increasingly more likely it is someone you know who has had hold of the card since they would need to know your house number and postcode in order for the transactions to authorise.

When you liase with your bank, they will most likely contact O2 who will be able to trace the transaction back to whichever phone was topped up and if it is proven fraudulent then I would expect the offenders sim card will be barred and further action taken.

harpo1

This happened to me a few years ago when someone used my debit card visa number to buy packs of £50 vouchers on BT. I had my card at all times yet someone was able to buy 2 batches of vouchers within a week amounting to £1400. What saved my skin was that the Nationwide was very understanding and the card number was used in Slough while I lived in Belfast and the money was returned by the Building society within a few days.
Its easy to get a postcode if you have a name and address. The bank reckoned the number was taken in a restaurant and sold on
Now I check my account online very regularly, but its very critical that you act promptly & keep checking - I had already alerted the bs about the first fraudulent use when the second was allowed to happen
Good Luck