HELP! Our Card's Been Defrauded!!!

housebug

My husband's NatWest charge card (charge, not credit) was used fraudulently on Jan 31st. Some a**hole charged a nice trip abroad with a site called Opodo.com to the tune of £200+. We just found out yesterday when checking the statement and realised the balance was too high.

NatWest are being complete ar*epicks about it. They want us to fill out a complaint form to be sent to their chargeback/dispute department who will "investigate". In the meantime, they're trying to make us pay the the account per usual and trust them to credit the fraudulent amount back later.

My understanding of how it works is that the bank has no legal right to demand payment on a card that been used fraudulently until the dispute has been settled. We're set up for direct debit for the card and no amount of phoning NatWests various departments to complain or get some resolution is working. They just keep parroting the same thing about that form and refuse to say that we're not responsible for the fraud. I now have the form and can fax back tomorrow btw.

Friday is the earliest we can get into the local branch to raise hell with them and try to get it resolved before the due date of the account next week. In the meantime, I'd appreciate any advice or suggestions!

Dave_the_Ginger_Cat

housebug wrote:

My husband's NatWest charge card (charge, not credit) was used fraudulently on Jan 31st. Some a**hole charged a nice trip abroad with a site called Opodo.com to the tune of £200+. We just found out yesterday when checking the statement and realised the balance was too high.

NatWest are being complete ar*epicks about it. They want us to fill out a complaint form to be sent to their chargeback/dispute department who will "investigate". In the meantime, they're trying to make us pay the the account per usual and trust them to credit the fraudulent amount back later.

My understanding of how it works is that the bank has no legal right to demand payment on a card that been used fraudulently until the dispute has been settled. We're set up for direct debit for the card and no amount of phoning NatWests various departments to complain or get some resolution is working. They just keep parroting the same thing about that form and refuse to say that we're not responsible for the fraud. I now have the form and can fax back tomorrow btw.

Friday is the earliest we can get into the local branch to raise hell with them and try to get it resolved before the due date of the account next week. In the meantime, I'd appreciate any advice or suggestions!

They can only commence formal investigations once they have a written disclaimer from the cardholder - this is typically the form you describe and sometimes includes a crime reference number. I think it's perfectly reasonable of the card issuer to request this from your husband. If they were to issue a refund however temporary to a card you would be surprised how many people did not then bother with the paperwork.

I'm not an expert on the law in this area, but my view is that they have behaved in a decent and consistent manner. I know it's frustrating, and it feels very personal when Fraud has been carried out, but if you fax the form in as you suggest I am sure this will help resolve it quickly.

daveboy

It is always possible, either through internet banking, or by going in to the bank, to delete the direct debit. This will of course mean paying 'manually', either by cheque or some other method.

What I certainly wouldn't do is not pay anything to them at all.

I've only ever deleted a direct debit once to get back at a company, which was NTL some years ago when they kept billing me wrongly.

Hope this sorts itself eventually.

housebug

I sent the paperwork and a covering letter stating that we are most definitely NOT paying the fraudulent amount. I've checked with a lawyer friend and despite anything that might be in the T&Cs, we cannot be compelled to pay. The T&Cs btw, say that we are not responsible for fraudulent use of the card via the Internet. Nor does it state we have to pay the fraudulent amount and then wait for the bank to refund the money at some later date.

Even more astounding is they don't seem to think the card should be suspended or even cancelled and a new one reissued. I mean, whats to stop the fraudster using the the number again?