Fraudulent Transactions from my Bank Account

vicx

Hello, I'm not sure if this is the right place to post but I'm hoping someone here can give me some advice.

I tried to top up my mobile phone online and over the phone tonight but it kept refusing my debit card. As it was processing payment it asked for the secure password which I typed in but it did not accept it. I clicked on forgot password and it asked me for my DOB, the security number on my debit card and my mother's maiden name. It said I had typed in one of the answers wrong even after typing it in several times so I contacted Halifax and explained what was happening. I was told my account was blocked and to phone the bank on another number in the morning as their contact centre was closed.

I thought it was very odd for my account to be blocked so I logged in to my online bank account and noticed two fraudulent transactions taken from my account recently. One was from epoch.com and the other was vtsup.com. I've never heard of those websites before and certainly have not handed my card details over to them. I dont often use my card to pay online so I am very confused as to how they have got hold of my card details and what the charges are for.

I googled both websites and when I clicked on them it asked me to type in my card details to find out what the payments were for - which I refuse to do. I contacted Halifax again and explained that I noticed two transactions on my account that I had not made. He looked into this and told me these websites were a bit like paypal and asked if I had made any recent payments online. I told him these were fraudulent transactions and I want my account blocked from any future transactions. He said he could not see a block on my account or even apply a block, so he suggested to destroy the card and will send me a new one out. I'm just a bit worried that these companies can still take more money without my permission.

I'm going to go into my bank tomorrow and speak to someone in person to see what can be done. Will they recover the money that has been taken from my account? Also can anyone shed any light on these two websites, what are they and how have they got hold of my card details?

jamespir

verotel is a online payment merchant and so is epoch so you perhaps have registered at a site that uses these two merchants

vicx

UPDATE:

I contacted Epoch Billing Support via the online chat on the website. They provided me with the Name, Email Address, Website and Member ID of the person that has used my card details.

I do not share a computer with anyone, I have not gave my card details to anyone, and have not registered or even heard of the website and person that Epoch provided so this was a fraudulent transaction.

I went straight down to my bank and they noticed another transaction which had been attempted but failed. This blocked my account and notified the Fraud Team, who left a note on my account. My bank phoned the Fraud Team and they were able to recover the transactions made. So good news in the end.

Does anyone know how they have got hold of my bank card details? It has really put me off using my card online or even internet banking. I dont use my card online very often. I have only used it for well known websites, such as Ebay, Paypal and well known shopping websites.

onlypaddy

vicx, have you used your card at a petrol pay at pump terminal? these are prone to card cloners

bingy_burge

You didnt use one of the sky adult channels this week and forgot you gave them your details?? I have heard of people claiming fraud because they have been charged by a discreet company. Then the are told it was for adult entertainment services and the penny drops!

vicx

Hello, No, I always pay by cash at petrol stations. I dont use my card to pay instore or online very often. I always make sure I have enough cash on me. I've just checked my online banking and in the past 5 month there has been 6 transactions online, 2 of which are Ebay, 3 well known shopping stores and my car insurance which was recently. There has also only been 2 instore transactions which are well known stores so I cant understand how they have cloned my card details.

There is only two transactions from the past month. One was for my car insurance (I got the quote using a comparison website then directed to the insurers website to pay) and the other was an ebay transaction through paypal.

I also dont understand how they have managed to bypass the Halifax Secure password which needs to be provided before the online transaction goes through.

rb10

They probably just made up your account number. If you have a computer that is powerful enough, then just get it generating potential 16-digit account numbers, and eventually (after working through millions of failed attempts) they'll strike upon one that's successful - in this case, yours. This is by far the most likely way that your details were accessed.

However, now that the new card has been issued, the old number will be invalid, so they won't be able to put any more transactions through.

Don't let this put you off pay-at-pump/ATMs/internet etc, they probably had nothing to do with it!

vicx wrote: »

I also dont understand how they have managed to bypass the Halifax Secure password which needs to be provided before the online transaction goes through.

Not all websites require you to put in a Halifax Secure (Verified by Visa) password. I believe that it protects the retailer more fully if they do include this on their website, but it's not everywhere that needs it.

vicx

bingy_burge wrote: »

You didnt use one of the sky adult channels this week and forgot you gave them your details?? I have heard of people claiming fraud because they have been charged by a discreet company. Then the are told it was for adult entertainment services and the penny drops!

No, definately not. I have not even registered with any websites either. I would never put my personal details into a website or give them over the phone.

I would love to know how they have got hold of my card details so I can prevent this happening again. I've heard about it happening but never thought it would happen to me

vicx

rb10 wrote: »

They probably just made up your account number. If you have a computer that is powerful enough, then just get it generating potential 16-digit account numbers, and eventually (after working through millions of failed attempts) they'll strike upon one that's successful - in this case, yours. This is by far the most likely way that your details were accessed.

However, now that the new card has been issued, the old number will be invalid, so they won't be able to put any more transactions through.

Don't let this put you off pay-at-pump/ATMs/internet etc, they probably had nothing to do with it!
.

Surely they could not of got lucky with all the card details through generating? If they generated my card number, they would also have to guess the issue number, start/expiry date and the last 3 digits on the back which would take a long time to get all the details correct. Obviously it will be very easy to these cloners though.

I think it could have something to do with the last transactions or my computer/accounts might have been hacked into :huh: