Bank Account Frozen after Fraud

katyshaw

On Wednesday my two barclays debit cards were stolen from my wallet in London. I rang to report it to Barclays as soon as I noticed and they froze the accounts - but not before someone had gone to a local branch and cleared my current account and graduate overdraft facility to the tune of £1500 over the counter at the swiss cottage branch. It was at this point I realised my driving licence card was also missing and had probably been used as ID.

I was told to ring Barclays Fraud at 9am the next morning as they shut at 5pm. I did, they logged the claim and said someone would ring back the same day. No one did.

On Friday I rang again and found my claim hadnt even been logged properly. Once it had, the fraud dept passed me between card fraud and counter fraud depts for FOUR HOURS on an 0845 no on my mobile. Neither would deal with it since my cards had been used to get money out at a branch - so it fell between their depts.

Saturday now and Im three days with no cash and no access to cash. All my direct debits are bouncing causing further fees. Barclays are treating me like a criminal - when I went into the branch they actually said ''until we prove you didnt do this we're not giving you a penny back'. All they need to do is look at the cctv footage and check with ID was used to withdraw the cash and they can see its fraud.

Its bad enough to be roobed but for Barclays to treat me worse in the aftermath has shocked and upset me as well as leaving me totally penniless.

What is the banks responsibility in this matter? Should they have a time scale in dealing with fraud cases? Can they leave me penniless? And should I go to the FSA?

Any advice much appreciated

AnonymousForObviousReason

If you haven't already contact the police asap and report it. Also demand of the bank that they don't destroy the CCTV (sure they wouldn't). Finally check when the withdrawal was it made was before you reported it and not after (they're completely without a leg to stand on if it was after).

I don't think the bank have to do anything for you but it's quite poor customer service, you might have insurance against fraud which may help you. Try to get a meeting with a manager and explain the situation if you can't get help from friends or family.

If you're at Uni (saying because of Graduate overdraft) contact them they may be able to give you an emergency loan (you won't be partying on it but may help). Any charges you incurred from the theft should be covered by the bank, but probably not the phone call - maybe you could get a payment in apology (http://www.saynoto0870.com/search.php for future reference about those high cost numbers).

Loughton_Monkey

Barclays are unpredictable.

One day, I was just marking up my accounts and went online to look at my Barclaycard.

I was horrified to see several £100's being taken out and used for various flights, foreign currency transactions, and other things in Oslo!

Needless to say, I was straight on the phone to their fraud people. To call them "Uninterested" would be an understatement. All I got was a promise that they would send out a "Disputed Transaction Form" within 14 days! I argued that I didn't want a disputed transaction form. I would rather tham find who is using my card and how? There were about 7 transactions, all very recent, and some chance that more would be made shortly, I told them.

This was greeted simply by their statement that they can only record one disputed transaction at a time, so could I just give them one of the transaction details to log it against?

"Are you going to stop the card?" I asked. "If you want us to." was the response.

Of course I demanded that the card was stopped. Eventually, though, they did wipe off all the bogus transactions. I religeously paid what was genuine and due, but of course this incurs "interest", which took a lifetime to remove as well.

In short, they simply didn't seem to care one jot about the whole case!

katyshaw

thanks - the money was taken before I noticed my cards were gone, Id been at work all afternoon and simply didnt pay for anything til 5pm so didnt notice them gone.
I have asked them to keep cctv and they have said they will check branch records to check what ID was used.
Im mainly shocked at their attitude to me (implying I probably did it and am trying to defraud them, I am a doctor with perfect credit rating and never in overdraft) and their refusal to give me any money.
Graduate account was never used, hence it should have caused even more concern when it was cleared in one go.
Can I complain to FSA?

opinions4u

katyshaw wrote: »

Im mainly shocked at their attitude to me (implying I probably did it and am trying to defraud them

To be fair, the first thing a bank has to do when the customer cries "fraud" is establish that the customer isn't trying it on. Unfortunately some customers do take the michael.

This does have to be communicated in a positive manner to the customer though.

I am a doctor with perfect credit rating and never in overdraft

And, like every profession, there are some who will commit fraud.

Can I complain to FSA?

Yes, but the will send you a letter back saying that they aren't a complaints body .

I would expect Barclays to resolve this issue fairly soon. You should engage their complaints procedures first before escalating it to an independent body.

Be clear about what your complaint is. Is it that they allowed the fraud? Refused you a withdrawal? Staff attitude? All of these?

They then have up to 8 weeks to resolve the complaint or issue a letter of deadlock.

Once you have a letter of deadlock, or your 8 weeks has expired, you can take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Being a victim of fraud is a horrible experience. It's also a difficult situation for the bank because, unfortunately, customers less honest than yourself will try to take them for a ride by claiming legitimate transactions were fraudulent.

The best thing staff can do is listen, show empathy and then resolve it all as quickly as possible - ensuring customer inconvenience is minimal and loss is nil.