Money stolen through cash point machine - any advice?

wazza

Friend used a card cash machine in a shopping centre on Monday. It was a cashpoint not belonging to a specific bank. She took out £200 which is the maximum she can withdraw per day. Today she obtained a ministatement and was shocked to find that a further £400 was withdrawn on the same day. This made her account go into overdrawn.

She rang up the bank and was told they can not do anything because the pin was used to withdraw the money from the machine. She was told that the same machine was used for the withdrawal on the same day.

She has asked for a new card and plans to go into the local branch (Lloyds TSB) on Monday to complain.

I have advised her to find out where and at what time the money was withdrawn. Her account limits her to max £200 withdraw per day so how come £600 was withdrawn in one day?

Since this event has put her account into overdrawn i advised her to pay off the overdraft (£127) to prevent her occuring any further charges/interest. Is this the right move?

Has this happened to anyone before and if so what did you do to get this resolved?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated

Lokolo

Has she made an official complaint to the bank yet?

zppp

OP, when you said it was unbranded, was it a machine which charges? The only reason I ask is because they may process the transaction as a Point of Sale rather than an ATM transaction as such.

wazza

Lokolo wrote: »

Has she made an official complaint to the bank yet?

She is going into the branch on Monday to complain

wazza

zppp wrote: »

OP, when you said it was unbranded, was it a machine which charges? The only reason I ask is because they may process the transaction as a Point of Sale rather than an ATM transaction as such.

She told me it was not a lloyds tsb cashpoint and that anyone from different bank can use it.

opinions4u

Sounds like the machine has replicated the transaction. It will probably sort itself out overnight. If not, just talk to the bank and it will be resolved.

zppp

wazza wrote: »

She told me it was not a lloyds tsb cashpoint and that anyone from different bank can use it.

But with the transaction, does it not show the location/brand of the cash machine on her statement?

agrinnall

opinions4u wrote: »

Sounds like the machine has replicated the transaction. It will probably sort itself out overnight. If not, just talk to the bank and it will be resolved.

It does sound to me like the original transaction has been replicated (twice) at some stage in the process. However, as this happened on Monday and hadn't been corrected by Saturday I'm doubtful if it will happen automatically now. The correct thing to do is for your friend to go to her bank on Monday and explain what has happened, they will investigate and it should be pretty easy for them to sort out. They should also refund any charges that have been applied as a result of going into overdraft.

The key question is the one that zppp asked but hasn't been answered, was it an ATM that charges for making a withdrawal? If it was then it could be a bit more complicated to resolve, although on the plus side if it's taken a few days for the transaction(s) to hit your friend's account then there is still a possibility that it'll be corrected automatically.

pmduk

She needs to make the point that her accounts is limited to £200 withdrawals per day. Therefore how come so much more was withdrawn?

Fiddlestick

It's up to the bank to prove the withdrawal was genuine.

Phantom withdrawals are always a struggle to resolve, but the bank should be able to get the ATM owner to perform a reconciliation and see that there is extra money in the cassette.

jonesMUFCforever

What kind of account does OP have (or the friend)?