Debit Card Fraud and Barclays

kid_a18

Hi there

This is a debit card query I was wondering anyone could help me with.

I was on holiday a couple of weeks ago and returned to find that someone had used my card to play poker online racking up £80. Furthermore there was another transaction to another gambling site that hadnt gone through yet of £60.

I rang up Barclays and cancelled the card immediately and they sent out a questionnaire to help them investigate. When I got the form I filled it in but found some of the questions a little odd e.g. have you ever used your card to make an online purchase? please give details. Of course I have used the card online! How could I possibly list all of the transactions I have ever made on the card!!! Anyway I filled it in honestly and sent it back.

3 days later the money that Barclays debit card services had put back in while they investigated had been withdrawn again by Barclays. I rang them again and they said that Barclays had found me liable and taking the money with a letter going out to me to explain why.

Obviously I was pretty upset that my bank of 10 years had accused me of trying to defraud myself and the bank, but I thought I would wait and get the letter and then take it into the bank to discuss it with someone.

The letter came yesterday and there is no explanation anywhere on it as to why i am liable and my branch won't discuss it with me as it has been investigated.

Does anyone know if I have a right to contest the decision or at least find out why? If I go into my branch and threaten to leave will they take me seriously? I have never played poker online or otherwise and cant believe they dont trust me or wont tell me anything! Do i need to get the police involve or produce evidence as to my whereabouts when the transactions went through?!

Any help would be really gratefully appreciated. I can't be with a bank that doesnt take fraud seriously, I dont earn much and need to know that they are on my side at least if this happens again.

Thanks in advance.

opinions4u

Does anyone know if I have a right to contest the decision or at least find out why?

Pursue it via their complaints procedure.

I'd do it in writing with a simple declaration along the lines of "I didn't make these transactions / you have declined my fraud claim / I would like you to explain why you have rejected my fraud claim / please reconsider".

See how they respond. If, after 8 weeks, they haven't made a favourable decision, pursue it via the FOS.

If I go into my branch and threaten to leave will they take me seriously?

The branch don't make the fraud decisions. This would be a waste of time.

I have never played poker online or otherwise and cant believe they dont trust me or wont tell me anything! Do i need to get the police involve or produce evidence as to my whereabouts when the transactions went through?!

At this stage I wouldn't bother with the police. By all means keep a file proving where you were while you were away and copy letters in there.

A question / challenge for you: is there anybody who had access to your card (or card details) who could have used it while you were away? Brother, sister, friend etc? It's not uncommon for this sort of fraud to occur within the family. Especially given the modest amounts involved.

meer53

kid_a18 wrote: »

Hi there

This is a debit card query I was wondering anyone could help me with.

I was on holiday a couple of weeks ago and returned to find that someone had used my card to play poker online racking up £80. Furthermore there was another transaction to another gambling site that hadnt gone through yet of £60.

I rang up Barclays and cancelled the card immediately and they sent out a questionnaire to help them investigate. When I got the form I filled it in but found some of the questions a little odd e.g. have you ever used your card to make an online purchase? please give details. Of course I have used the card online! How could I possibly list all of the transactions I have ever made on the card!!! Anyway I filled it in honestly and sent it back.

3 days later the money that Barclays debit card services had put back in while they investigated had been withdrawn again by Barclays. I rang them again and they said that Barclays had found me liable and taking the money with a letter going out to me to explain why.

Obviously I was pretty upset that my bank of 10 years had accused me of trying to defraud myself and the bank, but I thought I would wait and get the letter and then take it into the bank to discuss it with someone.

The letter came yesterday and there is no explanation anywhere on it as to why i am liable and my branch won't discuss it with me as it has been investigated.

Does anyone know if I have a right to contest the decision or at least find out why? If I go into my branch and threaten to leave will they take me seriously? I have never played poker online or otherwise and cant believe they dont trust me or wont tell me anything! Do i need to get the police involve or produce evidence as to my whereabouts when the transactions went through?!

Any help would be really gratefully appreciated. I can't be with a bank that doesnt take fraud seriously, I dont earn much and need to know that they are on my side at least if this happens again.

Thanks in advance.

Is there anyone that could have had access to your PC or your card details whilst you were away ? Have you ever signed up with any gambling website at all in the past and logged your card details with them ? Thats why they ask whether you've used your card for an online purchase, they don't want specifics, just whether you have or not.
Speak to Barclays Fraud Team and ask them how they've come to the conclusion that you're liable. In cases of online fraud, banks often check IP addresses against the IP address used for the fraud. If they have evidence that your PC was used, maybe thats why they made that decision. Only Barclays can tell you.

I've investigated cases like this where the IP addresses matched, we would also hold the customer liable in this case.

Dabooka

Hi Meer53,

Sorry to threadjack, but I'm amazed that Barclays (or any other bank) establish an ip of a customer like that, surely they'd need the ISP to play ball?

I'm just curious really, I find this stuff interesting but know practically nothing about it.

kid_a18

thanks for the reply, I had bet on the grand national on bet365 previously and put this on the form but never on pokerstars or any poker sites. i can't believe that they would make a judgement on me because i once had a bet online?

i hadnt lent my card to anyone and my pc would have been at work and not accessible (it was 1am on a saturday that the transactions were made) and my laptop at home wouldnt have been accessible either.

i think that the questionnaire that they send out should be a little clearer as the questions are worded badly! If they are going to make a decision based on your answers then surely an open ended question like have you ever bought anything online? is a little pointless.

I will chase up the fraud dept and find out what the decision as based on. Thanks for your suggestion

meer53

Dabooka wrote: »

Hi Meer53,

Sorry to threadjack, but I'm amazed that Barclays (or any other bank) establish an ip of a customer like that, surely they'd need the ISP to play ball?

I'm just curious really, I find this stuff interesting but know practically nothing about it.

Where i work, the majority of our customers use internet banking, obviously if we don't have an IP address we can't carry out that check. Don't know how popular Barclays internet banking service is !

We would only hold the customer liable if we can confirm that the IP for the fraud matches the customers. I'm quite surprised that Barclays have held the OP liable really, unless they've got information from the gambling company which proves anything, if they have they should really be sending a copy of this to the OP. The forms which are sent out are usually just standard forms. The OP needs to push Barclays for a response.

Dabooka

meer53 wrote: »

Where i work, the majority of our customers use internet banking, obviously if we don't have an IP address we can't carry out that check. Don't know how popular Barclays internet banking service is !

We would only hold the customer liable if we can confirm that the IP for the fraud matches the customers. I'm quite surprised that Barclays have held the OP liable really, unless they've got information from the gambling company which proves anything, if they have they should really be sending a copy of this to the OP. The forms which are sent out are usually just standard forms. The OP needs to push Barclays for a response.

Right, so it's more a case of if the ips match (from the records kept) then you know it's a customer issue, whereas if they differ it doesn't prove anything either way.

Cheers!

OP; sorry for the threadjack, but agree with what else has been posted, push them for a tangible answer. Good luck!

grizzly1911

With opinions4u and meer53 on this one.

I know that claims are turned back more often than they used to- nature of the world we have developed into.

Put any questions in writing, keep a copy of them and all responses.

I would write to the Fraud department first asking why as per ops4usaid.

I personally wouldn't log it as a formal complaint just yet as you will start the bureaucratic complaints procedure rolling and you won't get anything back for weeks.

Once you have the response then if you don't get the answer you want complain complain complain. I tend to escalate to CEO as well these days - I know they will pass it off to someone else (if it ever gets near them) but I know it makes them think a bit more. Suggest it get sent recorded.

You need to exhaust their complaints process first before the ombudsman will look at it.

Good luck.

moonrakerz

Where you have used your card in the past is totally irrelevant !

Barclays have to refund the money unless they can PROVE that you actually made the disputed transactions or that you were negligent with your card/PIN details. There is NO obligation for you to do anything.
Tell them that and say if they don't refund you the monies within 14 days you will go to the FOS.

They are just trying to make you give up and go away !

kid_a18

Thanks for your help everyone.

Rang them up and they told me that the transactions matched my account behaviour! I told them that I have never spent more than £10 on gambling websites in one go, never used poker websites and never bet at 1am on a Saturday.

Anyway I have started an appeal and hopefully one of them will give me a call at some point. When I mentioned the IP thing to them they said they didnt know what I was on about.

Most definitely closing my account with Barclays when this is resolved -I thought they were supposed to be one of the better ones with dealing with fraud.