Fraudulent activity on bank account

sazzle1981_2

A few months ago i purchased a few items from Argos. I used my debit card to pay for these items.

After a few days i called at my local bank branch and tried to withdraw some money from the ATM but my card was refused. I contacted my bank i was informed that there had been suspicious activitity on my account and it had been passed to the fraud team. Luckily, no money was taken from my account, thank god, and i was issued with a new bank account. I have just heard that it has happened to another person who hasnt been as lucky like me, and has actually had money taken from his bank account, and its still ongoing!!! the matter has been passed to the police, who dont seem to care, and all other relevant authorities and the cheeky swines are still trying to take money from his account - HE HAD JUST RECENTLY PURCHASED ITEMS FROM ARGOS, USING HIS DEBIT CARD!!! after he had made the purchase, he started to receive quite alarming phone calls, from someone who was supposed to work for tesco mobile, kids were heard in the background, i didnt know you could take them to work with you at tesco???? i know this sounds long winded but i am really concerned about this matter and just wanted to know if anyone else has suffered a similar situation and offer any help.

rb10

Lots of people make purchases from Argos. They are quite a popular retailer.

It will be nothing more than coincidence that fraud occurred soon after. There's a lot of card fraud about; there are a lot of people who regularly shop at Argos. It's not difficult to find someone who fits in both categories.

Think of it this way: how many people have purchased something from Argos recently and NOT had fraud on their bank account?

sazzle1981_2

thanks for the reply
Although i am saying it happened to both of us after purchasing from argos, i didnt say that i think they are to blame or in anyway responsible. Im merely just saying that this is when it started, and if anyone has had problems after purchasing from anywhere with there cards and accounts, then please just to offer some support and advice.

meer53

But if you do have problems with your card or fraud on it, how on earth can you know where the details have been compromised ? Sometimes, a point of compromise is confirmed like the Lush hacking issue and this is usually publicised, but they could have been compromised months ago ! You haven't had any fraud on your account so i wouldn't worry too much ! It's not an unusual occurrence these days unfortunately.

rb10

sazzle1981 wrote: »

thanks for the reply
Although i am saying it happened to both of us after purchasing from argos, i didnt say that i think they are to blame or in anyway responsible. Im merely just saying that this is when it started, and if anyone has had problems after purchasing from anywhere with there cards and accounts, then please just to offer some support and advice.

Ok ... so mentioning Argos was a bit of a red herring then!

All that your friend can do is to let the bank's investigation run its' course.

If s/he is not happy with the response from them, then they should start the bank's formal complaints procedure.

sazzle1981_2

its not just bank account now, its identity theft!! they are trying to obtain credit, mobile phone contracts, loans etc! hell, the person even went into the bank and posed as my freind and managed to draw money out, so the bank are a waste of time. A company in ireland have sent him a letter regarding some sort of contract that has been signed by this person....

I came on here to hopefully get some advice, but all i have encountered are people being funny with me so ill go elswhere for help and advice.

meer53

Your friend should contact their bank urgently for more advice, it's difficult to offer advice on this forum as we don't know the full story and can't comment on what your friends bank will do. It would all be supposition which is not much use to anyone really is it ?

rb10

sazzle1981 wrote: »

its not just bank account now, its identity theft!! they are trying to obtain credit, mobile phone contracts, loans etc! hell, the person even went into the bank and posed as my freind and managed to draw money out, so the bank are a waste of time. A company in ireland have sent him a letter regarding some sort of contract that has been signed by this person....

I came on here to hopefully get some advice, but all i have encountered are people being funny with me so ill go elswhere for help and advice.

You didn't mention anything about identity theft in your original post though ... so I don't know how you were hoping to get help and advice on the identity theft front?

Bloomberg

sazzle1981 wrote: »

A few months ago i purchased a few items from Argos. I used my debit card to pay for these items.

After a few days i called at my local bank branch and tried to withdraw some money from the ATM but my card was refused. I contacted my bank i was informed that there had been suspicious activitity on my account and it had been passed to the fraud team. Luckily, no money was taken from my account, thank god, and i was issued with a new bank account. I have just heard that it has happened to another person who hasnt been as lucky like me, and has actually had money taken from his bank account, and its still ongoing!!! the matter has been passed to the police, who dont seem to care, and all other relevant authorities and the cheeky swines are still trying to take money from his account - HE HAD JUST RECENTLY PURCHASED ITEMS FROM ARGOS, USING HIS DEBIT CARD!!! after he had made the purchase, he started to receive quite alarming phone calls, from someone who was supposed to work for tesco mobile, kids were heard in the background, i didnt know you could take them to work with you at tesco???? i know this sounds long winded but i am really concerned about this matter and just wanted to know if anyone else has suffered a similar situation and offer any help.

Card fraud is a serious problem nowadays, having your current account security compromised is extremely inconvenient. Chances are that your wages go in there and all of your standing orders and direct debits are also paid from there. Personally I NEVER use my debit card for purchases. I use my CREDIT card, having this cloned would cause far less inconvenience.

Using a credit card protects your money and also offers certain insurances on items costing £100 or more. I use my credit card for pretty much everything, even in pubs. Credit cards are also an excellent spending diary. All the best

pvt

sazzle1981 wrote: »

its not just bank account now, its identity theft!! they are trying to obtain credit, mobile phone contracts, loans etc! hell, the person even went into the bank and posed as my freind and managed to draw money out.

And you thought it likely that they were able to do all of that with the information on a debit card, possibly from a skimming at Argos? No address, telephone numbers, knowledge of other bank accounts, DoB, name of employer, Mum's maiden name, etc.

As regards the police and their intransigence: The bank should make good any loss from fraud, as such you aren't the one making a loss, and the police can't help you. If the bank takes the matter to the police then it will be a different thing - but the bank and police both know the likelihood of any recovery/prosecution being made is remote, so probably won't waste each other's time.

grizzly1911

I Would also suggest that the Bank and Police work a lot closer together than at single case level.

If the issue is wider identity theft the bank account element will only be part of the problem for your friend.

The Bank would usually accept the loss if there were no evidence of complicity or carelessness.

They Bank and Police will work at the strategies for dealing with the wider fraud issue.