Do you get your money back when a victim of card skimming/fraud?

sh856531

Hi all,

I have a friend who is currently traveling in South America and unfortunately within the first couple of weeks of her trip she has found that 1600 is missing from her bank account.

She thinks the only way this could have happened is if someone somehow managed to skim or clone her card somewhere, probably at the airport.

The card is now cancelled but I said I'd look into whether she is going to be able to get her money back.

Can anyone tell me if its possible to get the money back? There is absolutely no way that she would have given her pin to anyone and her card wasn't stolen so whoever did it must have used some crazy card cloning mojo on it or something.

As I understand it, the banks tend to return the money to you if they are sure that the theft wasn't caused by your own negligence? Does that sound about right?

If so, can anyone tell me why they actually do this? Is there some law that forces them to give you the money back? As welcome as it would be I'm just struggling to understand why the bank should be held responsible for someone stealing my money? It seems sort of like my landlord being responsible if someone came into my house and stole my TV...

I guess maybe the view is that they didn't steal "my" money - they stole the banks money, or that the bank had a duty of care to protect the money they were looking after on my behalf?

Many thanks in advance

S

Barneysmom

My dad got his money back when his card was skimmed at a local ATM.
He had to go to the bank and they went over his statements with him to determine what he'd spent himself, and what was spent by the thief.

rb10

sh856531 wrote: »

She thinks the only way this could have happened is if someone somehow managed to skim or clone her card somewhere, probably at the airport.

She's wrong there - there are lots of ways that card details can be compromised.

sh856531 wrote: »

Can anyone tell me if its possible to get the money back?

It's not only possible, it's pretty much guaranteed that she won't lose a penny. She needs to report it to her bank asap, if she hasn't already.

Bloomberg

sh856531 wrote: »

Hi all,

I have a friend who is currently traveling in South America and unfortunately within the first couple of weeks of her trip she has found that 1600 is missing from her bank account.

She thinks the only way this could have happened is if someone somehow managed to skim or clone her card somewhere, probably at the airport.

The card is now cancelled but I said I'd look into whether she is going to be able to get her money back.

Can anyone tell me if its possible to get the money back? There is absolutely no way that she would have given her pin to anyone and her card wasn't stolen so whoever did it must have used some crazy card cloning mojo on it or something.

As I understand it, the banks tend to return the money to you if they are sure that the theft wasn't caused by your own negligence? Does that sound about right?

If so, can anyone tell me why they actually do this? Is there some law that forces them to give you the money back? As welcome as it would be I'm just struggling to understand why the bank should be held responsible for someone stealing my money? It seems sort of like my landlord being responsible if someone came into my house and stole my TV...

I guess maybe the view is that they didn't steal "my" money - they stole the banks money, or that the bank had a duty of care to protect the money they were looking after on my behalf?

Many thanks in advance

S

Sorry to hear about your friend's problem. Banks do have a policy of refunding customers who are victims of fraud. The problem is that it can take time. I know of someone who had his card cloned. Somehow the fraudster knew when he got paid and that morning they cleared his account (Barclays) of all his salary bar £2. It took six weeks to get the money back.


A couple of weeks after I was in my bank (HSBC) and got chatting with a member of staff and mentioned the above story. He told me that it is their policy to refund fraud victims within two hours and then carry out the investigation.

I have said this a million times to friends and family. ALWAYS use a credit card. If this gets cloned it is far less hassle than having your debit card cloned. Even if the bank take six weeks or longer to sort it out it is a non issue for you.


Personally I seldom even use cash, if I go for a coffee or a beer I use my credit card. Furthermore credit cards also provide an excellent spending diary. All the best