Credit card fraud - however I did the transaction - please help

Lenny63

Hi Guys,

Unfortunately last night, I became a victim of a website scam. I searched through google for the company name and clicked on a link....rather than typing in the correct URL web address.

Unknown to me at the time, there was a difference of '.org' and '.com' at the end of the URL between the fake and genuine website.

I made a purchase, went to checkout which took me to a 3rd party website which requested my card details and completed the transaction.

Having no reponse the next day about the order, I contacted the company (the genuine company) to ask had they recieved it,. and they had not. This alerted them to this scam website and then the realisation came I became a victim of a scam.

Thankfully, I used my m&s credit card (as always), and immedaitely reported the incident to them, they cancelled my card and said I would need to wait for the transaction to debit (a few worknig days) before I could raise the dispute - but they could confirm an approx amount and that the transaction was amde in China.

My question is, this is a genuine case of online fraud, and I feel i have not been wreckless or careless - my comptuer runs malware software and a decent antivirus yet I have seemed to slip through the net......

What are my possible outcomes here?? I am hoping m&s will cover me, but in regards to contact from this scam company, I have had nothing except for a vague confirmation email.

Do i stand a good chance of being covered?
does anyone have a good/bad experience of m&s credit services in this instance??

Thanks for the help

Lenny

ICan'tStandIt

It sounds like you have been duped so, yes, you shoud be covered.

If you'd had an email from the genuine company advising you to be wary of such fake websites and went ahead and used the wrong one anyway, then they might have a reason not to pay out. As it stands, from what you have said, I think you should be ok.

If it is a fairly big company it would be unlikely that you were the only one caught out.

I hope you get it sorted

SecLender

I've had my M&S card used fraudulently twice. Both times it was a fairly easy process to dispute it. One phone call, they send a form for you to sign, money credited back to the card, they send you a new card. All within about a week.

meer53

You clicked on a link, you provided your card details. This is not fraud, it's your mistake, M & S may dispute it for you but this will probably be rejected by the retailer as you have agreed to purchase goods from them. It can take up to 60 days for the retailer to reject your dispute, M & S should credit you in the meantime but if unsuccessful you will be redebited.

Were you ordering designer goods by any chance ? There are lots of sites selling counterfeit goods, the genuine sites usually have a list of them so you can check you're using the right site. eg GHD, Ugg, Abercrombie & Fitch, Tiffany etc. It is possible you may receive your goods yet.

thenudeone

You should certainly dispute it and insist on a new card number being issued.

You still have all your legal rights. For example, if it was over £100, the card company is jointly liable under s75. if the goods fail to arrive (which they won't). Even if it is under £100 they may be willing to do a charge-back. Egg recently refunded me c. £20 for a transaction where the (legitimate) supplier repeatedly refused my request for a refund under the DSR.

But you should take whatever steps you can to cancel the order and ask for a refund. The scammers already have all your personal information so there's nothing to lose by contacting them on whatever contact details they put on their website.

Lenny63

Thanks for the advice so far folks

I appreciate I did click on a link...but it was a google search engine link - most unassumptive joe bloggs like myself would click these on a regular basis especially as it was within the top 3 results displayed on google. I know it was my ''mistake'', if you;d call it that but I have still been defrauded and my card details used in a malicious manner, supplied or not.

The amount is over £100 - its circa £220. So I do understand what you are saying about the consumer credit act protection & S.75

I doubt the goods will show up being honest - I will certainly try to cancel my order, but the money is already pending as such so I feel though i may try I will not get a response.

Its good to ehar some of you have had good experiences with m&s money -ref these cases

chattychappy

meer53 wrote: »

You clicked on a link, you provided your card details. This is not fraud, it's your mistake

On the basis of what the OP said (and more detail is required really), it is fraud by misrepresentation. The website is misleading the user as to the identity of the seller. Therefore the transaction was not authorised despite the user typing in card details. In the end this is why so many cards promote "online fraud protection". They are merely promoting what the law requires them to do anyway.

As noted, s75 covers contractual misrep claims, so the OP has two ways to argue.

meer53

chattychappy wrote: »

On the basis of what the OP said (and more detail is required really), it is fraud by misrepresentation. The website is misleading the user as to the identity of the seller. Therefore the transaction was not authorised despite the user typing in card details. In the end this is why so many cards promote "online fraud protection". They are merely promoting what the law requires them to do anyway.

As noted, s75 covers contractual misrep claims, so the OP has two ways to argue.

I agree with what you're saying but i have seen numerous websites selling counterfeit goods, where their T & C's actually advise purchasers that the goods they are buying are not the genuine article. There was recently an Abercrombie & Fitch website which advised this, it has since been closed down. Visa regulations will cover the OP if the goods aren't received but Section 75 would cover the misrepresentation, Visa regs don't cover this situation. Hopefully the dispute will be successful for the OP.

Lenny63

meer53 wrote: »

I agree with what you're saying but i have seen numerous websites selling counterfeit goods, where their T & C's actually advise purchasers that the goods they are buying are not the genuine article. There was recently an Abercrombie & Fitch website which advised this, it has since been closed down. Visa regulations will cover the OP if the goods aren't received but Section 75 would cover the misrepresentation, Visa regs don't cover this situation. Hopefully the dispute will be successful for the OP.

The difference here being in my situation that this website is setup solely as a money making exercise to replicate a genuine website, but not to deliver the goods.

chattychappy

meer53 wrote: »

I agree with what you're saying but i have seen numerous websites selling counterfeit goods, where their T & C's actually advise purchasers that the goods they are buying are not the genuine article. There was recently an Abercrombie & Fitch website which advised this, it has since been closed down. Visa regulations will cover the OP if the goods aren't received but Section 75 would cover the misrepresentation, Visa regs don't cover this situation. Hopefully the dispute will be successful for the OP.

Bear in mind that Visa regulations are a matter between CCs and the network. They are not the basis of the relationship between the CC and the customer (which is T+Cs and regulation). Of course CCs will want to marry them up to avoid taking a hit for something they can't pass down, so knowing if something is covered by visa regulations is useful to a cardholder since it affects the propensity of the CC to refund without a struggle.

s75 would carry contractual misrep, but doesn't help if the transaction is below £100 or in some other circumstances (eg additional cardholders, it seems). So the cardholder might have to fall back on arguing that they hadn't authorised the transaction, which is much tougher. Not sustainable if the website is clear about the amount and who you are paying as in the examples you gave. (Including if you were paying a third party such as paypal).

The problem as I see it is that the UK (and EU) are regimes that have gold-plated consumer protection regimes which are simply different from the regulatory environment in much of the rest of the world (including where I am now). Credit cards are essentially part of a global payment system, but they've had all this additional liability shoe-horned into them by local legislation designed in the days when a chap would knock at your door selling a hoover on HP. Internet makes it too easy for people to buy stuff on the net on the basis they feel protected. This includes getting stuff from abroad. If they'd handed over cash on the street and got into trouble, they wouldn't expect redress from the Bank of England as issuer of the notes.

The drift of regulation seems to be towards the UK/EU approach. So I suppose long term the networks will have to be more careful who they give facilities to. Also the process of obtaining a cardholder's consent for a transaction will have to be beefed up to ensure that they are sufficiently informed about its nature so they cannot later deny it (from the CC and legitimate merchant's point of view) or get ripped off (from the cardholder's point of view).

fracturedsun

In another point, I think someone did mention and you probably already have done so but make sure you get the card cancelled and a new one issued to avoid any further charges. If they are pretending to sell you goods they have no intention of sending they may also use your card details. Good luck I hope you get your money back.