Debit card fraud HSBC don't care

philjones88

Hi,

When returning from holiday I noticed a fraudulent payment when checking my bank account online. I tried to phone HSBC to report it but the fraudster must have locked out telephone banking and no one would speak to me until I went into a branch to unlock it. So I did on the Monday and went home to report the fraud.

All sorted I thought. For extra measures I requested a new card.

Except 2 days ago HSBC sent me a letter telling me it isn't fraud and that they will take the money back!

I ring them again to see why (I'll explain why its impossible) and they tell me because the fraudster used my verified by visa code online it was definatly me, no doubt. They are unwilling to dispute it further and basically tell me to go away.

The fraud was for £10 to TFL (transport for London) for a congestion charge.

this is impossible for me to do as:

I do not own any car.
I do not have any car insurance.
TFL gave the car registration number, I do not own the car.

I have tried everything I can do normally with the bank, they don't seem interested. The police website sent me to something called open fraud but their site doesn't inspire me with confidence. I sent a tweet to martin and BBC watchdog as well as submitted the watchdog contact form.

No one is interested please is there anyone who can advise what to do other than give up and let the fraudster get away with it?

cockneysean

Well you are lucky that it was only a tenner that you have been conned out of!

But that is not the point is it really? You should make a complaint about this as they should not be treating you like this and should be doing more to investigate.

What I would be worrying about is the issue with Verified By Visa. They may not have had your password, but if they had the full card details and your date of birth, they could have reset the password and made a new one so that they could carry out transactions using the card.

You should start investigating where they could have gotten these details from and where they got your card number from.

Quite often card details etc are acquired from websites that you have signed up to by way of an SQL injection attack. This allows an attacker to download the contents of the websites databases and use the information contained within. So with this in mind try and think of any websites that you may have used recently where you have used your card and provided other information when making a purchase or subscription.

Once you have done this you should contact the site owner to inform them of your suspicions.

BTW, the fact you do not own a car cannot really be used as a defence. This is because you do not need to own a car to pay for congestion charging with TFL. I have got my uncle to pay my congestion charge before using his credit card when I have not been able to do so. They will also be able to help the police in their investigations because as you say they have the cars registration number and they may have other relevant information. They will not give it to you though due to the "Data Protection Act". Criminals have 'ooman rights too!

philjones88

Hi,

The only suspicions I have about where my card details where lost is Sony, specifically when the PS3 network was hacked. If the hackers got access to all of my PS3 account they could have probably guesses my vbv I think but can't be sure. Time to dig through all the sites I have used.

I wonder if going into a branch in person rather than over the phone might make them more helpful?

A few Google searches shows how vunerable the system is and how people don't believe in it. For example resetting the password only needs card details and stuff you could easily get from social network sites such as Facebook.

Phil

auto-man

If you have the car reg number, then report it to the police and then go back to HSBC with the police crime ref.

philjones88

I did go on the polices website looking for info about the local station but noticed it said about reporting non urgent crimes online. It then redirected to this action fraud site.

I will look again to see if I can report this directly to the police without annoying them.

Just remembered last night I did have to reset my verified by visa password when I got back from holiday. I've just checked again and the info needed by HSBC to reset it is pathetically poor. The fraudster must have reset the password to make the payment, I just assumed I had forgotten it with my other cards but thinking back the greeting it gives was wrong.

meer53

Fraudsters can reset Verified by Visa security details. Complain to HSBC through their normal channels, they will refund you.

philjones88

HSBC told me to basically jog on again this morning even though I explained my "verified by visa" "secure" password had been reset. They have taken the £10 back.

I will try going the customer services route rather than the fraud route and see if I can make them see sense.

I have enough cash with them to pay off my student debts (I graduated this year!) so I'm hoping them loosing that plus my businesses account might make them see sense. Although it hasn't so far.

FunnySaving

philjones88 wrote: »

A few Google searches shows how vunerable the system is and how people don't believe in it. For example resetting the password only needs card details and stuff you could easily get from social network sites such as Facebook.

Phil

Only if you put those details on Facebook - if you have that much information available to anyone who uses it, you should consider increasing your privacy settings and removing any data which you think could be used to commit fraud.

philjones88

FunnySaving wrote: »

Only if you put those details on Facebook - if you have that much information available to anyone who uses it, you should consider increasing your privacy settings and removing any data which you think could be used to commit fraud.

Well I also run an online web & software development business. My details such as postcode could be found on my website, my date of birth could be found from birthday tweets. I don't advertise that information actively, just saying it is out there for someone to mine and find.

I finally got a decent response from HSBC about a complaints number to ring.

0800 881 155

The guy was British, listened to all my evidence and agreed, with all the time I've spent ringing/challenging HSBC compared to my savings that they will look again at it. He is raising a complaint on my behalf and I will get a letter in 5 working days or sooner outlining what is happening.

dawyldthing

philjones88 wrote: »

HSBC told me to basically jog on again this morning even though I explained my "verified by visa" "secure" password had been reset. They have taken the £10 back.

I will try going the customer services route rather than the fraud route and see if I can make them see sense.

I have enough cash with them to pay off my student debts (I graduated this year!) so I'm hoping them loosing that plus my businesses account might make them see sense. Although it hasn't so far.

i'd say contact the transport office where the payment was taken as surely they should know who you have paid their bills for

philjones88

dawyldthing wrote: »

i'd say contact the transport office where the payment was taken as surely they should know who you have paid their bills for

I did ring TFL but under data protection rubbish they couldn't give any more details than what they provided to HSBC.

But.

Success!

1 hour after making a formal complaint and making all my points, they rang and basically apologized and told me to expect the £10 to be credited to my account (again). I think having a native English speaker to talk to helped. I'm really grateful to the complaints guy Stephen.

Shame it took so long, I've spent more money than reclaimed but its the principle.