Barclays won't pay back my fraudulent payments.

voixdeville

Hi,

In mid July 2011 I received a call from Barclays fraud department, saying that 130 pounds of payments had been taken from my account fraudulently and that I should cancel my card immediately.

The payments were made by an unauthorised party, which had somehow gained access to my Skype account (which had an automatic top-up facility through Paypal) and they had made hundreds of calls all over the world.

When I contacted Barclays, they stated that I would need to fill in a form to re-claim the fraudulent payments. I followed the procedure, and they re-debited the payments to my account.

However, a few days later I noticed that they had taken the payments out of the account again, and I received a letter saying that following a review of my case, they had decided these payments were not fraudulent - and that they were not willing to pay for them.

I have appealed against this decision, and they are now reviewing the case for a second time. I am worried however, that they will come to the same decision this time.

Has anyone got any advice for me on how to proceed with this dispute please? I genuinely did not make these payments, and therefore feel it is unfair that I have to pay for them.

Thanks very much in advance

xx

McKneff

All you can do for the moment is wait for their decision I'm afraid.

jonesMUFCforever

I hope you have had the sense to block or change the card attached to your Paypal account.

Voyager2002

Why should Barclay's pick up the bill?

You have said that your Skype account was hacked, and calls made by an unknown person were fraudulently charged to you. So the fault lies with Skype's security (unless you were careless with your password), so arguably they are responsible. Anyway, payments were made from Paypal to Skype in accordance with your instructions, and eventually from Barclay's to Paypal.

Incidentally, I find it interesting that you don't seem to have asked Paypal to cover the loss, although they are closer to the crime than your bank is.

pcombo

In mid July 2011 I received a call from Barclays fraud department, saying that 130 pounds of payments had been taken from my account fraudulently and that I should cancel my card immediately.

lol how on earth is barclays to know there fraudulent payments. They would call to ask if you made these payments, not tell you they are fraudulent.

JuicyJesus

pcombo wrote: »

lol how on earth is barclays to know there fraudulent payments. They would call to ask if you made these payments, not tell you they are fraudulent.

I think the OP may be paraphrasing. That or the guy from Barclays used some clumsy wording.

Mikhail

Hmm I can't see Barclay’s responsibility, you has authorised PayPal to manage your card, however, it is not PayPal who has failed you, it was Skype, so contact them. They should have some refund/antifraud policies to protect their customers.

tagq2

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Why should Barclay's pick up the bill?

Barclays won't. If Barclays issues a chargeback, Paypal's account will be re-debited. Paypal will in turn re-debit Skype's account.

It's almost certain that Barclays will have T&C guaranteeing protection against fraudulent use of card online. A term like "I authorise merchant to take money from me for any use of my account" would be interpreted reasonably as "any use of my account which I authorise, providing I'm not negligent". And regulation is clear that it is on the bank to prove that the card holder either authorised a transaction or was negligent.

So, while in the first instance it may be best to approach Skype for a refund - don't want the bank or Paypal thinking you're high risk by whining too high up the chain - it's also reasonable to expect the bank to help if necessary.

Thrugelmir

pcombo wrote: »

lol how on earth is barclays to know there fraudulent payments. They would call to ask if you made these payments, not tell you they are fraudulent.

The money would have been taken by Paypal from the account. So unsure why Barclays would consider this to be fraudelent.

Gromitt

I agree, this is nothing to do with barclays and you shouldn't expect them to reimburse you.

Your bank account has not been used fraudulently (It was used in line with your instructions), they noticed this and cancelled your claim.

Your paypal account has not been used fraudulently, so its nothing to do with Paypal either.

Your Skype account HAS been used fraudulently, so you need to contact Skype over the matter.

Note that even if your appeal succeeds, you will be left with a negative Paypal balance that you need prove was fraudulent and if you win there, you'll get a negative Skype balance. So just start there and ask Skype to refund the charges which will automatically refund both Paypal and your bank.