Card cloning

Bloomberg

I have a number of friends/acquaintances who have had their card cloned which resulted in money being taken from their accounts. Needless to say this causes a lot of stress and inconvenience. The situation is much worse if a debit card is cloned. It appears that petrol stations are places were most people have had their security compromised. Personally I never use my debit card in for purchases, I always use a credit card so that my own money is not on the line.

It would be interesting to know if any readers have been victims themselves and how helpful have their banks been and how quickly were they reimbursed if at all? If you have have had your card cloned is there anything that you differently now.

adindas

The prob;em with paying with CC is that:
-Reasonable enough merchants do not allow payment by CC. Example Lidl, Aldi Supermarket, etc. Even if they allow there is a minimum purchase apply.

- Reasonable number of people do not have CC.

But defenitely it is alwasy better to pay by CC as we will also enjoy up to one month grace period of nowwrowing without paying any interest.

Bloomberg wrote: »

Personally I never use my debit card in for purchases, I always use a credit card so that my own money is not on the line.

It would be interesting to know if any readers have been victims themselves and how helpful have their banks been and how quickly were they reimbursed if at all? If you have have had your card cloned is there anything that you differently now.

jen245

The only card I have had cloned or had any fraud with is my Fairfx US $ prepaid currency card. It was only for a total amount of $39, on random websites, and for really odd amounts, but Fairfx were really good, they refunded me straight away, cancelled my card, and sent me a new one.

I've been lucky and haven't had any issues with my credit or debit cards, but I have to admit, I don't like using my debit cards, and try to use my credit cards where possible, and pay it off each month. At least with a CC, its the banks money, not mine!

Gromitt

I use both CC (for payments > £10) and DC (for smaller payments, or when CC is not allowed or more expensive), but my DC is not my main account and also has max of £100 in the account and no overdraft. I'd never use the debit card for my salary or bill payment account.

Not had any cloned yet.

Yorkie1

Years ago now, but a petrol station fraudulently took money from my credit card the day after I'd bought petrol there (having deducted the first payment legitimately). Fortunately that was the only transaction but at least the money wasn't out of my debit account before I received the statement. I simply challenged the entry on the statement and the CC company removed it from the bill pending investigation. Never heard anything further ...

agrinnall

I had my Nationwide Visa credit card cloned in 2008, I believe at a petrol station in the West Midlands although I have no proof of that. The card was used to withdraw cash from ATMs in Australia. I caught it pretty quickly and I never got charged anything (although it was quite inconvenient as I had just arrived in Vietnam from the UK so it took a lot of faffing around to identify the fraudulent transactions and of course the card was cancelled so I didn't have it to use for the next 4 months while travelling).

DCFC79

Well ive payed for stuff using debit card in shops, petrol stations, other parts of the country, abroad and not had my card cloned yet. I should use the credit card for purchases abroad though.

Bloomberg

Yorkie1 wrote: »

Years ago now, but a petrol station fraudulently took money from my credit card the day after I'd bought petrol there (having deducted the first payment legitimately). Fortunately that was the only transaction but at least the money wasn't out of my debit account before I received the statement. I simply challenged the entry on the statement and the CC company removed it from the bill pending investigation. Never heard anything further ...

Once again a petrol station is the culprit. I don't know why they seem to the the places where most cards are cloned. It is however encouraging that you were refunded with the minimum of fuss.

The good thing is that even if there was a lot of hassle resolving the issue it was a credit card so YOUR money would not have been affected. Having your current account frozen is no joke.

meer53

Theres no need to freeze a current account if there is card fraud. Just the card which has been used. The only time an account would be frozen really is if your bank suspect your involvement. Ther shouldn't be any hassle involved in refunding the money as under Payment Services Directive regulations the card issuer is obliged to refund straight away and restore your account to how it was before the fraud took place. They do have the right to debit you again depending on the outcome of their investigation.

rb10

I have found that people are often too quick to blame card fraud on 'cloning'.

Not all fraud is cloning.

Similarly, people tend to be quick to say that 'it happened at xyz petrol station'. How on earth can you know this to be the case? It is little more than a guess, given that your card has probably also been used in countless other places.

And the fact that a sizeable chunk of the population will have used their card in a petrol station in the month or so leading up to experiencing card fraud doesn't help.

fozmcfc

My Natwest Maestro card was cloned, don't know how.

Natwest were efficient at first, I got a recorded message asking me to call them, then after confirming automatically I hadn't made the transcation, I was immediately transferred to someone.

Then things were not great.

I was told a form would be sent out to me to fill in, it wasn't

I was told somebody would contact me in a day or two to discuss things further, no one called.

In the end I called them a week later and said I had received no form. They said oh we were just about to assume you didn't want to continue with the claim as there is a time limit on returning the form.

Then things picked up again, a replacement form arrived within 2 days, I filled it in, got a new card and the money was back in my account in about 7 - 10 days.

Went to Poland the next week and got the same recorded message about transactions, called the automated line, confirmed it was me and my card was usable again straight away.