URGENT HELP NEEDED: Credit Card pin & chip fraud

SirBedivere

I am really relieved to find this string - Exactly the same thing has happened to me as the original poster.

I bank with one of the big four, debit card, credit card, ISA etc. At the begining of December last year, tidied up my finances & put the current balance of my credit card into a bank loan. I should point out that I never leave my wallet unguarded or insecure.

On January 12th I went on line to pay some household bills from my billing current account and noticed that I had a debt on my credit card of £4000+

Checking the account it was all ATM withdrawls of between £70 & £500 between December 30th and that day (Jan 12th) plus the additional ATM/Credit Card withdrawl fee charges. In some cases, whoever the fraudster was, they had taken £300 out of an ATM & then taken another £400 out as the immediate next transaction.

Some of the transactions were in the city where I live while others were for locations in London. I can prove that I was in other locations when some of these transactions took place.

Why this was never questioned by the bank is a mystery. In the 13 years I have had a credit card with this bank or indeed any bank, I have never used a credit card to withdraw money & never withdraw the size of transactions involved. It should have stood out that this was completely inconsistent.

I reported the matter to the Bank's Credit Card Fraud department straightaway. One of the security questions I was asked was "What is the other name on the account?", to which I pointed out that there should be no other name on the account - Only mine. That was the problem!

I was asked to get a crime number, so I went to the nearest Police station and got the number & passed it back to the fraud department.

Subsequent questioning of the bank established that a second credit card had been requested in a second name and send to my address. I never asked for this. I never received this.

A Pin reminder had also been requested & sent to my address. I never asked for this. I never received this.

It was also established that it was only this rogue credit card, issued by the bank, that had been used for the transactions.

I live in a block of flats with an external lockable mailibox, so it is possible that someone had either intercepted the mail in the postal system or found a way in to the mailibox.

At the request of the police, I completed a consent form giving them permission to ask the bank for the exact details of the ATM transactions. I do this promtly and hand it back in at the desk at the police station.

The next strange thing was that following Saturday, my debit card suddenly stopped working. I walked into the branch & asked them what was going on. I was told that they cold not explain why, but the card appeared to have been marked as dead & that no new replacement had been sent, which they also could not explain. They suggested that card services had been over zealous after the fraud had been reported & stopped that too. As both credit card & debit card were now out of action, I had no choice but to transfer most the money in the main current account into my billing account & use the debit card for that instead.

The next thing I find is that £300 has disappeared from the main current account in an identical ATM withdrawl. On questioning card services explain that a new card was issued & pin reminder sent out as the card had been reported as "damaged" & this card had been used for the withdrawl. I never requested this. I never received either card or pin that were sent out.

The withdrawl happened in London at a time when I was up in the North West, which I can prove as I made a genune ATM withdrawl of my own the same morning & in such a time frame that it could not possibly be me.

To add insult to injury I am charged for using my overdraft facility as as result of the theft.
A week or so later the Bank Fraud department call me up & start to hope that all this will get fixed. Unfortunatelly they are only interested in talking about the lost £300 from the debit account. After some aggressive questioning, the woman calling decides to conclude that I am innocent & repay the lost £300. Nothing is done about the lost £4000+ as it is a "separate case", which is nonsense as I am the same victim & the perpertrator must be the same. I finally get the new credit & debit cards & pin numbers that I had requested only to come home a week later to find... a pin number reminder in my mailbox. I had not requested this pin reminder.

I tried to speak to the fraud department, but they just palmed me off, telling me I had to speak to card services as it was a new incident - I speak to card services, who then send me straight back to fraud.

I lose patence at this point & go straight to my local branch & speak to the manager. She calls me back a few days later & asks me to come in with proof of identity. It seems that someone knows my date of birth & mother's maiden name and has been calling up pretending to be me & they want to reset my telephone security. This I do with a much more secure password. I am also told that the fraud department has been followed up.

My credit card account is frozen & I am given yet another card & new pin.

The next development is that the police call me & say that they sent off the consent form off to the fraud department weeks ago & no one has come back to them. As soon as it became overdue, the police started calling the fraud department but could not get through. On some days the were calling 6 times a day. Would I mind going to the bank directly & asking for the exact locations of the ATMs and exact times of the transactions? At this point the police are extremely anxious that the CCTV footage is not lost as time is now becoming short.

So I go back to the main branch in town & ask them what is going on & for the details. After three fruitless phone calls to their own departments, the assistant who is trying to help me loses their temper & gets the manager. An hour later the assistant comes back with the ATM details and the name of a contact in fraud. It seems that fraud have my case on file but have done nothing about it or getting back to the police! The branch tell me they have "lit a fire under" the fraud department. Fraud should call me back in the next 5 working days & the named contact should let me know what is happening.

I walk directly to the police station & hand in the ATM details diretcly to the investigating officer.

In the meantime the interest continues to rack up.

The fraud department do not call me back in 5 working days.

I then get a message from the police that it is all too late & the CCTV footage has been lost. The police than me for making the effort to help them & say that they can be cited in any complaint made against the bank as it is the bank's fault that the CCTV has been lost.

I go back to the branch & complain. Another phone call is put through to fraud who say that a specialist chip & pin department now has the case. Fraud are very appologetic for the fact that the case has been left dormant for so long & that they can't explain why the lost £4500 hasn't bene refunded yet! It is Saturday & I should expect a phone call Monday or Tuesday.

Monday & Tuesday come and go. No phone call.

I call fraud & ask them what is going on. Am told shirtily that it is with this other department & they have a 5 day call back policy, not 2 & that they are still within their expected time frame.

Today is now Friday & chip & pin this department has not been in touch. I have not been refunded.

Tomorrow I go to the branch for what I expect to be another futile phone call with fraud.

With regard to the people who have been talking about it being a "personnal inside job", this is rubbish. It is mail intercept. The only person who I share my flat with is my flatmate, whom I have known for over 5 years & was out of the country for the duration that the cards were sent out & most of the transactions.

So far I haven't been served well as a customer. I feel I have actually had negative customer service as I have had to do the fraud department's job by fetching the transactions.

Whoever requested the rogue cards has had better service than I have.

I am beginning to despair that I will ever get refunded.

I will call the Action Fraud number & see what they can advise but I would like to know what I do about taking my complaint about how the whole thing has been handled as it is now over two months since the fraud was reported, two and half months since the fraud started to occur & I have had no statisfaction or meaningful action at all from the bank?

Sorry for the novel, but everything the original poster reported is true of me & I am really frustrated & am still paying interest & charges for the stolen money.

Thanks for reading!

meer53

You've been refunded with the £300 from your cheque account and you won't be liable for any of the credit card fraud or interest or charges as you can't be held liable for fraud on credit cards. I'd leave it all to the bank to sort out now. You really don't need to be chasing this up.

luci

Find out their official complaints procedure and send an official complaint by Signed For mail service.

Once you have exhausted that you can contact the FOS.

Or you could phone the FOS and ask for advice anyway.

Oh, and I think you should name and shame.

pleasehelp13

Don't know if anyone can help - I lost my debit card, but didn't notice for several weeks - overdrawn so dont use it! When I got my statement there were 3 x £50 withdrawls from an ATM near where I live. It certainly wasn't me - i'm trying to get the debt down not up. I rang the bank, cancelled the card, went through to the Fraud Dept who have said because it was from an ATM it is my fault because i must have given the PIN number to someone. They won't refund my money.

At a bit of a loss what to do now - can't afford to lose £150!

Froggitt

Do you have an explanation for how they knew your PIN number? Are there any other cards on the account? And have you asked the bank if they have any CCTV near the ATM?

pleasehelp13

Only one card on the account - no idea how anyone could get my pin number - its only in my head. Are three different banks where the card was used to withdraw the money.

Froggitt

If I was a "crim" and had your card and your PIN, I would certainly have made a lot more than three £50 withdrawals over a few weeks.

Is your PIN easy to guess for someone that knows you eg if your birthday is 27 April 1976 and your PIN is 2704 or 0476?