Wonga and ID theft

goldmercury

best thing to do is contact wonga directly and speak to someone on their team - I've heard of a few incidents now from various PDL's - they usually just write off the sum that has been taken from your account.

Eco-aware

Just had a discussion with my bank and apparently they stopped my card because large payments were being made to Wonga! I have never had any dealings with Wonga ever. The fraud department are sorting this out now, but I have excellent virus protection on my computer and I can't think of how they got my details.

The only company I had concerns about online recently was WEA+ because they didn't put my details though the usual Visa security check that I usually have to do when I pay for something online. I did ask the bank about this at the time and they said not all companies use the Visa security check, it's optional. But does anyone know if NOT using the Visa security facility leave your details open to theft? Thanks

gb12345

Visa security check is just an additional layer of security to check that the person using the card is the authorised card holder (by asking for the password).

A company using it is no more secure from having their database hacked than one that doesn't use it and vice versa.

Your card details could have been stolen from anywhere and not just online.

Eco-aware

Thanks! This is interesting and I had never appreciated this risk before. I think I am inclined to stick to companies that use paypal in future as there seems to be less room for identity and card details theft!

dalesrider

Eco-aware wrote: »

Thanks! This is interesting and I had never appreciated this risk before. I think I am inclined to stick to companies that use paypal in future as there seems to be less room for identity and card details theft!

More chance of your card details being taken at your local supermarket.

This Wonga fraud in NOT ID theft.
It is plain old card details compromised fraud.

As a aside using PP can make life a lot harder should you have any purchase issues.

Eco-aware

Thanks dalesrider. In this case I don't think it's just my card details. I clarified with my bank whether the thief would need my address to use the card in this case, and apparently they would. So whoever stole my bank card details also stole by address details, which is horrible thought. As regards PP - I have had to raise a dispute with PP before and they sorted it out very quickly - much more quickly than my bank has dealt with issues in the past, so I have a little more confidence in PP than the bank. However, for big purchases that I really can't use PP for, I might acquire a credit card for in future - I believe there is more protection with a credit card.

But, as my husband pointed out, we just hope we don't get people from Wonga knocking at our door next! However, we haven't received any post from Wonga, so I am assuming that's a good sign?

dalesrider

Eco-aware wrote: »

Thanks dalesrider. In this case I don't think it's just my card details. I clarified with my bank whether the thief would need my address to use the card in this case, and apparently they would.

But, as my husband pointed out, we just hope we don't get people from Wonga knocking at our door next! However, we haven't received any post from Wonga, so I am assuming that's a good sign?

TBH. It would only be ID theft if they had paid the loan into your account (bet not) and then withdrawn it. This would require your address.

Now if you olnly have a debit on your account I'll describe how these guys do it.

They take out a loan and get the cash paid into a gen acc. Once that account is set up. They then go back in and change the repayment source to your card.
This does not require your address.

It is possible that you will get letters from wonga, plenty of ways they can source your address.
But you will find its not your name, or some details are not quite right.
If you do just send it back advising that your bank is dealing with this as fraud and its nothing to do with you or anyone at your address.

Card fraud to wonga is pretty heavy at the moment. It kicked off after the watchdog program and their claim that they had stringent security checks.
Now upto that point I would have agreed with them as I never saw wonga fraud, but did to other PDL co's.
This claim seems to have been a reg rag to a bull as far as the fraudsters were concerned :mad:

Eco-aware

Thanks dalesrider. LOL - no loan into my account! Wonga must be loosing a lot of money if they are being targeted like this by fraudsters. Thanks for your advice - hopefully this is last I'll here of it. Just waiting for my new card to come through now.....

sda_casl

This has just happened to me.

I was travelling and my card stopped working suddenly, I'd used it an hour or two before and all of a sudden it just stopped. I rang and got a new card sent out which I received yesterday. When I activated the new one and effectively cancelled the old yesterday, I noticed a payment close to £400 has been taken.

I almost applied for a loan from Wonga a few months ago but got halfway through and didn't finish the application, so my first thought was maybe somehow it actually went through, but the more I thought about it the more I knew I never entered anything that could've made this true. Furthermore, I looked through all my bank statements and found nothing incoming from them, and had no account details registered with them.

Rang Wonga first of all and they have confirmed I've no account with them and have opened a fraud case. The lady was very helpful.

Went to the bank this morning and was told the chargeback should be received in 24 hours, and that I'd have to fill out some forms by post. All seems to be ok, hopefully it'll play out alright from here on in.

It may just be coincidence, but today I found a spam email from what appeared to be Wonga, saying I'd had security problems and click here to resolve them, which I did. It then prompted me to enter account details, including my postcode and DOB. I put them in but then got suspicious. It seeems to be a Spanish singers website, very odd. Hopefully nothing comes of that, maybe just a spam coincidence.

Apples2

sda_casl wrote: »

It may just be coincidence, but today I found a spam email from what appeared to be Wonga, saying I'd had security problems and click here to resolve them, which I did.

Never ever follow links within emails. If you do this, you may find yourself being the victim of identity thef........oh! hang on.

If you think it is genuine, go to the proper website on your browser.