Wonga and ID theft

bevpage

Kimou wrote: »

Hi,

I am curious to find out whether anybody has been targeted for identity theft and told that you may not be able to retrieve your money due to it being a loan comany that has taken it?

I have just had over £2000 taken out of my Barclays account by Wonga. I've never had any dealings with them before yet someone has somehow managed to use my bank account to pay for four loans that have not been paid into that [my] account. And I have, apparently, no rights due to it being a finance company.

It has been reported to the bank's fraud team and also Wonga's fraud dept. I've yet to hear back from them, but is it really so? Do I have no protection at all?

Any comments would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Another company to watch for is capital finance 1 ive just had same problem, in 1 day they took out on seperate times 4x£50, £200, £40, £170 it was only when i went to pay for something on my debit card that it was brought to my attention that they had drained my account I queried with my branch who said that they had also try to take out £400 but bacause insufficient funds were in then it wasnt allowed to go thru the transaction, My branch put me in touch with their fraud squad who have taken details but because tey used my debit card details it cant be refunded, had they used my account/sortcode had they got this information i would be able to claim all monies back, to date it is still under investigation, so please dont fall foul to
Capital finnce 1
ProntoPound
city financial
North finance
Validius finance
to name but a few

thinkstoomuch

I got stung on Monday 2nd April for 2 payments totalling around £450. A third attempt for around £600 was denied due to insuffient funds. I found out the next day when Santander Fraud called me the next morning.

I've never used Wonga.com- never had a personal loan full stop.

The person on the phone couldn't tell me how long refunding would take...and I haven't heard anything from them since so will have to take a trip to town on Monday to check my account...

Gizzo

My debit card has just had two fraudulent transactions around £500 taken from it by Wonga.com.

Somehow I do not think wonga.com are doing the correct security checks when people apply for the loans.

gscrym

I've had a few emails saying that money has been paid into my Wonga account but I've never had one. I never read them, delete them and always check my bank account afterwards.

I got my vanquis card cloned and it took over a month to get the money back. Hope everyone gets refunded.

Gizzo

I have just checked my account today and there has been another FOUR fraudulent transactions payable to Wonga.com.

I am not their customer and never have been.

They must have done no checks on the debit card used to pay off the account. It sounds like incompetence to me.

debtfreeby2013

I had 2 loans taken out of my account yesterday. one for £405.50 and one for £551.57. My student loan had gone in yesterday and it seems like a strange coincidence that the only day I have money in my account the loan has gone through but questioned that maybe they tried to take it out earlier but failed and kept trying. I've had a loan with wonga in the past but I had £60 which I paid back 4 days later and this loan wasn't taken on my wonga account but was paid back using my card. its horrible but thankfully the bank have been really good and are refunding tomorrow and are starting their investigation.

camuk81

Thank god you are all very sensible in checking your statements.

With the advent of chip and pin credit card has been reduced but thee could be any number of reasons some of which have been pointed out
1. Computer virus
2. Someone you spent online has been hacked and details taken
3. ATM skimming machines
4. Any card skimmers (petrol station restaurant) rule of thumb never let go of your card ever! Lead to stand up argument in a pub once however if he walks off with your card what is this person doing.
5. Royal Mail - Some people live in hotspots. I personally live in a problem postcode and my card comes in a padded envelope to deter people working out what it is.

Long and short keep up the great work of reading statements

SnowTiger

debtfreeby2013 wrote: »

I had 2 loans taken out of my account yesterday. one for £405.50 and one for £551.57. My student loan had gone in yesterday and it seems like a strange coincidence that the only day I have money in my account the loan has gone through but questioned that maybe they tried to take it out earlier but failed and kept trying. I've had a loan with wonga in the past but I had £60 which I paid back 4 days later and this loan wasn't taken on my wonga account but was paid back using my card.

I think this is how pay day loans work. They pay in to a bank account using a sort code and account number, but take payment via a debit card. So, it's possible for a loan to be paid in to one bank account and repaid from another.

It's a bit of a flaw in their system, however I suspect rapid payments can only be made in to a bank account using a sort code and account number - we all know how long it takes to have refunds made to a card.

And to take payment from a bank account using a sort code and account number is probably out of the question because it would involve setting up a direct debit, which at the best of times seems to take a month and can be easily cancelled by the customer.

debtfreeby2013

Yeah fair point on the direct debit thing actually, it takes a long time to get set up and wonga market themselves as a short term lending company.

As camuk said I'll keep checking my statement as I guess that's all we can do to prevent ourselves. Ultimately, I suppose it's wonga that loses out so it's their job to do something about it......

shackalak

I'm over a year down the line and still have not had any money back from Wonga. There were three or four loans taken in my name that I didn't do (never used Wonga in my life) and around £1200 taken out of my account in payments, with £700 still outstanding before my bank noticed suspicious activity on my account and inhibited my debit card.

In my case, the police know who is responsible for it (a serial conman) but the level of the fraud he has committed against my family is astonomical and the case is really complicated. With any luck he'll be charged soon (and you may read about it in the papers because it is likely to be quite high profile!) and with any luck I may get some money back - and hopefully my life back on track too - the whole thing has been devistating.