340 pounds skimmed from my LloydsTSB Avios credit card, do I have any recourse?

slapdash

Hi All,

I was awoken this morning by LloydsTSB's fraud prevention team to be told that roughly two £172 charges had been made on my credit card to a firm called RBK Money, apparently a Russian equivalent of PayPal.

I was in the pub last night watching the Chelsea game and had put my card behind the bar to run a tab as is common practice. I let Lloyds know this thinking it might help their investigation and they promptly got back to me say that they weren't going to take liability for the fraudulent payments as the card had been out of my control. They suggested that I take this up as a civil matter with the police and the pub. I've informed the police who say they'll get back to me within 72 hours.

The pub in question was the Mason's Arms in Kensal Green, London. My guess is that someone one their staff is on the take. I haven't spoken to them about it yet as I want the police to speak to them first.

All in all I'm thoroughly !!!!ed off and feel like I have no power in this situation to do anything about it, I'm sure the crime will go unpunished, I'll be out of pocket and the thieves will be free to continue scamming people.

Are there any further avenues I should be following? Can I hold the pub responsible for this? It seems that my trust was broken by their staff at the least and that their security measures were woefully inadequate.

So anyway my advice to others.. Avoid the Mason's Arms. Avoid putting your card behind bars. Avoid banking with LloydsTSB.

Tom.

stephane_2

Leaving a credit card behind a pub counter is called being completely irresponsible & too right that Llyods will not take responsibility for the fraudulent use. Could be that one of the bar staff was an accomplice but that will be very difficult to prove without any hard CCTV evidence..a hard lesson which once again show to never leave any kind of cards with strangers....

MPH80

See example 3 here:

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/46/46_plastic_cards.htm

It seems to be very similar to what you're outlining (leaving a card with one person for the purpose of one transaction which they then use for others).

The key thing is *when* the transactions were made - was it when the card was in your possession or theirs.

If in yours - then the card was clearly skimmed. If theirs - they used the same card.

M.

opinions4u

slapdash wrote: »

Hi All,

I was awoken this morning by LloydsTSB's fraud prevention team to be told that roughly two £172 charges had been made on my credit card to a firm called RBK Money, apparently a Russian equivalent of PayPal.

I was in the pub last night watching the Chelsea game and had put my card behind the bar to run a tab as is common practice. I let Lloyds know this thinking it might help their investigation and they promptly got back to me say that they weren't going to take liability for the fraudulent payments as the card had been out of my control. They suggested that I take this up as a civil matter with the police and the pub. I've informed the police who say they'll get back to me within 72 hours.

The pub in question was the Mason's Arms in Kensal Green, London. My guess is that someone one their staff is on the take. I haven't spoken to them about it yet as I want the police to speak to them first.

All in all I'm thoroughly !!!!ed off and feel like I have no power in this situation to do anything about it, I'm sure the crime will go unpunished, I'll be out of pocket and the thieves will be free to continue scamming people.

Are there any further avenues I should be following? Can I hold the pub responsible for this? It seems that my trust was broken by their staff at the least and that their security measures were woefully inadequate.

So anyway my advice to others.. Avoid the Mason's Arms. Avoid putting your card behind bars. Avoid banking with LloydsTSB.

Tom.

Are the bank to blame? Should they really pick up the bill for this?

That said, I think I would probably pursue this through their complaints process.

ihateyes

expensive lesson you have learned. the bank have done the right thing here.
if i was lloyds tsb id be closing your account, if i was lloyds i would see you as a risk.

jonesMUFCforever

Even taking it through the complaints and even ombudsman I feel you will find it difficult to prove you were not incredibly stupid.
If it was up to me I would make you pay.

pvt

MPH80 wrote: »

The key thing is *when* the transactions were made - was it when the card was in your possession or theirs.

If in yours - then the card was clearly skimmed. If theirs - they used the same card.

M.

Why's that key then?

In both instances the card details were used fraudulently by a 3rd party.

pvt

opinions4u wrote: »

Are the bank to blame?

Yes. They allowed money to be debited from the card without the cardholder present, without a PIN, or without a signature.

The bank should chargeback the debits and tell RBK Money to go swivel.

chanz4

Another easier example, if you car was stolen and you left the keys in it you were negligent.

pvt

chanz4 wrote: »

Another easier example, if you car was stolen and you left the keys in it you were negligent.

Easier, but fundamentally different. That's like tendering your credit card and giving the merchant the PIN. Which he didn't do.

So the more appropriate analogy would be, you left you car in a supermarket car park without the keys and somebody stole it. Do you feel that constitues negligence?

meer53

Think of it this way - your wallet contains £500 cash, would you have left that behind the bar ?

Nope didn't think so. By leaving your card behind the bar, you're leaving them access to the money in your account. They have all the information they need to use it.