Card Fraud- Nationwide refusing refund

Meadow9

Hi I'm in need of some advice regarding my partners nationwide debit card, he recieved his bank statement on Saturday and realised some fraudulent transactions had taken place, there were 3 in total all from sports retailers and were bought online, these happened at the beginning of August all within a week and almost £300 worth of transactions in total. He has never bought off any sports retailers in the 3 years he has held this account so knew straight away they were fradulent.
He rang nationwide immediately and explained the situation and they said they would investigate and if they were fraudulent he would be refunded. Today however he has recieved a letter saying after investigation they do not believe the transactions are fraudulent and so will not be refund any of the money. What they're saying is that the merchants can't locate an order by card number so because nothing been delivered to his address they can't trace the transactions.
We just don't know where to go from here to try and get the money back as nationwide seem to not want to know. A slight issue we have had with the account in question is that over the past couple of months when buying things online it hasn't been asking for a secure code, my partner contacted nationwide about this a while ago and they said it was the merchants fault and not theirs but the problem had continued on all online purchases since. It seems this may have contributing towards the fraudulent online transaction and surely this is a security issue that nationwide are responsible for?
I'm just after advice on what to do next as we really can't afford to lose this money and I feel as though nationwide are just letting someone get away with spending my partners hard earned cash. Any help would be very much appreciated!

maninthestreet

I think I would have noticed long before my bank statement arrived if my account was missing £300.

InsideInsurance

maninthestreet wrote: »

I think I would have noticed long before my bank statement arrived if my account was missing £300.

Some people will, some people wont, obviously depends on how close you get to your limits each month.


You need to register a complaint with the Nationwide, the fact the merchant has system limitations is of no consequence to you. You did not authorise the transactions, they are fraudulant and the money must be returned to your account and card numbers changed. If they fail to do this you will escalate your complaint to the FOS

Meadow9

maninthestreet wrote: »

I think I would have noticed long before my bank statement arrived if my account was missing £300.

So would we ordinarily! But because of £300 being taken out a standing order got declined which we assumed had been paid as normal so the account balance appeared to add up until the statement arrived and we saw otherwise.

alanq

I don't think any criticism is due for only finding out about the transaction a month later. Some people come on these forums having just discovered that unauthorised payments have been taken for years before noticing.

"Your bank may only refuse a refund for an unauthorised transaction if:
●● it can prove you authorised the transaction – though your bank
cannot simply say that use of your password, card and PIN proves you authorised a payment; or
●● it can prove you are at fault because you acted fraudulently, or because you deliberately, or with gross negligence, failed to protect the details of your card, PIN or password in a way that allowed the transaction."
http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/consumer_info/know_your_rights_guide.pdf

As InsideInsurance said. First complain to Nationwide then escalate to FOS if you do not get the matter resolved to your satisfaction.

Archi_Bald

Meadow9, you don't mention that your partner asked for a new card - - may be you just omitted to mention it. But if he hasn't, he should be asking for the card to be replaced immediately.

Regarding the "secure code" - do you mean VISA Verify? Nationwide no longer require this. Alongside Halifax, Lloyds and Barclaycard, they are now using a more recent mechanism to verify the transactions.

InsideInsurance

Archi_Bald wrote: »

Regarding the "secure code" - do you mean VISA Verify? Nationwide no longer require this. Alongside Halifax, Lloyds and Barclaycard, they are now using a more recent mechanism to verify the transactions.

Has barclaycard really dropped 3D secure? I see that most of my transactions with it pops up still but 95% of the time it disappears with a note saying its low risk but once or twice it has asked me to complete it still.

Archi_Bald

I am just going by what I read elsewhere - may be that new mechanism is that the occasional transaction still needs the login. With my Nationwide Select CC, I have not had to enter the BVB password for several months now. Not used my Barclaycard in eons, so can't speak from personal experience.

InsideInsurance

Must say I've been slightly curious what the algorithm is that decides what goes down the low risk route and what doesnt but I doubt that will be posted anywhere public due to obvious abuse that it could lead to

alanq

I was recently asked for and entered answers to some questions from VBV (date of birth and last 4 digits of current account IIRC) when using my debit card to make a large deposit to a savings account.

Otherwise my recent Nationwide debit and credit card online transactions have not required VBV authorisation.

CKhalvashi

maninthestreet wrote: »

I think I would have noticed long before my bank statement arrived if my account was missing £300.

I wouldn't.

OP, it needs to be raised as a formal complaint with Nationwide, and then escalated to FOS if not dealt with.

CK