Online Debit Card Fraud - Where do I stand

klmillard

Hi Guys,

I have been a victim of some online fraud. 3 weeks ago I attempted to purchase a Barbour jacket for £104 online. The website looked good until I tried completing payment it gave some strange error message. I then became suspicious and called Barclays straight away to report what I had done and to ensure no money had or would be taken out my Debit account. They confirmed 2 different amounts had been attempted and failed and assured me no money would come out to this company. I then see my statement today and see £104 was taken out for this company. I have reported this to Barclays who have raised a case and are sending me out the forms. I raised how concerned I am they they assured me that no money would come out and then it did. They have now done what they maybe should have done at that point, which is to cancel my card.

Can anyone offer advise on where I stand. To date I haven't received any goods for the £104 but I have googled the company and it is a scam and have read that most people receive counterfeit goods . Does it effect me getting my money back if I receive the goods? I feel this is the fault of Barclays as I called them to ensure no money left and they let me down.

Any advise would be good.

Thanks in advance,

[Deleted User]

Cancelling your card would have served no purpose as the transaction was already authorised. It appears Barclays tried to manually block it but it slipped through.

It looks as if you should receive a refund - certainly if no goods are receieved. If you do receive them, then it would be a matter of whether those goods are misrepresented or not compared to what you order.

Always check out a site thoroughly before ordering, if it is previously unknown to you.

klmillard

thanks zx81. Surely I should have a case to get my money back no matter what as Barclays should have blocked, stopped the money coming out as they confirmed it hadnt when I called. I even asked again to confirm no that I can relax knowing it is blocked and was re-assured.

[Deleted User]

You don't have a case on the basis that you asked for it to be blocked, as it was already authorised. So technically, it was a legitimate transaction. I'm guessing it's this fact that allowed it to ultimately sneak through. Their attempting to block it for you is essentially them doing you a favour, on the basis they believed you re the website.

But generally, transactions are difficult to prevent once authorised - which is why the old "I took a payday loan, and whoops, I've only gone and lost my debit card" trick never works.

But you do have a case if a) you don't receive anything or b) you receive a pile of old tat that isnt what you ordered.

klmillard

Thanks again. I little bit more info. I called Barclays on the 9th Sept, and the transaction happened (according to my statement) on the 12th, so surely they should not allowed this to go through 3 days later? If they couldnt way would they assure me that money hadn't or wouldn't come out my bank for this transaction.

Bearing in mind this is a Debit card am I covered for the items not arriving or them being tat?

Thanks again

[Deleted User]

Although you don't have section 75 on debit cards, I believe you are still able to effect a chargeback, which has the same effect.

bengal-stripe

You cannot cancel a transaction that has been authorized.

Just think about it: I go into a shop, pay by card and take the goods with me. An hour later, I call my bank and advise them not to pay the transaction. So, I will have the goods and don't have to pay, as the bank (on my instruction) has cancelled the transaction.

klmillard

Thanks again.

How do I know it was approved? I went though the shopping process and it failed due when entering the details (this is what alerted my as it just didnt look right when it failed). There was no barclays approval thing opening up.

How come when I phoned up Barclays straight after they said no payments have gone through or pending or will go through. They said 2 amounts had tried to be taken but failed.

Thanks again.

klmillard

in fact I have just tested the process on the website with 100% made up address details and bank details and it does exactly the same. At no point does it appear to process or authorise your details, you put them in, hit submit and then get an error.

Does this have any bearing?

TheMoney

Firstly, it's not fraud. You have made the payment. Now, for getting the money back it *should* be fairly simple. If you haven't received anything, or you receive something that differs from what you ordered, you can raise a chargeback...although this is by no means anywhere close to as secure as section 75 like previously mentioned. The only issue I can see arising is if the website has some small print somewhere that states it sells it's own brand goods and not the real thing, then it would be something you'd need to take to trading standards.