unauthorised cash withdrawals, card not received

mcmaze

hi everyone,
I already have a TSB plus account, and few days ago I decided to apply for another account to earn extra interest.

Application successful, straightaway I transferred £2000 to the account, however upon checking the account online 6 days after I noticed that 3x£300 cash have been withdrawn from my account one the 15,16 & 17. I have not received the card nor the pin, nor any letter from the bank, I just received an email that my application was successful. I called TSB, and reported the issue, also told them that I didn't receive any card yet. They blocked the card, their fraud team called me today and told me they will investigate the matter, but since the pin was used, it will take longer and they are unsure if I will get my money back.

I don't know where I stand here, I called royal mail, who said they will investigate if this is and inside thing, action fraud said that I need first to wait for the bank's response before reporting it. I don't know what exactly happened and what are the next steps I should take.

Any advice would be appreciated.

xylophone

but since the pin was used,

If a fraudster got hold of the card then he might also have got hold of the pin.

jonesMUFCforever

For now you have done everything that you can - let them investigate and report back to you.
One thought though - did you get a choice of whether you want a card or not?
How many days ago did you apply? It takes 3 days for the card and PIN to get to you and the maximum withdrawal is £500 per day.
You need to have a think - has someone in your household got access to your post?

mcmaze

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

For now you have done everything that you can - let them investigate and report back to you.
One thought though - did you get a choice of whether you want a card or not?
How many days ago did you apply? It takes 3 days for the card and PIN to get to you and the maximum withdrawal is £500 per day.
You need to have a think - has someone in your household got access to your post?

I applied on the 10th of this month, I wasn't asked if I want a card or not, and I didn't expect to receive a card actually as I have a main account with them and I use that one, also I mentioned in the application of the second account that the purpose of the second one is only savings.
I know that the limit is £500, the fraudster possibly didn't know, I live by myself but have an external letter box.

karlie88

mcmaze wrote: »

but have an external letter box.

Bingo.

And/or dodgy postie(s).

Stay put and wait for the bank to get back to you.

Flobberchops

Yep. Somebody intercepted both the card and PIN and have been taking what they believe is the daily ATM limit.

Hope you get a positive outcome.

xylophone

Another thought OP but not to do with the fraudulent transactions.

You mention that you opened another account to earn interest.

If your existing TSB Plus is a sole account and the new account is a sole account, then you won't earn interest on the second account?

http://www.tsb.co.uk/current-accounts/classic-plus-account/

teddysmum

xylophone wrote: »

Another thought OP but not to do with the fraudulent transactions.

You mention that you opened another account to earn interest.

If your existing TSB Plus is a sole account and the new account is a sole account, then you won't earn interest on the second account?

http://www.tsb.co.uk/current-accounts/classic-plus-account/

The terms and conditions don't just say you won't get interest; they say that you can only hold one account , unless a second is joint .


I wonder if the bank has transferred the money to the OP's other account, because the new account should not have been allowed . (Odd that it wasn't done in ne transaction, though).


As the PIN and card are sent in separate mailings and contactless transactions require the PIN for the first one, it can't just be a case of someone finding a card and using it contactless.

xylophone

I should have been accurate, OP.



http://www.tsb.co.uk/current-accounts/classic-plus-account/classic-plus-account-terms-and-conditions.pdf

Actually, now I look more closely at your post, you didn't say that you were opening another Plus account - I assumed that you had because of the mention of £2000 and earning interest.

At all events, as the reason for restricting the number of sole Plus accounts to one was (presumably) to reduce the total interest paid to one party by TSB, it would seem unlikely that interest would be paid on the second account.

You would need to be eligible to open the second account - if you weren't, then TSB would be within their rights not to pay the interest (which I seem to remember is what happened when Nationwide twigged that more Flexdirects than permitted had been opened).

However, as the previous post points out, this is not stated in the T&Cs.

Anther thought, I suppose that the account that has been opened by TSB might not be a Plus account - what did the "Welcome" e-mail actually say about the type of account opened?

As you have an outside letter box, even if the card and pin were sent days apart, it would be possible for the box to be accessed over several days and both envelopes intercepted.

The fraudster would then simply use an ATM.

Your letterbox is not locked or the lock is easily picked/manipulated?

mcmaze

Hi again everyone,
I checked both accounts, and both are classic plus, i found no problem signing up for another one, and also on the welcome email it says classic plus which I believe pays interest.

Unfortunately the fraud team called today, and they are not going to refund the money because they believe it was me, because 2 weeks ago it happened that I did a transaction on my main account within the area the withdrawals were made.
They said that cctv footage from the police might change their decision. Now I'm waiting for the police investigation team to come back to me.

Lingua

Sorry to hear about your ordeal, hopefully the police and any CCTV footage will help prove your innocence. It's understandable for the bank to be suspicious as if they have taken the mail from your letter box and used the card locally it is going to be the same area.

As for the account being a second Classic Plus account, that is very unusual as TSB only allow one Classic Plus account per customer. They may well twig onto the fact that it is your second Plus account (especially considering the focus the account will now receive given the fraud taking place) and will rescind the account regardless of the outcome of the investigation.

All the best


Lingua