HSBC Fraud Folk

dearbarbie

I was on holiday last wk and my debit card wouldn't work although had done a few days before. An hour later I had a voicemai from HSBC's fraud detection folk with name and number to call - I called and they were telling me my card had been cancelled because some numbers had been seized and cancelled as a precaution, and something about the police (can't understand the accent of whoever called me from there!) As if it wasn't a ballache enough that they've sent my new card to the other side of the country and I can't get any cash atm, I get another call today and a useless voicemail - no number to call, no name of person whatsoever. Called HSBC and there's no record of anyone calling me about my current account or my credit card held at HSBC. Argh!!

happyinflorida

I'd ask for your cards to be blocked as stolen and your a/c closed and for you to be opened a new a/c pronto as a precaution as it sounds very suspicious to me.

morg_monster

I've had a call from HSBC fraud people before. It is odd, because they don't have anything to do with the usual phone service, so if you ring the usual number, there isn't any record of you being called, all they told me was they are a separate entity.
Its really difficult for the fraud folk to prove they are who they say they are, they can give you a number to call them back, but you still don't know who you're calling. Of course at the same time they are trying to ascertain that YOU are who you are supposed to be! Its really tricky. I ended up getting a letter about it - looked genuine, but again, who knows?
In the end i trusted it because they weren't actually asking me to do anything which could potentially be harmful. I just had to ring them and say whether a few transactions were genuine, I said "yes", that was it.

Why has the card been sent to the opposite side of the country? has it been sent to the branch the account is held at and you now live elsewhere? or is there no rhyme or reason?
I would think that the usual current account people SHOULD know about newly issued cards. If there's no reason why they've sent your cards to this random place, as the above poster says, I'd ring the lost/stolen line, explain whats happened and ask them to cancel your cards and issue new ones. I'm not sure I'd insist on a new account to be honest - it is probably 10 times more hassle than you've already experienced - think of all the DDs you'll have to change - but its up to you.