MBNA credit card fraud

Jimbolito

Hi all, am having an issue with MBNA and their Horizon credit card. It’s quite long winded but I shall condense!

I was sent a Horizon card to replace my two MBNA virgin Atlantic credit cards, activated the Horizon card and cut up one of the Virgin ones. The other virgin one was left in a drawer at home as I hardly ever used it.

I logged into the MBNA app about two weeks later to find several cash withdrawals had been made on consecutive days, totalling over £6000. I called MBNA immediately and they advised all cards would be cancelled pending a fraud investigation.

I asked the operator if I should be reporting this to the police and was told not to at this stage. About ten days went by and I called again to enquire about reporting to the police. I was keen to do this in order to secure any cctv from the ATMs. Again I was told it wasn’t necessary as the fraud investigation team would be checking ccctb as part of their investigation. After 28 days MBNA wrote to me saying my card had been used with the pin and that as such they were closing the case and expecting me to pay the £6000 and associated interest and charges. Obviously I was upset, angry but more concerned about who had withdrawn this money.

My issues are these. At no point was I made aware of these clearly unusual transactions. I have had the account for about ten years and withdrawn cash once. To have 12 withdrawals of £500 on consecutive days all over the south east was in my opinion suspicious. Secondly this advice not to involve the police. In hindsight I should have just alerted the police and they would hopefully have been able to secure cctv, so at least I would know who had done this. I am now suspecting friends, family and can’t trust anyone! My suspicion is that someone has gone into my drawer and taken the card and must have seen me enter pin previously. Had I got cctv from the ATM I could probably have got them convicted and reclaimed some of the money.

The current situation is that I owe MBNA over £6000. They have investigated and say the nature of the transactions were not deemed suspicious and have admitted they were wrong to advise me not to advise the police, sending me a cheque for £50.

Is there anything I can do about this? I understand technically I am liable for the £6000 but it doesn’t seem fair at all considering the advice I was given and that nobody considered alerting me to these transactions early on, in which case the amount owed would be a lot less

PRAISETHESUN

If you haven't already, report this to Action Fraud and give them details (preferably in written form) of what you were advised to do by your card issuer. At the same time, I'd make a formal complaint to your card issuer saying that it was fraud (include the crime reference). Escalate to the ombudsman if/when they do not resolve things in a reasonable time.

Terry_Towelling

Apologies in advance, OP. You are probably in quite a state about all of this but I am suspicious by nature and what follows may annoy you.

You say you hardly ever used the card that was subject to fraudulent usage but that someone must have seen you inputting your PIN. It sounds highly unlikely that someone would have seen you entering your PIN on a card used so infrequently and then chosen this precise time to commit a fraud. However, if that is actually true, and it wasn't just that you'd left the PIN notification in the draw with the card, that should narrow down your search for a suspect. Look at your past statements for this card and see if you can recall who you were with at the time of the seemingly very few transactions.

As a matter of interest, what prompted you to log in to the MBNA account of a card that you hadn't used?

Jimbolito

Hi terry, MBNA basically accused me of being involved but I was at work at the time and I never write my pin down. Having said that I can completely see how it appears dodgy. It could be any one of about ten people all of whom could have seen me enter my pin. It’s not a number you could guess easily either.

Re the app, I got a new phone and had to reinstall it and logged in close to payday expecting to see a balance of about £200 on my horizon card.

Terry_Towelling

How come so many people have access to your personal drawers at home? How come so many of them know that that is where you stashed this card and had also been able to see you entering your PIN? - shield it in future. When did you last use the card? Time to watch for friends and family splashing the cash. Any of them mentioned having money problems? Any of them know that this happened to you? Could you trick any of them into revealing information about the cash withdrawals that only you should know? Any of them been travelling around the South East recently? Try and borrow as much money as you can from as many of the suspects as you can - just wondering whether the serial numbers on the notes could be tracked to any particular ATM - that's if you can get the police/banks to take any interest in helping you out. Finger prints on the card?

Grasping at straws, I know, but anything is worth pursuing.

jonesMUFCforever

Whatever MBNA have told you - they are telling porkies that they are checking CCTV - only the police get to see those other than the bank operating the CCTV.

Shakin_Steve

Leaving a credit card in a drawer that all and sundry have access to, knowing that at least a few of these people may know your PIN is naive bordering on wreckless. Surely you can see this? It goes against every piece of advice given to you by banks and cc companies. Even if you get to find out who took the cash, the cc company may still consider your actions as a breach of their T&C's.

Jimbolito

Thanks Steve for your comments. I was unaware of anyone potentially knowing my pin, and MBNA’s incorrect advice has ensured I will never know for sure who is responsible

Ben8282

Jimbolito wrote: »

I was sent a Horizon card to replace my two MBNA virgin Atlantic credit cards, activated the Horizon card and cut up one of the Virgin ones. The other virgin one was left in a drawer at home as I hardly ever used it.

I logged into the MBNA app about two weeks later to find several cash withdrawals had been made on consecutive days, totalling over £6000. I called MBNA immediately and they advised all cards would be cancelled pending a fraud investigation.

You say the Horizon card was sent to replace your two Virgin Atlantic cards. These two cards were presumably the duo cards with one an Amex. If the Horizon cards was sent to replace the two cards then 1. Why did you destroy only one of them but put the other in a drawer? and 2. If the Horizon card was sent to replace the two cards, then how come one continued to work?
lso which card was used to make the cash withdrawals? Although it has been assumed that it was the card in the drawer, note that the OP has not specifically stated this. It could have been the new Horizon card.

Terry_Towelling

Ben8282 wrote: »

You say the Horizon card was sent to replace your two Virgin Atlantic cards. These two cards were presumably the duo cards with one an Amex. If the Horizon cards was sent to replace the two cards then 1. Why did you destroy only one of them but put the other in a drawer? and 2. If the Horizon card was sent to replace the two cards, then how come one continued to work?
lso which card was used to make the cash withdrawals? Although it has been assumed that it was the card in the drawer, note that the OP has not specifically stated this. It could have been the new Horizon card.

I think we've all inferred that it was the old MBNA card because OP talks as if the compromised account is one that they've had for 10 years. They also specifically refer to the compromised card as being the one kept in the drawer.

Have we inferred wrongly, OP?

Also, OP, why can't you approach the banks in question to ask them about CCTV? I would.

ywlgy

Banks won't let you check CCTV unless police is involved. Even my flat management company doesn't let me do so after my parcel was stolen