Fraudulent transactions on Starling Bank Account

ellakopella

Hello


I wonder if anyone can advise me - I accessed my online account Starling app today and noticed I was in the negative, and two fraudulent transactions had taken place yday:


1. $1.00 (Aus) @ 17.10 to Recreation Jewellery St Peters AUS
2. £402.82 @ 17.14 online payment via TransferWise (no other info)


I did not action these transactions/or give permission for them to take place, and my card has not been stolen (I still have it). I had never heard of Transferwise until today. I was at work when these transactions took place and my wallet/ phone were locked in my desk drawer.


I contacted Starling as soon as I spotted these transactions, and they advised they will pass it to the relevant team for investigation and that I should cancel my card via the app (which I have now done).


My question is that according to the Payment Services Regulations I should receive an immediate refund for fraudulent transactions on a debit account - or is that on conclusion of the investigation? Or are they in breach of those regulations?


I accept an investigation needs to take place, but Starling gave me no indication of how long this would take/ when it would be resolved. Nor any reassurance that I will be refunded. It is clearly fraudulent and I am very concerned as to how this could have happened. I'm very careful with my banking and online purchasing.


I'm fortunate that this has never happened to me before but I feel left in limbo by Starling - who usually provide good customer service. I guess I want to understand my rights.


Thanks very much


Emma

eskbanker

They should refund you by close of play tomorrow if they don't suspect you were complicit, as per the FCA guidance at https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/unauthorised-payments-account:

In most cases the bank must refund the payment without undue delay and by the end of the business day following the day on which it became aware of the problem, unless it has reasonable grounds for suspecting that you have acted fraudulently.

eDicky

In future you should lock your card for online payments in the card security controls, so that such fraud cannot happen, unlocking only when needed. Location based fraud protection can also be switched on.

ellakopella

Hi


I had location based fraud switched on... a definite failing by Starling!


However, I hadn't toggled the online payments to off as I use my account/ card frequently and kept it on for ease however, I will be much more vigilant about using that functionality going forward. However, I expect a better level of security/ service and not to be held responsible for breaches of my account details for nefarious purposes.


Cheers


Em

sassy_one

I'm thinking Easter hols are due to start soon and given the OP is female, calling it a "wallet" also gives me a pointer that something isn't as we are being told.

eskbanker

ellakopella wrote: »

I expect a better level of security/ service and not to be held responsible for breaches of my account details for nefarious purposes.

They're not holding you responsible, at least not at this stage.

You say that "It is clearly fraudulent" but while clear to you, it won't be clear to them until they've had a chance to do a bit of digging to ascertain what happened, so it's hardly unreasonable for them to go through some initial preliminary checks before stumping up, as they're the ones who are being defrauded here. One such check would be the IP address for example, where they'll validate that the device/address used by the fraudster differs from the one(s) you use....

Twopints

sassy-one wrote: »

I'm thinking Easter hols are due to start soon and given the OP is female, calling it a "wallet" also gives me a pointer that something isn't as we are being told.

Oh look, a Starling fanboy

colsten

sassy-one wrote: »

I'm thinking Easter hols are due to start soon and given the OP is female, calling it a "wallet" also gives me a pointer that something isn't as we are being told.

Joined Oct 2010 and made their first post eight and a half years later.

Terry_Towelling

There is nothing to suggest these are card-based transactions, so how does a UK bank account come to have a payment made from it in AUS$?