Child's bank account has been hacked, £150 with of Google play transactions

jjames1985

Silvertabby said:

Rather an odd situation - crooks don't normally hack an account just to play on-line game.

I wonder if the other (genuine) player input their own bank details incorrectly - and mistakenly input your daughter's instead?

There are checks done to make sure address details, cardholder details and expiry dates match, so simply putting in another valid card number isn't hoping to work.  Likewise card numbers aren't random, there is an algorithm to generate them so simply switching a digit around or inputting one incorrect digit is far more likely going to result in an invalid number than a valid one.

Ceme3000

I experienced a fraudulent transaction after a hotel I booked with was hacked and my card details were obtained.   After that experience I opened a Revolut account which I use exclusively for online purchases. You can have a physical card and a separate virtual card number if you want and you top up the balance so that only what is in the account can be spent, and crucially you can use the app to freeze the card when it is not being used, so even if a fraudster gets the card number they can't use it.

So, when I want to buy something online, I top up the account, unfreeze the card, make my purchase and then immediately freeze the card again. It works really well and there is no danger my main bank account can be raided.  All transactions can be viewed in the app and the app itself is secure. 

Maybe you could do something similar for online purchases?

Luluthecat

This happened to my Nationwide current account. Someone was randomly buying things like items for games and movies. from my account. I reported it and received a full refund. Then it happened again and again I received a full refund. No explanation given by the bank and no questions asked either which made me think that they knew what had been going on.

jonnygee2

No explanation given by the bank and no questions asked either which made me think that they knew what had been going on.

Banks can get several hundred of these problems a day or more. The fraud is generally completely untraceable and unproveable. They just take it as part of their operating costs and refund.

onthemend88

Just an update - Natwest have investigated and all monies have been returned to my Daughter. 

I have a Revolut account and have noticed I am able to open and monitor junior accounts for all of my children, and am able to block their cards when not in use so this is what I am going to do. 

Thank you to everyone that posted helpful advice

MovingForwards

@onthemend can you not block them in the NW app, put an alert on when spending goes above a certain amount etc? It's what I have as standard with mine.

onthemend88

MovingForwards said:

@onthemend can you not block them in the NW app, put an alert on when spending goes above a certain amount etc? It's what I have as standard with mine.

I know I am able to do this with my Natwest account, but not sure about a child's account. I will look into it though but I do like the idea of the Revolut accounts. 

DCFC79

onthemend88 said:

Just an update - Natwest have investigated and all monies have been returned to my Daughter. 

I have a Revolut account and have noticed I am able to open and monitor junior accounts for all of my children, and am able to block their cards when not in use so this is what I am going to do. 

Thank you to everyone that posted helpful advice

Can do something similar with Monzo and starling, its a good feature, just need to remember to turn it off when its to be used.

onthemend88

DCFC79 said:

Can do something similar with Monzo and starling, its a good feature, just need to remember to turn it off when its to be used.

Thanks. I already have a Revolut account myself but have heard of Monzo and Starling. Will definitely look into them but may hold off on those those until we have completed on our house purchase in a few weeks time. 

phillw

onthemend88 said:
They also said it would be reported to the police which has scared her but I have told her this is what they need to do to try and catch whoever has done this. 

 

That was enough to convince the nice child of someone I know to come clean that they'd stolen their dads credit card from his wallet and hooked it up to their xbox account. It's unlikely anyone will do any investigation however.