What do I do after being scammed??

asdfghjklhelp

I used to debit card to buy a drink for £1.85 from a vending machine last week, and on Monday morning I had 130 £1.85 "NYA*selecta" transactions come out, totalling £240.05
I assumed straight away that my card had been skimmed so called my bank's fraud line and they advised me to contact the police and freeze my account (not cancel my card or close it or anything). They said they'd have to conduct an internal investigation to determine whether I'd authorised the payments before they could give me any more info on whether I can get my money back, but refused to give any kind of timescale. 

As I assumed as my debit card was skimmed it didn't occur to me that others accounts would be affected (stupidly, I know) but I noticed this morning (Weds) that a total of £594.27 is gone from two of my savings accounts, also taken out in £1.85 increments on Monday. I rang my bank straight away to let them know and they said they were already aware that the total missing was £834.32, but said because I authorised the first payment it's unlikely I'll get anything back but insisted the internal investigation is ongoing. I'm so frustrated, all my Christmas savings are gone, I have nothing to live off of for the rest of the month and I feel like my bank are being so dismissive I don't know what to do.

I can't find anyone else this has happened to and I just feel so embarrassed for using my card without properly checking the vending machine first. I tried looking online but all I can find on anything relevant is from citizens advice which states:
"There are certain distance sale contracts that are not covered by the law. You would not automatically have the right to your money back if the fraudulent purchase was made for the following: [...] * purchases from vending machines or automated commercial premises. If your card has been used fraudulently for buying goods or services listed above, you should still contact your bank. They will probably investigate for you but you may not be able to get your money back."

eskbanker

The fact that you authorised one transaction doesn't make you liable for a whole bunch of others that you didn't authorise!

https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/unauthorised-payments-account summarises banks' obligations to refund in this situation, but essentially it's up to them to demonstrate that you did authorise transactions rather than you having to prove that you didn't....

asdfghjklhelp

eskbanker said:

The fact that you authorised one transaction doesn't make you liable for a whole bunch of others that you didn't authorise!

Thank you, this is exactly how I thought it worked but it seems like I'm going into the call saying one thing and the bank are saying another. I'll have a read through the link you posted and see if quoting any of that helps spped things up a bit

jimjames

I can't see any way that a bank savings account could be compromised purely by a contactless transaction. The savings account isn't linked to the current account in any way or is it?

Have the bank explained how money can be removed from your savings accounts? The details on a debit card will not give information to be able to log into online banking unless other details have been compromised. It does sound like 2 separate issues if you have multiple transactions and balances being removed from an unrelated account.

On first reading it sounds like an error in that the transaction has been presented multiple times but the bank should be able to see that although you may need to contact the merchant to report the problem.

Ergates

No, it's not possible for a skimmed debit card to be used to take money from a *different* account.    It's possible the OP has a sweep in place to automatically move money from the savings account to the current account if/when the balance drops below a certain level.

OP:   Do you remember where the vending machine was?   If so, go back to it and see if there is a contact number or email for the company that operates it.   It may be some kind of technical fault with the machine.

[Deleted User]

jimjames said:

I can't see any way that a bank savings account could be compromised purely by a contactless transaction. The savings account isn't linked to the current account in any way or is it?

Have the bank explained how money can be removed from your savings accounts? The details on a debit card will not give information to be able to log into online banking unless other details have been compromised. It does sound like 2 separate issues if you have multiple transactions and balances being removed from an unrelated account.

On first reading it sounds like an error in that the transaction has been presented multiple times but the bank should be able to see that although you may need to contact the merchant to report the problem.

Did this happen in the US?

Skimming usually refers to magstripe transactions - these are very rare in the UK now.
Also, it's very rare for debit cards to be linked to multiple current accounts, never mind savings accounts.   

GTR_King

You can't get skimmed off a contactless transaction/payment unless someone used a card machine without you knowing but doubt it was that. 

did you have any DD's or Standing orders that was due to leave your account? most likely due to low funds they took it out of your savings instead as banks are allowed to do that to recover debt

eskbanker

asdfghjklhelp said:

I assumed straight away that my card had been skimmed so called my bank's fraud line and they advised me to contact the police and freeze my account (not cancel my card or close it or anything).

To a certain extent it's human nature to try to figure out what's happened, how, when and by whom, etc, but did you mention your assumption to the bank, as their advice to contact the police doesn't seem an obvious response when initially logging unauthorised transactions?  It's best to stick to the facts and let the bank do the investigating, or was there something specific that led you to assume skimming?

Having said that, I'm as intrigued as everyone else about the involvement of savings accounts - there aren't many such accounts with debit card support anymore, but what type of transactions did these show as?

Daliah

asdfghjklhelp said:

I know) but I noticed this morning (Weds) that a total of £594.27 is gone from two of my savings accounts, also taken out in £1.85 increments on Monday.

£594.27 / £1.85 = 321.227

Are you saying that over 321 withdrawals have been made from your savings account on Monday? As others have said, they couldn't have been made with a debit card, and any decent bank's fraud algorithms would have kicked in if there had been so many transactions of the same value on the same day.

sheramber

Complaints on Trustpilot  of faulty machines.

https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.selecta.co.uk

Ergates

Daliah said:

asdfghjklhelp said:

I know) but I noticed this morning (Weds) that a total of £594.27 is gone from two of my savings accounts, also taken out in £1.85 increments on Monday.

£594.27 / £1.85 = 321.227

Are you saying that over 321 withdrawals have been made from your savings account on Monday? As others have said, they couldn't have been made with a debit card, and any decent bank's fraud algorithms would have kicked in if there had been so many transactions of the same value on the same day.

It's even more than that:

"I rang my bank straight away to let them know and they said they were already aware that the total missing was £834.32,"

About 451 - though obviously that can't have all gone out in £1.85 increments as it's not an exact multiple.