Debit card cloned/skimmed

ssdkck

I went to asda, bought some shopping on my credit card and noticed a couple of days later my debit card was also used on the same day in asda, but not by me.  A contactless transaction was made for £1.60 on the debit card. I have a feeling my card was somehow skimmed. Ive now cancelled the card. 

born_again

Didn't visit any of the concessions in Asda did you?

Migster

ssdkck said:

I went to asda, bought some shopping on my credit card and noticed a couple of days later my debit card was also used on the same day in asda, but not by me.  A contactless transaction was made for £1.60 on the debit card. I have a feeling my card was somehow skimmed. Ive now cancelled the card. 

So someone went to the effort of skimming your card and creating a fake card capable of contactless payments and, having achieved this minor miracle, they decided to spend just £1.60? That all seems highly unlikely.

[Deleted User]

Low figure purchases are made before large ones, i've had it happen twice, over the years - not recently, and that was the sequence of events.

ssdkck

I can't explain how it may of happened, but i also had to return a parcel in asda, i was in the queue and there was a lady in front of me who was trying to return her parcel and then she said you can go in front of me,because she was struggling to enter the QR code. Now i think about it she was right next to me, i had my back to her and i was clearly concentrating on returning my own parcel. So is it possible she may of skimmed my card, who knows. But i do know i went to asda with a credit card and a debit card in my bag and i only used the credit card, so how was a contactless purchase on my debit card made when i never used the card and the card was in my bag the whole time.  

[Deleted User]

Migster said:

ssdkck said:

I went to asda, bought some shopping on my credit card and noticed a couple of days later my debit card was also used on the same day in asda, but not by me.  A contactless transaction was made for £1.60 on the debit card. I have a feeling my card was somehow skimmed. Ive now cancelled the card. 

So someone went to the effort of skimming your card and creating a fake card capable of contactless payments and, having achieved this minor miracle, they decided to spend just £1.60? That all seems highly unlikely.

This is extremely misguided, it's common for scammers to make small transactions first and larger purchases later. The OP did the right thing cancelling the card and to be honest they're showing exactly the kind of attention to detail that everybody should have (checking all transactions and having the confidence to challenge things that are suspicious).

HobgoblinBT

We had a spate of skimming a few years back where an employee of a local petrol filling petrol station skimmed cards under direction of a gang back in his home country who threatened harm to his family.  

But I am surprised that in OP’s case a small transaction was successful and no further fraudulent transactions were attempted in the 2 days between the Asda shop “skimming” and cancelling the card.

born_again

ssdkck said:

I can't explain how it may of happened, but i also had to return a parcel in asda, i was in the queue and there was a lady in front of me who was trying to return her parcel and then she said you can go in front of me,because she was struggling to enter the QR code. Now i think about it she was right next to me, i had my back to her and i was clearly concentrating on returning my own parcel. So is it possible she may of skimmed my card, who knows. But i do know i went to asda with a credit card and a debit card in my bag and i only used the credit card, so how was a contactless purchase on my debit card made when i never used the card and the card was in my bag the whole time.  

Well to skim the card they would need physical possession of it. You can forget the scare stories of people having card readers that can pick up a card through bags etc. Especially given you had more than one card in your bag. That just scrambles any messages.

Think about it you need a card/phone to make a contactless payment. So to just do 1.60 is less than a card & the equipment needed to do it would cost.
So once someone has a card, they will use it till they can no longer use the contactless facility, then dump.

In all the years that contactless has been out we have never seen a counterfeit contactless case.

You sure you did not use the debit card for the return or purchase in error?

pokora

Anything that you purchase from Asda online? 
Pharmacy, vending machine, ... ?
Does it shows Asda as the merchant ?

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] said:

Low figure purchases are made before large ones, i've had it happen twice, over the years - not recently, and that was the sequence of events.

Low then high sure but max contactless is £100 (assuming OP doesn't have a bank that can set it lower) and if it was somehow cloned, without the PIN, at best they might get a few small things with limited resale value until the card is stopped or perhaps PIN is requested due to spending patterns. Putting a small payment through and then if you had PIN to make a bigger one is a bit different but they couldn't get that from a normal payment.

The idea that someone somehow changed an Asda payment terminal and somehow skimmed the card and then watched over OP shoulder to get the PIN is a unlikely as you'd have to hang around the shop constantly watching your dodgy terminal

Migster

Deleted_User said:

This is extremely misguided, it's common for scammers to make small transactions first and larger purchases later. The OP did the right thing cancelling the card and to be honest they're showing exactly the kind of attention to detail that everybody should have (checking all transactions and having the confidence to challenge things that are suspicious).

That might be true for online spend but the OP is talking about contactless. It is pretty much impossible to clone a card and use it in the way described.