Dad has been hacked

MSE_ForumTeam5

We've merged the threads, and reopened the original one.

As others have hinted, the clearer and more precise the information given, the better insight other people will be able to offer. 

When explaining the situation it's also best to avoid leaping to conclusions and stick to what is actually known for sure.

R200

We have tried everything but the bank will not refund yet

what is the next step please, banking ombudsman?

R200

The bank still won’t tell what happened or how it happened 

maybe they don’t know maybe they do.

if they are hiding something that shows it was their fault maybe they wouldn’t want to share that.

or sometimes the criminals are so sophisticatedly that it’s very hard to tell how they took the money?   

R200

On the statement it just shows to start with a few small payments less than £100 going out, it just says a long number. 

Then there are a few larger payments going out with Chinese words.

then the account was frozen that’s all we can see from the statement, we have been on the phone for ages and it’s so tiresome trying to get my dad through security as he is very old now.

then if or when we finally get through to someone they just say they will get someone to get back to us.

We have been told that before but we just had a very unhelpful letter saying what we already knew.


what can be done to stop this happening again? The only thing I can think of is not have too much in the bank for the criminals to take

sheramber

if the bank are investigating you will just have have patience until they have completed their investigations.

The woman you spoke only gave you a possible way it could have happened.  it does not necessarily mean the bank have established what happened.

Vectis

R200 said:

...we have been on the phone for ages and it’s so tiresome trying to get my dad through security as he is very old now...

Can I politely suggest that if your 82 year old father finds answering a few security questions about his bank account difficult maybe it's time to call a halt to his driving?

eskbanker

R200 said:

We have tried everything but the bank will not refund yet

Have you directly asked them why they believe they're not obliged to refund immediately, as per the FCA unauthorised transaction process linked on the previous page?

R200 said:

what is the next step please, banking ombudsman?

The ombudsman service will generally only get involved after bank customers have been through the bank's formal complaints process (which takes up to eight weeks), so if you haven't actually lodged a complaint yet then it would be worth doing so.  If the lack of money is causing genuine demonstrable financial hardship then it may be worth contacting FOS to ascertain if they'd be willing to intervene sooner on the basis of the urgency.

R200 said:

The bank still won’t tell what happened or how it happened 

maybe they don’t know maybe they do.

if they are hiding something that shows it was their fault maybe they wouldn’t want to share that.

or sometimes the criminals are so sophisticatedly that it’s very hard to tell how they took the money?   

This sort of speculation doesn't really help.

R200 said:

On the statement it just shows to start with a few small payments less than £100 going out, it just says a long number. 

Then there are a few larger payments going out with Chinese words.

Just to confirm, these are all specifically debit card transactions?

R200 said:

then if or when we finally get through to someone they just say they will get someone to get back to us.

We have been told that before but we just had a very unhelpful letter saying what we already knew.

While it's understandable to a certain extent, it doesn't seem likely that continually asking them for updates will be productive.  What does the letter say about next steps?

R200 said:

what can be done to stop this happening again? The only thing I can think of is not have too much in the bank for the criminals to take

That obviously depends on exactly what 'this' turns out to be!  If the root cause of the issue is fraudsters cloning the details of a debit card (that hasn't been lost or stolen, or disclosed negligently), then there isn't much that can be done to prevent that, but there are potentially mitigating measures such as keeping money in multiple accounts.

PixelPound

R200 said:

The bank still won’t tell what happened or how it happened 

maybe they don’t know maybe they do.

if they are hiding something that shows it was their fault maybe they wouldn’t want to share that.

or sometimes the criminals are so sophisticatedly that it’s very hard to tell how they took the money?   

Standard practice by fraud departments is not to say. It could be part of a larger case if it's a gang doing many accounts. 

400ixl

R200 said:

what can be done to stop this happening again? The only thing I can think of is not have too much in the bank for the criminals to take

Firstly, don't allow anywhere to swipe the card. Always use either contactless or chip and pin which have more security features and are much harder to clone.

If he has a smart phone then get the banking app, hopefully he is using a bank which then sends immediate notifications of transactions so he will be aware of anything happening that should not. If not change to a modern bank.

grumbler

400ixl said:

R200 said:

what can be done to stop this happening again? The only thing I can think of is not have too much in the bank for the criminals to take

Firstly, don't allow anywhere to swipe the card. Always use either contactless or chip and pin which have more security features and are much harder to clone.

AFAIK, a chip contains basically the same information as a strip and makes it even easier to read it*. Also, I believe, it's impossible to clone a chip with full functionality that includes the correct PIN. And why clone a card physically when it's much easier to use just the details online?

IMO, the main advantage of contactless payment is that it's more difficult to intercept the CVV that is printed on the card, and stored neither on the strip, nor on the chip.

*ETA: in Amazon app there is an option just to tap your card to add it as a payment method.