Cash withdrawn from my account in branch by thief!

jimjames

Mrcsmrs said:

There was several thousand pounds in there at the time of the withdrawal and apparently all it took was to present the false card and sign a slip! Then Nationwide gave my money to this thief. Even more confusing is the fact that I barely use this account, and never use the physical card. I’m also a bit of a hermit and don’t go grocery shopping or to shopping centres. 

For the future I would also recommend that you move the thousands out of an account with card access and have it in a savings account that doesn't have card access as well as paying a decent interest rate. If you have thousands in there and don't use the account it might be a struggle to claim that £77 is essential for you in the next 10 days.

It certainly seems like an odd situation so keep us updated with what happens.

Rich1976

Sounds very unusual I agree. Don’t you need to provide identification in branch for withdrawals? Otherwise anyone can find a debit card in the street or whatever and draw cash out in a branch? 

ALogical1

Ergates said:

Mrcsmrs said:

la531983 said:

All you can do in the meantime is let them investigate within the 10 days, and see what the outcome is first.

So I can’t complain or do anything to rush this investigation? They already said they had located the signed slip and can check it against my signature to see it’s not me, plus getting cctv footage. What else could they be investigating and why hold my refund up whilst they do so? I don’t mean to be rude, but this isn’t like a card payment went out fraudulently, their staff handed my money over to a stranger without my consent. 

10 days is not an unreasonable time frame for them to conduct a proper investigation.  They don't have unlimited resources and this won't be the only case they're working on.  Given it's only £77 from an account you don't use frequently it doesn't sound like this is an emergency for you either.

This sounds more like someone making a mis-keying error, or a technical fault than theft too.  £77 would be a very strange amount to steal.  Why not take more?  Also, a withdrawal in-branch and over the counter is an exceptionally risky way to commit theft - as you know for a fact they'll have CCTV and a witness (and banks won't deal with people wearing masks)- so to take that risk for only £77  just doesn't make any sense.

'Miss-keying' is not mitigation or permissable excuse for not aplying due dilligence with a client's money or account.   I'm surprised that the banks systems did not flag this up as an abnormal, i.e. not a usual account transaction from the OPs  mentioned account useage.

Have the bank, such as nationwide is, suggested or suspended the account/card to prevent any furhter questionable use / fraudulent use? The OP does need to let the bank carry out its investigations but id get in writing what will happen if there are any further missuses of the card/account / how they are to be secured urgently.

I'd have thought cancelling the card immediately and asking for a new asap would be sensible precautions.

And as has been stated it will not harm to report the theft to the police, asap.

The bank should be able to provide advice on what to do, get it in writing, even if just sending your understanding of their verbal advice in an email or letter. 

Rich1976

ALogical1 said:

Ergates said:

Mrcsmrs said:

la531983 said:

All you can do in the meantime is let them investigate within the 10 days, and see what the outcome is first.

So I can’t complain or do anything to rush this investigation? They already said they had located the signed slip and can check it against my signature to see it’s not me, plus getting cctv footage. What else could they be investigating and why hold my refund up whilst they do so? I don’t mean to be rude, but this isn’t like a card payment went out fraudulently, their staff handed my money over to a stranger without my consent. 

10 days is not an unreasonable time frame for them to conduct a proper investigation.  They don't have unlimited resources and this won't be the only case they're working on.  Given it's only £77 from an account you don't use frequently it doesn't sound like this is an emergency for you either.

This sounds more like someone making a mis-keying error, or a technical fault than theft too.  £77 would be a very strange amount to steal.  Why not take more?  Also, a withdrawal in-branch and over the counter is an exceptionally risky way to commit theft - as you know for a fact they'll have CCTV and a witness (and banks won't deal with people wearing masks)- so to take that risk for only £77  just doesn't make any sense.

'Miss-keying' is not mitigation or permissable excuse for not aplying due dilligence with a client's money or account.   I'm surprised that the banks systems did not flag this up as an abnormal, i.e. not a usual account transaction from the OPs  mentioned account useage.

Have the bank, such as nationwide is, suggested or suspended the account/card to prevent any furhter questionable use / fraudulent use? The OP does need to let the bank carry out its investigations but id get in writing what will happen if there are any further missuses of the card/account / how they are to be secured urgently.

I'd have thought cancelling the card immediately and asking for a new asap would be sensible precautions.

And as has been stated it will not harm to report the theft to the police, asap.

The bank should be able to provide advice on what to do, get it in writing, even if just sending your understanding of their verbal advice in an email or letter. 

Who knows what triggers a banks systems to treat a transaction as unusual. I remember when we bought our car, 8k was paid by debit card to the dealer and it didn’t prompt a single call from the bank and I’d certainly say that was a highly unusual transaction.

as for stopping the other persons card, I presume it’s because at the minute Nationwide haven’t confirmed fraud has been committed and is why they are investigating. All that’s been reported is the OP disputing they made a cash withdrawal. I agree though it may have been prudent of them to freeze the card in the meantime to prevent any further potential frauds.

Ergates

ALogical1 said:

'Miss-keying' is not mitigation or permissable excuse for not aplying due dilligence with a client's money or account.   

I don't really see how that is relevant to anything I or anyone else has said.  It's not a matter of "Oh hey it's all fine then" - it's a matter of us speculating about whether this is a deliberate act or a mistake.

ALogical1 said:

And as has been stated it will not harm to report the theft to the police, asap.

Except it's not yet clear if it's theft or a mistake.  The police will just ask what the bank have said and when OP replies "They're not finished their investigation yet", what do you think the police will say in response to that?

ALogical1 said:
I'm surprised that the banks systems did not flag this up as an abnormal, i.e. not a usual account transaction from the OPs  mentioned account useage. 

How do you imagine what would work with an over-the-counter transaction when the bank staff believe they're speaking to the customer in person.  "Oh, this transaction has been flagged as unusual - are you sure it's you making the transaction?"  If they believe they have sufficiently identified the customer to withdraw money out of the account, then they'll also believe they have sufficiently identified the customer to approve the transaction.

Also, see above.  A single £77 withdrawal, over the counter, from a savings account holding thousands of pounds, *isn't* particular suspicious - as it's not a "normal" pattern of fraudulent withdrawals.  That's generally now how thieves operate.

Neil49

When does the card in your possession expire?

If it's fairly soon it may be that the replacement card went to your old address. 

General_Grant

Neil49 said:

When does the card in your possession expire?

If it's fairly soon it may be that the replacement card went to your old address. 

I think new cards have different numbers.  The account details are the same but the card number changes.

BooJewels

The OP mentioned that they had a new card in February - and that the bank repeated back to them the last three digits of the card number used and it matched.  As they moved over 3 years ago, they probably would have noticed by now if the wrong/old address was still on their statements etc.

It doesn't make sense as a theft - odd and small amount - done in person - signing a withdrawal slip etc.  I too think it was some sort of error or coincidence.  But as already mentioned, I certainly wouldn't keep 'several thousand pounds' in a current account - especially one that's little used.  If nothing else, you're losing out on interest it could be earning elsewhere and if someone actually has managed to clone your card, don't give them the opportunity to go on a spending spree.  It was the bank that advised me to put funds into a savings account and feed the current account from it as needed - when we received a large insurance payout - for that very reason.

penners324

Rich1976 said:

Sounds very unusual I agree. Don’t you need to provide identification in branch for withdrawals? Otherwise anyone can find a debit card in the street or whatever and draw cash out in a branch? 

Had a neighbour's Mother have their purse stolen in Morrisons near me.

Managed to get £5k withdrawn over the counter in Barclays. They had the driving licence in the purse as well, used that for ID. Even though thief didn't look anything like the account holder.

Barclays did admit stuffing up and refunded

Mrcsmrs

Mr.Generous said:

I would message them about any CCTV and ask them to ensure it's not deleted, otherwise just have to wait the 10 days. The branch used being your old home town will make the bank think it may have been a family member with access to your card.

That’s not possible either, no other family lived or now live in that town and nobody has access to my card.