Cash withdrawn from my account in branch by thief!

Mrcsmrs

Phoenix72 said:

Mrcsmrs said:

Middle_of_the_Road said:

la531983 said:

It would but then I appreciate its a massive bank, with layers of bureaucracy, and things take time. I wouldnt be complaining as all that does it gest peoples backs up and they may be inclined to drag it out to the 10 days.

The reason for the delay could be anything, could be simply the person who served that day has a weeks annual leave and isnt back for another week. 

First of all, it's not a massive bank, it's a bloated building society, which has chosen to reduce it's workforce in the pursuit of profit, which will affect the standard of customer service.

https://bmmagazine.co.uk/news/nationwide-building-society-announces-third-round-of-job-cuts-amid-restructuring-plan/

If making a very genuine complaint has the effect you suggest, then the above might explain why it would get employee's backs up.

I just don’t understand how it was possible for someone who wasn’t me to get my card details in the first place and then use them in the branch this way. Surely that means they aren’t checking enough? 

Surely that's the whole point of the investigation? You have no idea what the fraudster presented so accusations of people not doing their job are a bit premature.

Why? If they were doing their jobs my money wouldn’t be given to someone else! They initially said 48 hours and the money would be back in my account, now they want 10 days to make a decision on the outcome. Two very different things. 

Mrcsmrs

Grumpy_chap said:

I wonder whether there could be another card (joint account holder's card) that went to the OP's former address, or a transaction in the OP's old home town that somehow got intercepted.  Along the lines of the OP ordering flowers from a local florist to deliver to a friend in the old home town.

I suspect the coincidence that the cash was drawn at the branch in the OP's old home town will make the investigation slower rather than quicker.

It’s an individual account and my husband lives with me 170 miles away. I don’t use the card. No physical transactions since paying for hospital parking up here in April. 

Mrcsmrs

400ixl said:

I take it you told them you have moved and your address on the account is your current one?

Yes, they’ve had my new address since December 2020 which was when we moved and all other post has been delivered here. The new card in February was delivered here and has never been there which is why I think they’ve sent a duplicate somewhere they shouldn’t have. But I’ve been told that’s just not possible! They kept asking me if I’d been there recently, and the answer is no, it’s been at least a year since I was last there. 

Mrcsmrs

born_again said:

Mrcsmrs said:

born_again 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. 

Complaining can actually slow things down.
As it is dealt with by 2 different teams. So the one dealing with your transaction, will have to stop to talk to complaints team.
Dealing with branches is never as easy as you think. As getting hold of them is not a case of picking up the phone to call them. Even  if you can, they never answer as staff are busy.

Staff have not made a mistake. They have given money to someone who has presented a valid card. So will have followed branch procedures.



Wonder if it is just a case of staff mis keying in details, as £77 is an odd amount.

You say that but when I called the fraud team the advisor called the branch immediately, got through and they found the transaction slip within minutes, so they can deal with things quickly. They also advised that the card was swiped. 

The odd amount was the first thing that struck me, why would anyone want to wait on a Monday morning for an over the counter withdrawal of £77 when they could get £80 in seconds from an ATM? Especially when the account has a lot more than that in there. 

It seems like the bank can do whatever they like and we are just expected to wait with no real explanation, and yet when I’ve wanted to pay someone using my card with them they’ve declined the transaction, allegedly, to protect me. Now they give my money to someone else! 

That's good then.  👍Now they have to sit down & look at all the evidence.
Remember you are not the only case, & they will get worked in order. So that is where the 10 days now comes in. It will now be sat with the liability team, who will be looking at the evidence once you case comes to the top of the pile, but being in your old home town will be getting the old fraud buds twitching. ( No offence)

Personally my money is on a genuine staff error inputting the wrong details & coming up with your account. Happens quite often sadly. Especially given a swipe & manual slip.

If that’s the case how could they quote my card number to me as having been the one used? The advisor read it off to me and it exactly matched the one in my hand. 

Mrcsmrs

Ergates said:

Grumpy_chap said:

I wonder whether there could be another card (joint account holder's card) that went to the OP's former address, or a transaction in the OP's old home town that somehow got intercepted.  Along the lines of the OP ordering flowers from a local florist to deliver to a friend in the old home town.

I suspect the coincidence that the cash was drawn at the branch in the OP's old home town will make the investigation slower rather than quicker.

It being the OPs old home branch makes an mis-keying more likely, as other accounts opened in that branch will have the same sort-code.

It wasn’t opened in that branch. It was opened online years before I moved to that town. Which all adds to why it’s so odd. 

Mrcsmrs

jimjames said:

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.

It’s not usually got that kind of money in there, it was put there to make a purchase and isn’t there any more. Making the purchase was the only reason I checked the account, otherwise it could have been a lot longer before I noticed the missing amount. 

I will update if they ever tell me what they’ve discovered but I’m not optimistic, they don’t usually admit it when they’ve done something wrong as I know from past experience! 

Mrcsmrs

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. 

I’ve done all of the above. Card was immediately blocked and new one requested, I’ve also confirmed it comes to this address and nowhere else. Apparently no other transactions pending either, which is also weird.

Mrcsmrs

Ergates said:

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.

They told me on the phone, no identification or PIN number required because the amount was under £100. So they didn’t check anything. The person swiped the card signed a slip and walked away with cash. 

Mrcsmrs

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. 

Card was newly issued in February this year so has a couple of years left on it and I’ve been categorically told there’s no way they sent a duplicate to my old address. 

DE_612183

Just have to wait for the investigation to complete - as you say it's very odd - which is probably why the time has increased from 48 hours ( for a standard error - whatever that might be be ) to something that might require, staff interview, CCTV checking, and possibly police.

On that point have you actually spoken with the police in the "old town"?

May be worth a call