Is this a Scam on a bank account?

HaroldWhistler

I noticed today on a bank account the following unrecognisable transaction from yesterday. The bold is the supposed recipient of the "Money Out" with the other text the transaction reference:

INTL CARD ILPXIADE     £0.48

STEPTEMBER

+61299758427 AU

(Date)

I have zero subscriptions, nor have had any purchase transactions on this account in recent times. When it comes to using this account to transfer money to family, or pay anything at all, I have always had to use the Banking App and verify. 

Am I correct that this is some attempt at Bank Fraud/Scam by some unscrupulous low life elements somewhere? 

What I cannot understand is how on Earth some international (or frankly any) transaction to a "new payee" can happen without my approval! I have not made any purchases, or used the card at all. Nor received any calls nor given any information to anyone over the phone, nor answered any calls and given information out etc etc. 

If I understand correctly, are scammers trying to charge random accounts a test figure and then if they can bypass a bank's checks, then charge more? How are banks even letting such charges go through in the first place?

If one goes into a store, or purchases something from Currys, or Amazon, Aldi, Tesco, etc etc, you have to verify the charge. So what on Earth is happening here where someone else can make a charge to a bank account? 

Shouldn't the bank have flagged this immediately and not let it be an outgoing transaction?

I do use the Account for some things and so ideally do not want it suspended as I cannot quickly change to other accounts in the mean time for those things. If I contact the bank, are they going to suspend my entire account? Because it's Friday I am also weary about contacting them.

Brie

I would definitely message your bank to ask about this asap.  Yes some scammers do manage to do small random transactions to see if they can get through security and then will go on to larger ones.

I do note that there appears to be a phone number on the transaction.  And the letters AU.  Putting 2 & 2 together I might be making 5 but +61 is how you start an international call to Australia. 

Any chance you bought something on Amazon or eBay and the seller is actually in Australia??

Robin9

As per @Brie - ring your bank NOW

SacredStephan

STEPTEMBER is a charity based in Aus.

savergrant

There isn't another transaction ending in 52p and you've rounded up to the full pound by making a donation somewhere?

dcs34

Have you:

• made a charitable donation
• paid someone using their phone number?

But given it looks like a donation to Steptember if its not you it might be an error on the posting end of the transaction

HaroldWhistler

Brie said:

I would definitely message your bank to ask about this asap.  Yes some scammers do manage to do small random transactions to see if they can get through security and then will go on to larger ones.

I do note that there appears to be a phone number on the transaction.  And the letters AU.  Putting 2 & 2 together I might be making 5 but +61 is how you start an international call to Australia. 

Any chance you bought something on Amazon or eBay and the seller is actually in Australia??

Checking the account again, now I see that this has moved from Pending to "Completed":

INT'L 0016133692       -£0.48

And also:

Non-Sterling                -£0.01

Transaction Fee

At no point did I get any notification, or was requested by the App, or by text or anything for verifying some transaction. It is only by looking at my own Account in my Banking app that I became aware of this!

How on Earth is any third party able to set up a transaction, let alone a supposed International transaction allowed to go through without any verification by the bank though? 

I also noted the earlier "AU" and phone number listed yes well spotted. And no, I did not buy anything on this Account at all from anywhere.

Robin9 said:

As per @Brie - ring your bank NOW

I have transferred whatever money is in here to another account with a different bank and intend to ring them on Monday. I don't want them to mess things up on a Friday. It is concerning that the bank has allowed some third party to set up a transaction and let it go through without any verification whatsoever. Let alone an international transaction. Usually when buying even simple things or making any transfer, you have to always verify through the Banking app itself!

SacredStephan said:

STEPTEMBER is a charity based in Aus.

That was the supposed "reference" for the transaction on the Pending section. Now it has changed to "Completed" with the following:

INT'L 0016133692       -£0.48

And also:

Non-Sterling                -£0.01

Transaction Fee

I have not conducted any transactions, let alone international transactions from the account. Even when buying anything here, or transferring money you have to go through the verification process via the App. Yet the bank appears to have let some third party set up a transaction without any verification process whatsoever. It's only because I checked my Account myself and noticed this that I was made aware of it.

savergrant said:

There isn't another transaction ending in 52p and you've rounded up to the full pound by making a donation somewhere?

No, I haven't made any transactions on the account. No domestic transactions to any shops, let alone international transactions. Whenever I transfer money, or buy anything, the bank usually requires you to verify the transaction via the App. Yet in this case, they seem to have permitted any random third party to set up an international transaction without notifying me, or requesting verification! It is only because I was checking my own Account that I came across this.

dcs34 said:

Have you:

• made a charitable donation
• paid someone using their phone number?

But given it looks like a donation to Steptember if its not you it might be an error on the posting end of the transaction

1. Not with this account

2. No I have not

On top of that, as I mentioned to others, the "Steptember" was not the name of the Transfer or Account, but the supposed reference on the transaction. The entry has since changed from "Pending" to "Completed" to this:

INT'L 0016133692       -£0.48

And also:

Non-Sterling                -£0.01

Transaction Fee

Even when I make a simple purchase, you're usually required to verify a transaction/transfer via the banking app. Yet they've allowed some random third party to set up an international transaction without notifying me, or requesting verification at any point?!

From what I understand it's some type of scam.

I haven't given my details out to anyone. Because it's a Friday and I don't want the bank to mess things up and suspend the account, I'm going to contact the bank on Monday. But I've transferred my money out to another bank account to be on the safe side. 

20122013

Can you block the card for withdraws?

PRAISETHESUN

The phone number you mentioned in your OP is an international Australian number as Brie suggested. I had a quick look and the number hasn't been reported as a known spam number on any of the Australian phone number sites I know of.

I agree with the posts above, report it to your bank and ask them to reverse the charge, and issue you with a new debit card.

sheramber

Have you checked that  your telephone number nd email on your account have not been changed?

born_again

How on Earth is any third party able to set up a transaction, let alone a supposed International transaction allowed to go through without any verification by the bank though? 

It's a card payment.
So someone has simply entered your 16 digit card number to make the transaction.

1 day after start, I hope you have rung your bank about it & got card stopped.