Victim of CC Fraud

Cashcade

I recently applied for a CC, was accepted, sent back the credit agreement and everything. However, never got the card or the pin.

Anyways, a months later i get a statement listing "my transactions." Immediately, this triggers alarma bells in my head.

I ring up cust services and ask them rather politely, initially, what the hell is happening?

Speak to a manager and basically tell him i did not receive the card nor did I the pin. He says well whoever activated the card knew your personal details. Point granted. However, I then turn it around on him and say the card was being used for cash withdrawals each day for 2-3 weeks. Didn't you think to even ring to see whether I was doing these transactions.

Apparently, "I" called in changed my contact no.

I'm quite peeved. They said they will be investigating it and i said i hope you bloody well do. What really irritated me that the bank manager was calling me negligent.

I hope i don't have to foot the bill for this.

:mad:

thaylock

I am no expert on credits but I believe the credit card company will be liable if you can convince them you were not negligent & this has happened through no fault on your part.

James

a. Report this to the police as soon as possible.

b. Ask your card issuer if they have retrieved CCTV recordings of where these withdrawals were made from and ask them to inform the police of the outcome. (Tell the police you're asking your card issuer to do this).

c. Get them to supply dates and times of withdrawals. Then cross ref with your diary to place you at a different location.

d. Draw their attention to the breach of 40 million cardholders’ details in the USA last week and the Sun’s success at obtaining peoples account numbers and personal details in India today.

Good Luck!

Ask yourself this; Did you require a PIN with your credit card? If you didn't and you'd applied for a Chip & Signature Card instead then the crook could not have obtained cash, at worse you’d be arguing over a transaction slip that wouldn’t have your signature or prints on it.

eagle

Charming! So, someone else made transactions in your name and they're hinting that it's your fault? I think you should name this 'bank' or card company on this forum. Name and shame them so that we all know to stay away from them.

rchddap1

One thing I always do if I'm expecting a pin & card and haven't received it after a week or so is to call them and query it. On one occasion they cancelled the first card they sent out and sent another. The original card turned up 2 weeks after I had already received the replacement.

There is never any harm in calling the bank / provider in question to check that everything is in order. On this occasion they have taken things too far by immediately suggesting that it is your fault without even doing an investigation first.

Cashcade

Hi mate,

thanks for the advice poeple. I spoke to the belligerent account manager today who was still sure it was negligent on my behalf.

So i said to him, if someone has got hold of my card, and pin, and knows my personal details, there's a very good chance that there is someone dishonest working in your company. Also, why don't you take your suspicious mind and go check the CCTV recordings and am sure you'll find whoever it was.

Stonk

This company and account manager deserve to be named.

These card-stolen-in-the-post-that-magically-gets-activated-by someone-knowing-your-details frauds happen all the time. He'll have seen it a million times before, and he knows damn well it's an inside job.

Kazza242

Cashcade wrote:

I recently applied for a CC, was accepted, sent back the credit agreement and everything. However, never got the card or the pin.

Anyways, a months later i get a statement listing "my transactions." Immediately, this triggers alarma bells in my head.

I ring up cust services and ask them rather politely, initially, what the hell is happening?
:mad:

I sympathize with you, Cashcade, as this happened to me too, in April this year. I applied for a Morgan Stanley card in September 2004. When I didn't receive the card or PIN after a week had passed, I informed Morgan Stanley's customer service centre. They cancelled the card and sent out a new one, which I did receive and activated. Everything was fine for a number of months, roll forward to April 2005. I login to my credit card account and find numerous transactions recorded on my account that took place all over the country! I won't say exactly where they used the card, but the thieves certainly knew what they were doing. They'd used it where they knew they wouldn't have to input the PIN and where the transaction would be automatically authorized without contact with the card issuer.

I notified Morgan Stanley about it immediately. It was passed on to the Fraud team, who called me a few days later. As my card had not left my possession (i.e. I had not lost my card or had it stolen), it was straightforward. On checking the card number used for the fraudulent transactions, they found they were made from the card I hadn't received. Morgan Stanley credited the money + interest back onto my account last month.

I agree with rchddap1, if you don't receive a card or PIN within 10 days of it being sent out, contact the card issuer. Also ask them to check whether any transactions have been made on your account.

Cashcade, I would advise you to point out to the CC company, that cash withdrawals every day for 2-3 weeks is suspicious behaviour. If I've made frequent transactions on my account(s) in a short space of time, I always get a call and letter from my bank or CC company. I'm puzzled as to how they got your personal details when activating the card. The CC company should have tapes of all their calls, ask them to review the tape. Which personal details did the advisor ask for before verifying the caller was 'you'? Do you live in a shared house with non-family members? Could a flatmate or lodger have taken your post and opened it? When you applied for the card, did you do so online, via the post, or did you do it over the phone? Have you spoken to the card issuer's fraud department? If not, you should, don't bother with CC customer services, they are often not equipped to deal with this.

Fatboy_NSS

Doesn't sound like an inside job to me, more likely it's your postie or someone working in the sorting office. Personal details like date of birth and mothers maiden name aren't too hard to find out if you know where to look.

I know this isn't what you want to hear, but you have been negligent. If you knew you'd been accepted for a new card then the fact that it didn't arrive after a week should have trigged alarm bells. Having said that I'm sure you will get paid out, it just might take a little while as they will need to investigate thoroughly to make sure it isn't 1st party fraud.

James

I was sent a card and PIN, I never activated the card becuase the card was supposed to be chip and signature. Guess what? I played devils advocate and tried the card with the PIN at my local issuers branch minutes before returning the card and PIN in person. Yep the card and PIN worked - I could have withdrawn money with a card that hadn't been activated.

Stonk

I know this isn't what you want to hear, but you have been negligent. If you knew you'd been accepted for a new card then the fact that it didn't arrive after a week should have trigged alarm bells.

No way is this negligent. I don't know of any card company that's ever managed to get a card to me within a week. It takes time to set up and order the card, and then more time to reach you in the post - sometime a week just for that bit, round my way!

The CC company is negligent for permitting someone other than the cardholder activate the card. They should have better security procedures. Relying on someone knowing a mother's maiden name to prove their identity is just plain stupid.