Victim of card-not-present fraud online

teddyco

I discovered today that I have been a victim of internet fraud when I tried to place an online order for a local delivery with my butcher only to discover that my SecureCode password was not working on my NatWest Debit card. I tried it three times until it locked the card.

I immediately called NatWest to report the problem and the woman had told me that at 6:00pm that following evening someone purchased theatre tickets and then £1400 which was rejected and £600 which was also rejected.

There was only £23.00 in the account at the time, and my overdraft is only £250.00.

Natwest immediately cancelled the card and the SecureCode linked to it, but said that I needed to wait until Monday as nothing has yet shown up on the account to deduct anything.

Since this was a debit card and the amounts were more than what was available in the account, were they automatically cancelled due to insufficient funds?

How on earth was someone able to break into the SecureCode password and essentially change it? I also received an email alerting me that the password had been changed.

I do a lot of online buying and wonder if it's possible for someone to hack a retailers site and get enough information to change passwords.

Anyone with some knowledge would be greatly appreciated? Do I have anything to worry about at this point? As it was all online card-not-present, am I liable for any loss that may come on Monday?

Waiting until Monday to see if anything posts on the account.

mum2one

From previuos experience, I had bag stolen, I got told by my bank that as soon as I had reported the card stolen, any transactions were automatically cancelled, thou it did take a week or so. At the time they had the cheque book as well, so cheques were coming in and out in bits and dabs.

The transactions wont show up to monday on your account, the bank will be in a better position to see whats going on.

There could of been a thousand and one explanations to how they got your details. have you reported the matter to the police?

For peace of mind I would also get hold of any other accounts that you have cards with and used on the computer, also order a credit report, and monthly for 6 months, to keep an eye out for any odd transactions, its very unlikely anything else has happened, but I always work on better to be safe than sorry.

teddyco

mum2one,

Thank you for your help! I did a virus scan on my mac without anything showing up, changed all my passwords on all my financial accounts, credit cards etc. and checked current statements for discrepancies.

Will get a credit report per your advice.

I haven't reported this to the police because I was reading on the Home Office website that they advise victims to contact the banks and card operators to reduce red tape.

I have heard that the Government is trying to create a minister just for internet crime, but yet to do this.

Sorry to hear about your handbag being stolen!

Zebedee69

It could be anything. You should always run a Firewall, Anti Virus and Anti Adware/Spyware on every computer you use.

I had the same thing on my Egg card but their security people are spot on so they didnt get any money.

Sorry about the handbag!

mum2one

I was lucky I got my bag, car keys and driving licence back, they just had the cheque book, and cards,and mobile phone, luckly at the time Vodafone hadnt updated thier account, so gave me a brand new phone, they had over 1k spending spree in a week, the bank statement it was back in 2000 new yrs day, what a way to remember the mellimum, b4 all the internet fraund, but me being a typical woman, carried everything but the kitchen sink, trying to explain to a male officer why there was spare knickers in my bag! (Innoncent excuse- Id worked new yrs eve, and stayed over at the pub with my then other half, 2 mins walk to work.).

Youve done the best thing change all passwords etc, and the bank is aware, so if anything does go out of your account there just reimberse it, so you wont end up with a load of charges.
Its a case of just being extra vigilant for the next couple of months, but in the nicest of ways it sounds like youve got ur head screwed on. x

teddyco

Today I woke up and found a letter from NatWest that was dated 24th of April (today is the 26th) from the 'Group Security & Fraud' division in Edinburgh.

Apparently, they had already spotted the irregular banking activity on my account and sent out the letter. I am impressed that NatWest was able to spot the trouble, but still want to find out who and how this was done to me.

When I checked my online bank account today, I noticed a small charge that was POS 'point of sale' which means someone actually cloned my card and then used it across the counter. HOW? The good news is that the £1400 and £600 didn't make it through.

There must be some way that we can stop this kind of theft?