.Help,..cc fraud- bank not helping.

milly2212

This is my 1st post but read on a regular basis and now looking for advice. Sorry if a bit long winded.

A couple of weeks ago found that there was a transaction on my CC for £273 to Tesco Direct. I called the CC company (Lloyds) to be told that it would need to be looked into to see if it was dispute or fraud. I asked if I needed to cancel my card and was told 'No'.

Last w/e I got a letter from CC company which almost accuses me of the transaction. It says that as the transaction took place on a secure site '...which means the retailer is set up for secure processing and is you are registered for Lloyds TSB Clicksafe the transaction will be guaranteed.' (I've never heard of Clicksafe).
The letter then goes on to say that as they are covered by Data Protection they could not find out what was ordered but if I called Tesco they could tell me as it was my card '....and that this may help you recognise the transaction.'
I have been onto Lloyds (ranted & raved and cancelled card) and Tesco (who won't tell me anything, although confirm that I am not regiestered on their site), but Lloyds are telling me that as its a secure site it cannot be fraud. I argued this and they tell me that it will now go to fraud, only after I protested.
Is the onus on me to prove my innocence? The card is relatively new, has never been used on the net and I guarantee nobody has had access to it.

I'm now really stressed and not sleeping as it is sending me into a panic every time I think of it. I did report it to the police but they say it is not really their department as it needs to be sorted thru the bank.

Any advice would be very gratefully received.

seasidepom

It is down to them to prove that you carried out the transaction. If they persist in refusing to help, you will have to consult the Financial Ombudsman but you can't do this until 8 weeks have passed from the date you complained or you have received what is called a "deadlock" letter telling you that they are unwilling to help. Sounds like you have only had phone contact so far so the first step for you is to write to them straight away telling them you require a response in writing. Unfortunately, I expect this will all take some time. I had fraudulent transactions on my LTSB CC during March and the issue is still not resolved although they have finally admitted that the monies need to be refunded to me - only after the personal intervention of my bank manager though! You just need to try and be patient and not worry too much. You will eventually get the monies back together with any interest and charges. Hope this helps.

James

You should get your money back but it looks as if you'll have to go down th long and arduous Financial Ombudsman route.

You could quote the Banking Code to them:

12.12 If someone else uses your card details withou your permission for a transaction where the cardholder does not need to be present (for example, buying something over the Internet), you will not have to pay anything.

Good luck. Check this idea out.

poet123

I am in dispute with LTSB over advice given by their customer service dept (CC)and have been told they have 7000 complaints,going back to november which are still unresolved. Shameful IMO.

DestroyingAngel_2

Milly2212, sounds like your identity has been stolen. The bank won't help because, for all intents and purposes, it WAS you who did that transaction. You have no proof it was NOT you. The police won't help because it's a Bank matter.

You should check your Credit Report with Experian/Equifax and make sure this transaction was a one-off and not just the tip of the iceberg. If you see anything suspicious on your Credit Report, consider buying Identity Protection before you go down the route of trying to clear your name. This is because Identity Protection policys do not work in retrospect i.e pre-existing cases of ID fraud will not be covered. A lot of people think "it won't happen to me" and then wham! they get their identity stolen and suddenly they're running around like headless chickens. Which would be funny, if ID theft weren't the fastest-growing crime in the UK, affecting 1 in 4 persons.

You should have asked your bank to cancel the card or block it, so no more transactions can be done with that card number. What happened to you is almost casebook - the bank has YOU as the criminal and not the fraudster, who is protected by the Data Protection Act! How ironic is that?!

James

Milly2212. The Banking Code Covers you re my posting #3.

It's your card details and probably the 3 figure CVV code (the 3 figures the magstrip) on the back of your card too that has probably been compromised.

There has been recent items in the press warning of card detailts AND cvv's being compromised or pinched.

Fraudsters Exploint Card Protection System.

According to The Times (India) there's an amazing story of a 16 year-old who has managed to hack shopping websites:

"His prowess in hacking high-security and government websites let Ajay into a hacking community, which gave him access to a huge database of credit card Customer Verification Value (CVV) numbers of prominent banks across the globe"


16-year-old ruled cyber gang from Mumbai.

Quiet_Life

Phone, email or preferably write to your local Councillor, MP or/ and Rebecca O'Connor at The Times; email address [EMAIL="troubleshooter@thetimes.co.uk"]troubleshooter@thetimes.co.uk[/EMAIL] Keep it short & sweet; cc your credit card company on the email and perhaps you'll get some action. email BBC Watchdog as well, after all why should you be out the money while they take their time sorting it out. Good Luck

MPH80

One of the big issues with verified by visa of mastercard securecode (here being branded as clicksafe) is the way it gets you to sign up.

I was recently asked to sign up for my debit card ... where upon I was asked for:
*My card number (easy enough)
*My expiry date (again - easy enough)
*My cvv number (ok - someone could get it off the back of the card)
*My postcode - not hard if I'm online - you've got my delivery address
*A password - well - they can make that up
*I think my date of birth.

The point being that none of these things are hard to obtain and these are the things the fraudster needs in order to pass VBV the first time.

Now - once the password is set - it makes it very hard obviously to go through - so providing it was the customer who did it - then it should be a secure system (relatively).

I think I recall learning that it was possible for the company to tell you *when* you signed up for the clicksafe service - as such they should be able to tell you which transaction initiated it and if it was the Tesco transaction I don't think they have a leg to stand on.

M.

milly2212

Sorry - been away and only just picked up replies. Thanks for all the help and advice. Feeling very overwhelmed that there are so many people out there willing to put in their time to help others on this site.

Quick update. I sent a letter to Lloyds CC (recorded delivery) to ensure that issue had been logged as fraudulant. Got std reply that they will have Cust Svs carry out an investigation and they will respond within 28 days. (not holding my breath). Will let you know the outcome.

Thanks again x