Fraud on my cards

LegacyUser

Hello,

going unregistered for this one.I'm in dire need of some advice.I was abroad in Majorca at a stag and my debit card stopped working after a night out.I also lost my phone on this night out and when I got home and went to my bank I was informed that 1,000 worth of transactions had taken place in one night on my debit card and 3,000 on my credit card. I have a list of the charges on my debit card and two transactions make up the 1000. I was sobar when we were in these premises and there is no way in hell that the amounts are legitimate. I literally paid for one round of drinks worth 30 eur in the first bar and it's appearing as 555 on the statement. I have logged a case with my band and the debit card case has been rejected. I am waiting to hear back on the credit card case and i'm absolutely worried sick. There's no way that I can pay the credit card bill. The bank is insisting that I must have spent the money because the pin was verified. Can anyone please offer advice to me as I don't know what to do? I have contacted spanish police but they told me to contact gardai because i'mback home now. The gardai told me that the bank may have a declaration for them to sign but nothing else. I'm in dire straights here and in need of proper advice.

Thanks in advance.

johnnyskeleton

The bank saying it was pin verified doesnt mean you carried out the transactions. It possibly means someone saw your pin being entered.

The spanish police should really be the ones doing it - it was a crime in Spain. If nothing else they should give you a cert saying that you reported the fraud to them.

As for the bank, press them on it, get a copy of their card t&cs and look up what it says about fraud indemnity. I think visa etc do provide cover once you take reasonable steps to prevent someone taking your pin/card.

If they dont budge get on to the financial services ombudsman.

Finally, do you have travel insurance? Maybe they will cover it for you?

LegacyUser

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

The bank saying it was pin verified doesnt mean you carried out the transactions. It possibly means someone saw your pin being entered.

The spanish police should really be the ones doing it - it was a crime in Spain. If nothing else they should give you a cert saying that you reported the fraud to them.

As for the bank, press them on it, get a copy of their card t&cs and look up what it says about fraud indemnity. I think visa etc do provide cover once you take reasonable steps to prevent someone taking your pin/card.

If they dont budge get on to the financial services ombudsman.

Finally, do you have travel insurance? Maybe they will cover it for you?

no, i didn't have travel insurance unfortunately.Two of my friends were also hit with similar transactions but for much less than myself.I honestly think our cards must have been cloned and the pin entry recorded. I cannot believe this has happened, there was 21 transactions passed on on both cards in a 4 hour period and the combined amount is over 10 per cent of my annual salary.The bank is insisting I was responsible because I still have the cards in my possesion and it was chip and pin.I do not have the means to pay this and I wouldn't anyway out of principle.When I rang they told me the Mastercard CC payments had not settled and I ordered them to stop the payment.It's like they're facilitating the fraudsters in my eyes!

Rachiee

That is absolutely ridiculous your cards were obviously cloned don't accept no for an answer, keep fighting it to good luck.

ifElseThen

Were these normal bars that your were in or was it a strip club?

If you were tipsy it would be very easy for an unscrupulous person to enter an inflated figure in the terminal.

Do you have receipts from these bars?

If so present them to your bank and tell them that you suspect someone skimmed your card.

Looks like this dude got hit with the same scam 6 years ago http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=2561781

jimmycrackcorm

Rachiee wrote:

That is absolutely ridiculous your cards were obviously cloned don't accept no for an answer, keep fighting it to good luck.

I agree 100% with this. Do not give in. A chip and pin card transaction can only be genuine where the chip can be read using the underlying authentication encryption built in.

However athe magnetic stripe on your card can be easily copied and used in conjunction with your pin to insecurely authorise a transaction.

The bank will try to pawn you off failing your pin is your responsibility. I can't google right now but there is information out there about this.

If you didn't spend the money then definitely fight it the whole way.

P.s I used to write retail point of sale software and card emv processing.

LegacyUser

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

I agree 100% with this. Do not give in. A chip and pin card transaction can only be genuine where the chip can be read using the underlying authentication encryption built in.

However athe magnetic stripe on your card can be easily copied and used in conjunction with your pin to insecurely authorise a transaction.

The bank will try to pawn you off failing your pin is your responsibility. I can't google right now but there is information out there about this.

If you didn't spend the money then definitely fight it the whole way.

P.s I used to write retail point of sale software and card emv processing.

can you give me anymore information on this?
Just to give more information, I was looking up the facebook review of one of the places listed , a strip club and there's messages from other people saying the same stuff as myself.I got in touch with one chap and he told me he never got a penny back,even after he had escalated the matter to the ombudsman.
As it was a friends stag were were in there for about an hour and I bought a round of bottles of carlsberg and no dances. There is a charge on my card for nearly 600 for one of the bars we were in earlier in the night where I paid 25 in cash for a round of beer also so i'm 100% convinced it was cloned. Now to ad to the detail, I was admitted to hospital late that night, early the next morning and put into intensive care. It looks as if some of the transactions on the cards were put through after I had been admitted to the ICU.I really do not know what to do if I loose out on this, I work so hard for my money and it just feels so unfair that someone can take your money and your own bank won't help you.

daisybelle2008

smurgen123 wrote: »

As it was a friends stag were were in there for about an hour and I bought a round of bottles of carlsberg and no dances. There is a charge on my card for nearly 600 for one of the bars we were in earlier in the night where I paid 25 in cash for a round of beer also so i'm 100% convinced it was cloned. Now to ad to the detail, I was admitted to hospital late that night, early the next morning and put into intensive care. It looks as if some of the transactions on the cards were put through after I had been admitted to the ICU.I really do not know what to do if I loose out on this, I work so hard for my money and it just feels so unfair that someone can take your money and your own bank won't help you.

Maybe if you show the bank your hospital paperwork as evidence you couldn't have physically made the transactions. Sounds like the strip clubs do this sort of thing, wouldn't be surprised if the police get backhanders from them not to follow up and some guys will be too embarrassed to make a big deal about it when they discover it as its strip clubs.

LegacyUser

daisybelle2008 wrote: »

Maybe if you show the bank your hospital paperwork as evidence you couldn't have physically made the transactions. Sounds like the strip clubs do this sort of thing, wouldn't be surprised if the police get backhanders from them not to follow up and some guys will be too embarrassed to make a big deal about it when they discover it as its strip clubs.

I've written to the hospital to get headed paperwork from them outlining the details of my stay.I'm not embarrassed at all, I know exactly what I did and didn't do.I cannot believe the treatment the bank has given me.When I rang as soon as I got back they told me the credit card payments had not gone through and I asked them to cancel the payments. If they leave these payments get through I am holding them responsible.It's extremely frustrating and a real eye opener that the bank is not listening to me.I'm a customer of over 15 years and careful with my money.Nothing like this has ever happened.It's like a guilty until proven innocent on their side as they said there's nothing they can do unless I can prove I didn't authorize the payments on the debit card.