Debit Card Compromised

[237SJ]

Today I looked at my online bank statement and there were 4 transactions that were nothing to do with me. They were mobile phone top ups. The bank were very good and their fraud department dealt with the problem. I am very careful where my bank cards are concerned so I can`t for the life of me think how it happened. Has this happened to anyone else?

[RATTER15]

Yes this happened twice in two weeks to my good lady Carakeel, Halifax refunded her money the same day. she put a block on her cards and ordered new ones, she also emptied the account account just in case.

[woofgang]

yes. had petrol bought at a garage that had I had never been to miles from where I live.

The phone top up trick is a known thing. Scammers have random number generators that just run and run and try to purchase small phone top ups or other low cost auto delivered stuff. When a top up or purchase goes through, they know they have got a “live” card or account number which they can then sell on or use themselves. Mostly these days they use the card quickly to buy top ups and downloads and other e delivered goods and services because card services and banks are getting faster at noticing fraudulent purchase.

[woofgang]

PS its one of the reasons i have online access to my bank and credit card stuff and check it very frequently.

[237SJ]

The bank had a look at pending transactions on my account and it turned out that the card had been registered on three websites in the US. They said that scammers will try to buy something of a low value so that they can see if the card is still active. I guess they used US sites because they would be more difficult to trace.

[bednobs]

it happened to me twice. once after a purchase i made on a card i hardly use. the bank stopped the transactions because they ;ooked suspicious. the second time i alerted the bank to a transaction i never made that appeared in internet bnking. they were very good the next day when i rang them back to tell them i remembered what it was!

[EDDIE51]

Happened to me, someone used my card to buy items in Northern Cyprus just a minute after I had used the card in my local post office. Bank refunded all the money. I tried to report it to the police but they would not even give me a crime number, as far as they are concerned it is not a crime just a 'banking matter'.

[Peter Pedant]

eddie and yet they spend hours looking at Jimmy savile's misdeeds ....

CIFAS is a good bet - I joined it after I got cloned
fourteen quid a year

https://www.cifas.org.uk/pr

no this is not spam.

read the site - they make it harder for people to open cards in your name so if you are not planning a credit splurge then it is useful ....

[CrapAtCryptics]

Quite recently - did they offer a new card to stop it happening again - mine was at a petrol station - the only place in months outside my normal purchasing group.

[237SJ]

Seems it happens to a lot of people. I have been out and about today and everyone I told knows someone who it has happened to. I saw a notice in the bank today advertising the fact that you can pay someone with just their mobile phone number. I bet that will be yet another way for fraudsters to obtain money from people

[Peter Pedant]

I still use cheques as much as I can
and scrutinise my statements every month ( technically a reconciliation )

however we cant turn time back - I think the peak was a billion cheques / y or whatever and now in the EU we are running at a trillion transactions in the same period ( thousand times larger )