Fraud: How I was fleeced on my bank card

I am currently watching my bank account being emptied and it's not down to overspending.

In the past I have been cynical about the threat of card fraud but now it's happened to me, it seems I was the only one who has not suffered before.

Here's what happened. I was having lunch in a restaurant on Friday. I handed my Lloyds TSB debit card to pay the bill - £32.95 - and the waitress put my card in her chip and pin machine. I tapped in my number. She told me it hadn't gone through and the terminal said she had to phone for clearance. Not having any cash on me I told her to do that: my first mistake, letting the card out of my sight.

After at least 10 minutes she returned and said the bank needed to talk to me. I followed her to the reception and took the phone. A woman at the other end said she was from HSBC and she had my bank, Lloyds TSB, on the other line and needed to verify my identity: what was my date of birth, did I share the account with anyone and what were the first and third letters of my mother's maiden name.

I thought it was odd but I was in a hurry, it was a small amount, I had been to the restaurant often and added to that, the waitresses were telling other customers to pay by cash because they had problems with their card machine. Anyway, the amount was verified and I went off in a huff, wishing I'd knocked the service charge off.

I decided to check my bank balance when I got back to the office because a conversation with my ever-cynical husband had raised doubts over whether something fishy had happened. And there it was - a £32 transaction for somewhere abroad plus a £1 handling fee.

I haven't been abroad since June and the account is in my name only. I called Lloyds and was told there were signs of fraudulent activity on my account. That £32 had come from a taxi firm in Canada. Apparently, a lot of card fraud is from Canada at the moment. I was told to destroy my card and that all was now sorted and I wasn't to worry. Unfortunately, as of today more than £720 has been taken from my acccount and although Lloyds tell me I'll get it back in 'seven to 10 days' it seems I've got at least one more fradulent transaction to go through yet.

My question is, what else could I have done? I reported my concerns about fraud less than an hour after they had happened. Yet I am still having to wait to get my money back and frankly, it could take ages. I have never disclosed my PIN. I've not used unsafe websites. I do hope that I get the funds recredited soon but at the moment, I wonder how long it will take for the Canadian fraudsters to empty my account.

- Charlotte Beugge, Deputy Personal Finance Editor, Daily Mail

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Comments

[Jeffrey Carter]

I am wondering if the personnel at the restaurant have any direct responsibility in this regard, or was it a larger 'bank heist'?

[Adrian J]

Why were HSBC involved with verifying a transaction on a card issued by Lloyds TSB?

[Xavier]

I had exactly the same problem with my mastercard after buying food from a well known fresh sandwich take away restaurant at a London station.

The girl handling my payment hid my card for 1 mn pretending to wait for a terminal and it was enough for her to scan the card. Apparently she bought a nice trip on lastminute.com. £1,500 gone in 2 days.

Morgan Stanley has been great at spotting the issue quickly, cancelling the card and refunding me. I check my statements every day now.

[Jo]

I pay cash for almost everything. My husband is the same. Once his card was skimmed in the UK and we returned home to find thousands of dollars taken. Luckily he rarely used the card, only on two occasions so they found who had skimmed it fairly quickly. Apparently is was an employee in a service station.

[jonathan montmorency]

I read recently that almost an entire village were skimmed by someone in a local service station, but following the incident, nothing seems to have been heard on the news. Could it be that the case is sub judice? Or has political correctness reared its head?