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

>> Latest news and advice on fraud

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?

[robert]

Hi

The same thing has happened to me today..... how quickly should the bank remburse me ???..They are saying they need to investigate first???

HELP ME

[brian y]

this typical of card scamming.
It might be a local garage or restaurant but its the person your dealing with who's stealing from you.

rule no 1) never ever let your card out your sight.
rule 2) don't sign for sales items only .get the card swapped for chip and pin. (There are still people with old style cards and they are MUCH more vunerable.)
This is esp true when using non chipped cards abroad as vendors can easily falsify your signature.
rule 3) don't ever repeat any personal details to anyone over the phone when you didn't dial it.
rule 4) carry at least £100 in your wallet /purse in case of emergency. ie for occasions like this or if your going to get mugged..it will help pacify the attacker.
rule 5) phone your card co immediately as they WILL refund any transactions due to fraud.

Unfort its a case of be suspicious of everyone your dealing with now for financial transactions and if in doubt pay by cash.There are so many illegal immigrants within this country trying many devious ways to find a easy way to scam cards.
I used to run a travel security co and this is v v common.

[chilli saucey salad]

Actually brian Y - you have it the wrong way round. More practical advice is to ditch Chip and Pin cards and revert to to the Chip and Signature ones.

Why? the simple reason is that it is the retailer who shoulders ths burden of fraud , NOT the customer. With C+P, if your card is cloned, or your PIn copied via a fake ATM, then it is up to YOU to prove that you haven;t disclosed the PIN to someone else. As the Banks will not admit that Chip and Pin is flawed, then they typically refuse to refund you and fraudulent withdrawals from your account.
However with Chip and Signature, it is widely accepted that fraud takes okace, thus the banks threshold for refunding any claims due to fraud is lower. Basically meaning you have a much better chance of getting your money back.
With Chip and Siganture , you are doomed.

Example: you use your C+P card abroad but when you return you discover you've been cloned. This is cos C+P is not used worldwide (hello USA?)so the ATMs revert to the older magnetic strip system. But as the card has C+P functionality, the banks claim that cos C+P is unbreakable (as if) that it must be your fault the money has been taken and demand you prove otherwise.

Result: no refund- unlucky.

The Security boffins at Cambridge Computer labs have identified, demonstrated and alerted the banks to C+P flaws time and time again, but the banks don't care.
see http:\\lightbluetouchpaper.org for details

[Josh]

"What more could I have done?" As harsh as it sounds, you could have taken your own advice and not let them take your card away in the first place. I would wager there is at least one Personal Finance article on this site about card fraud, telling readers to never let their card out of their sight.