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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

Switching is great - But why all these problems?

While it's a good idea to switch energy suppliers, it seems to throw up a huge number of problems.

Money Mail has written on the customer service problems at British Gas, many of which can be blamed on its computer system not accepting transfers properly. But it's not just BG. I persuaded my 70+ widowed mother to move her gas and electricity last year and frankly, wish I'd never done so.

While the gas went through easily and with no problem, the electricity has been a nightmare. She moved from EDF to Atlantic and, as far as we knew, it all went through OK - eventually. There had been problems with a mythical second meter which were eventually cleared up and from December, her direct debits with EDF were stopped and she started paying Atlantic instead.

Last month she received a confusing letter from EDF which basically said that she owed it money, but not to worry, she should carry on with her direct debits as usual. Difficult considering she wasn't paying them. I emailed them but got rebuffed because I wasn't the account holder.

So I rang up instead and pretended to be my mother instead - and was told that there was no problem, it would write to confirm this. The next letter of course said nothing of the sort - it just said that as direct debit payments had stopped, it would bill quarterly instead.

I rang, again pretending to be my mother, and was told I should ignore that letter, it didn't mean anything. I just wonder what the next mail will bring.

- Charlotte Beugge, Money Mail

PS - Get our latest advice on whether to switch your energy supplier here.

My clash with Herts police

I am sure many working mothers wish they were in two places at one time. I, however, apparently achieved this feat - at least I had, according to Hertfordshire Constabulary.

This week I received a speeding notice, saying that on January 3 at 2pm I had been filmed speeding in Watford - and there was photographic evidence to prove it. The police were prosecuting and I could either take a three point penalty on my licence and a £60 fine or go to court.

Fine... except on January 3 at 2pm I was at my desk in Kensington, West London and my trusty Renault Clio was parked outside my house in deepest sarf London. As my husband can't drive, the only obvious speedster was our 10 month old who gets up quite a speed on his baby walker but isn't quite tall enough to reach the pedals on the car. Also, as I've never been to Watford - it's the frozen north to those of us from down south - I was intrigued to know how I'd managed to break the law there.

But I had, according to the lovely lady at Herts Police, who despite having my name and details wouldn't give me hers. And no, I couldn't see the photographic evidence. Fortunately, two days later a far more public-friendly lady from the rozzers called to admit that they had keyed my registration in incorrectly - my number ends in a D while the speed freak's number ends in 0.

It all goes to show that while the camera may never lie, a typist's inputting can - and can cause a whole load of stress. I was ready to fight this in court but that's because I'm seriously bolshy. But I can see how it's easy to pay up, because you're certain they can prove their case. Has anyone else fallen foul of the boys in blue in this way?

- Charlotte Beugge, Money Mail