Just found out that someone has cloned my card and made purchases with it.  I've spoken to the bank on the phone and cancelled the card, going into the branch tomorrow morning.  You read about it all the time, hear about friends it's happened to but you never think it could happen to you! I'm maxed out and going on holiday on Monday, blinkin' typical! I'm just so mad though, can't believe it!  Only checked the online banking to see how much I could get in Euros.

Aaaaargg! Just had to vent.

Hi - had same problem two weeks ago - and we are in same area - our bank stopped all transactions - thank goodness

Well I'm a creature of habit so it's only happened in 1 of 2 maybe 3 shops.  It's such a horrible feeling!

It has happened to me twice, once on my bank debit card about a year ago which I use in a few shops as I detest shopping and once on my credit card a few months ago which I only use very occassionally when I buy something online. My credit card one was sorted very quickly as they thought that it had been a mistake and someone had typed in a digit wrong. I have always been very careful checking machines for anything odd and I always look around me to see if I am being watched. It's a horrible horrible feeling!

It happened to me a couple of weeks ago and has been so inconvenient.  the money spent on the card hasn't been refunded to me yet and my internet banking was frozen until I sent them a clear virus scan and then they resent me pin numbers and passwords.  It is so inconvenient grrr!

Wonder if it was the same ones - as I am same - do you go to lunch often? - as that was one of my stops

So frustrating!  Had the same problem a couple of months ago before we left UK, only it had been done over the internet and it took my bank a month to let me know because some of the purchases made online were only for small amounts!
In the end the person/s had tried to use my details to purchase cinema tickets, train tickets, pay off their Barclaycard!!!!, and several other purchases, ALL online.  It only totalled around £400, but it was £400 we didn't have after all the expense of emigrating!!!  Grrr.
Got it back though in the end. 

THis has happened to my OH twice, once on his business account. Luckily he spotted it very early before they managed to use it in earnest. His were almost certainly cloned at a petrol station, they will then make a couple of small purchases to test it out - Pizzas, cinema tickets etc, before they go for the big purchases.

What frustrated us was they'd also purchased coach and easyjet tickets, so theoretically they could be tracked, but we were told that if the fraud is less than £1,500 it's not investigated.

It's happened to us twice :( It really only causes a problem if you haven't got another credit card to use while the other is replaced. So a tip (if you only have one credit card) is to open another to use if your card gets lost or stolen (never carry both around with you in case your handbag/wallet gets stolen/lost)

Daisy

Only checked the online banking to see how much I could get in Euros.


Very sorry to hear what happened to you wanted to know where you said you only went online banking , do you think this is how they cloned your card?

i know the group of polish people who rent the house next to mine where raided by police a month ago and it was because they where running a credit card cloning scam from next door police took LOADS of stuff from their house and seemed very pleased with their find as they were leaving the house with their stuff in evidance bags,

they were all bailed and are now back next door im now starting to worry about myself using TB incase they can get into my pc somehow and get my details,

Another thing to bear in mind is wireless internet, people can easily hack in if they sit around the corner on their laptops and use your internet connection. This is also done by people who like to look at explicit images of children(so they don't get caught).

If your bank won't investigate the fraud you can also report it to the Police, may take a while also but if there is a way of tracing the fraudsters it will be looked into.

Another thing to bear in mind is wireless internet, people can easily hack in if they sit around the corner on their laptops and use your internet connection.

i know about this but are you safe if you use the wep key ?
i do wonder if even with using wep key that they can get into your pc anyway,

> Another thing to bear in mind is wireless internet, people can easily hack in if they sit around the corner on their laptops and use your internet connection

Only if your network isn't secure :)

Daisy

Strictly speaking if you have wep on you have a fairly secure network but not unhackable.  However if you are using a home network with security enabled the effort required to hack it is going to mean that it is very very unlikely that anyone would ever bother. 

There are far to many people who set up home networks without security and if you don't have a secure network don't use it for online banking etc, the same goes for the public access networks eg those in places like Starbucks, don't do your banking from Starbucks.

Our network is completely secure, and the only thing I have bought in the past few months is dog food!

Just back from bank and whoever it is has bought a computer!  Police are on the case as there should be a delivery address thank goodness.

I had the same with a mobile phone! Appeared on my account, I had never bought it but it had a direct debit set up too. Fortunately I never use that account to buy anything - its the one all my standing orders etc goes out of so it was fairly easy to get it fixed with the bank. T-mobile was a different story though as they kept sending me accounts despite me telling them every time that it was not my phone! Thing is no phone was ever delivered to my address, so where did it go? Surely they can trace the delivery address?

My husband, who NEVER shops on line had problems with his card and bank phoned to check purchase. The only place he ever uses it is Tesco! Funny thing was he assumed it was my card as I'm always buying stuff online and was quite shocked when he found out it was his!

Hope you get it sorted soon

Me two I lost £3500in about 46 transactions, I took out some cash from a machine at a motorway services, the first debit was for a Flybe trip to Italy! They will send a form for you to check off the ones that aren't yours. but its the hassel of a new card and pin, plus some git doing it in the first place. Best of luck!!

Cripes! Thank you.  I actually feel so embarrased about it all.

I decided to get a pre-pay debit card for all online transactions, it may be a bit more expensive (think it cost about £10 to get in originally) and there can be a monthly fee is you don't use it enough (not usually a problem for me - I think you have to make 4 transactions to avoid fee of about £5 per month)  but if anyone did clone it all I coudl lose was whatever I had topped up with, and as I suaully just top up per transaction I am about to make it rarely has anything left "floating" in the account.  Don' tknow if it woudl meet with Martin Lewis type good money practice, but gives me peace of mind.

> Cripes! Thank you.  I actually feel so embarrased about it all.

No need to feel embarassed, it happens to the best of us! 

I have a Co-op card, and had used it at Sainsbury's twice recently.  Once on groceries, and afterwards for petrol.  Fine, I put the card away. 

Several days later I received an automated telephone call on my landline.  It said that my card had been used (I suppose not at a normal place for me), and would I phone a security number.  They were great.  There had been 3 transactions, within minutes of each other, to buy lottery tickets in Spain!!!  A total of £360 which had me gasping. 

I had to wait for a form, which did take a while, and state that I had only made the two other purchases.  I did state my concern to the guy who dealt with my phone call, as I worried about any delay having an effect on interest.  He told me to just pay off my two purchases, and if I was charged the interest, to call him personally, and he would get it revoked. 

I paid just what I owed from my own purchases, and didn't use the card again.  The following statement was zero balance, the interest for the fraudulent purchses had not been charged.  I was very pleased with the security of this particular credit card supplier.

> No need to feel embarrassed, it happens to the best of us! 

It does indeed, on returning from my parents home in Tenerife last year I paid for my purchases with my card on a Monarch flight, a few days later I had a call from my credit card to ask about recent activity on my card and had I been to Jamaica?? I did also mention that Monarch fly to Jamaica and maybe it was just a coincidence who knows.

When my parent's moved to Tenerife they set up redirection of their mail it all was sent to my address, about three weeks after they moved their credit card statement came in, my mum asked me to open it the balance was a whopping £13,000 and something, should of been well under a £1000 as they had only put both their and dogs flights on it.
Turns out their new cards were sent to the old address and the people who bought their house felt my mum and dad should pay for over £12,000 in building materials! Absolutely shocking :-(

> Turns out their new cards were sent to the old address and the people who bought their house felt my mum and dad should pay for over £12,000 in building materials!

how cheeky is it!! Did they get found out? Done for fraud?

> how cheeky is it!! Did they get found out? Done for fraud?

As far as I/we no, (card companies don't like to divulge to much even when it's your card) the was an investigation by the police we never found out the outcome.
To this day and it's been over five years now it still riles me, probably makes it even worse as mum and I left them a lovely letter welcoming them to their new home with lots of info on it, words fail me still. :-(

this has happened to me today. I only use my credit card for the odd thing then for amounts no more than £50. Had a phonecall from the cards fraud department asking if I had made a purchase for £700+. I hadn't and was also told that an item for £470 was also on it. I start to panic but the staff were very helpful and stopped the card immediately and have said they will send a disclaimer out. I was then worried that I may have a hassle if interest is put on it, you know what credit card companies are like with automated services that add on interest from day one. I was told that I wouldn't be charged. As I have epilepsy and diabetes the worry has not been good for health, after reading your experiences I feel a lot better and it seems that things get sorted quickly.

Sorry to hear that your card has been cloned - it is not a nice thing to happen.  I had a new credit card yesterday and I had a sticker on the card telling me to phone a number to confirm safe receipt which I duly did this evening.  I had to give my personal details and then found that it was a card protection service I was talking to not the customer service for the card in question.  I had the hard sell - really hard sell from him.  I have card protection I said - but he said not for identity fraud.  It could cost you an awful lot of money to sort out.  I said that I realised that and took every precaution for that not to happen, thanked him and said that I am in the middle of cooking and didn't realise that this was a sales thing.  He didn't let it go - Do you realise he said very dramatically that someone could be using your details now and buying things on your account.  I got cross and told him that the buzzer was going and he would have to let me go. This is more important than that he tried - :-(     I thought about it afterwards and if it is such a risk with my card then I might as well cancel it  - I felt threatened and angry - not having that.  The safest way is to get rid of a card that I rarely use and certainly don't carry with me.

Unfortunately, most of the cards are cloned when you use ATMs.  Since we were cloned two years ago, after using a bank's ATM, I have never used them again.  We withdraw cash from tills at supermarkets wth ur shopping.  I have never (touch wood) had a problem with internet transactions.  Another problem, is that some banks leave their rubbish in bin bags ouside the banks, and they often contain all our personal data.