General Chat

Please be careful when paying for goods over the internet.
Tonight i have had a Fraud Officer on the `phone telling me someone has cloned my card and tried to use it.

Lxxx

Were they definitely a fraud officer?
....or was that itself a con?

Sorry to be pessimistic, but we have had people phoning saying they were from a bank and were checking details of a stolen card. Until then OH hadn't realised that his card had been stolen, but luckily realised that the phone call was part of the set-up to get further details.

Gwyn

Yes it was.

L.

It was an actual Fraud Officer.

L.

Sorry to hear that.

My daughter had that problem a few years ago. Luckily her bank stopped the card when they realised she could not be in Kent and Canada at the same time.
It got sorted eventually and she didn't lose anything, but it was a hassle while it was being investigated.

We have a card with a really low limit that is just used for internet purchases. That way our main card is not affected.

I hope it gets sorted soon.

Gwyn

Your main card is just as at risk. As I mentioned on the other thread I had a scam a few years back on a card I had never ever used for distance buying,

I also echo the comments re verifying callers and never provide your card details to anyone even the bank. They already have therm, so they don't need to know!

Well ... I've had calls about my cards from my bank.

The first time was several years ago when I went nuts buying books on line for Christmas for a few hours after midnight. Because they had a free-shipping deal on, I just kept placing more orders, instead of combining them. I'd never shopped on line before.

I got a call next morning from the bank. Aha, I said, you're calling about all that online shopping last night. Yes, it really was me.

The second time was when I got a call in the evening from the bank about a large purchase at a leather coats store that had been declined because it exceeded my limit. That time, I didn't even realize my purse had been stolen - again, by the same neighbourhood cokehead, it turned out - out of my home while I was upstairs.

Again, it was an unusual transaction on my card that attracted the attention.

And both times, I was glad they called. The first time could have been fraud, and the second time definitely was.

Ice Baby

I think what you're saying is quite correct - it would certainly arouse my suspicions if a Fraud Officer were to ring me out of the blue........I am of the understanding that you would be visited by the police, not contacted by phone.

Mary

My bank rang me to say someone had been trying to use my card online.
It was an automated thing, and I just had to confirm if I had used my card at certain places and could confirm it.

I wouldn't give my details over the phone to anyone, unless I had called them.

I also have a password with my bank that means my card can't be used unless I give the password.

A friend of mine DID have the bank ring her on a Sunday to say her card had been cloned. She was suspicious and asked for their number. She rang them back, and it really was them.
Better to be safe than sorry.

I had my card refused in a shop a while ago, even though I spoke on the phone to them to confirm my details whilst in the shop. The card was still declined - embarrassing - so paid with a debit card. When I got home, there was a message on the answerphone asking me to ring them. They said as it was a large amount, and not in my spending pattern, the card was declined. I asked how I could stop it happening again, and they said to ring if I was going to spend a large amount again.
Liz

Ice,,

Lizz put a Fraud Officer,not Fraud Squad ,banks have their own internal people who deal just in fraud cases,just like DWP.they have a fraud section,,,,,if the card was trying to be used say in Thailand when 6 hours before it had been used in Asda in Portsmouth,then it alerts its impossible for it to happen,

I'd still ring the bank and check it was above board,,but then I wouldnt confirm anything over a cold call from my bank.

We've had our cards blocked on several occassions and we only knew about it when they were declined the next time they were used.

Usually it was because of an out of character transaction, in my case because I'd used it on line to buy DVDs for Christmas instead of the usual GRO site!

One which was suspicious was on a charge in America - we were in the UK - We actually benefitted from that one as the amount was creditted back the next day at a more favourable exchange rate. The CC co thought there might have been an error manually inputting the card number, before the introduction of security numbers on the back.