Credit card account hacked.....?

[Deb P]

Had a phonecall from mu Virgin credit card company today about 'unusual activity' on my credit card account. I have only used the card twice, both for large purchases over the phone, no on line transactions.

To my horror there have been 4 balance transfers of £250 odd made during March added to my account! Not only that, but my account has been suspended since 20th March, and they have only just contacted me! They claim to have tried before but could not tell me when they tried. I have a paperless account and have been making regular payments by direct debit to clear the balance so rarely check my balance on line (have learnt that lesson now!) which is why I didn't notice the transactions.

Thankfully they have reassured me that I am not liable for the fraudulent transactions and they will be credited to my account 'in a week or so' and have completely cancelled my cards and are reissuing them, but it has really shaken my faith in their systems as they say these were on line transactions which could only happen with my passwords I thought! Also, if they are balance transfers, won't they be able to tell which accounts they were transferred from and therefore who did it, or will they be dummy accounts? I have found the whole thing rather upsetting and unnerving, I haven't visited the site recently so don't know how anyone could otherwise access my account name and password as they could not be guessed at. My computer had Norton antivirus until last week and I've recently changed to Ad Aware pro, scanned again with nothing found just in case!

[Deb P]

[jesssands]

Happened to me last year. someone bought a years insurance and the c.card people knew it wasnt me and rang me straight away. got new cards etc. they had attempted to use it again but got blocked.
For me it was the inconvenience of it all.. having to wait for new card.. then re-reg it to ev thing i use it on.. Then get new pin and have to go to cash point to change it.
No probs with the fraudulent spend tho, they took responsibility of it.

[Aden Roller]

Personally I think they should plug their tentacles into the mains when they catch them nasty little varmints... far too many have their arms in other people's pockets!


The cost of theft and fraud is ultimately passed on and shared by us all.   :(

[BarriedaleNick]

Me and Mrs BDN have both been done.
My wife got a call from the bank asking where she was (we were up a mountain in Spain) and whether she was trying to buy £5000 worth of shoes.

[saddad]

Sorry to hear that Deb. Hope they sort it out soon. OH was done at a cash machine.. at Markeaton Island where they cloned her card...  :o

[mentallot]

Probably cloned somewhere and the security number also copied. Try not to let the card out of your sight when paying. In th'old days I'd just hand over my card and 5 minutes later they'd come back with a slip to sign - easy pickings to swipe the card through a cloner and then use the details for some fraudulent transactions. First thing I knew was the CC Co calling
"Have you been on holiday recently" - "No"
"So weren't in Turkey last month" - "No"
"Ok - don't worry about those transactions you'll see on your next statement then"
Turned out to be 3 transactions for £4999, £3999 and £2999whcih they sorted without any issues

Yes they should be able to tell who benefited from the transactions and hopefully castrate prosecute them

[dtw]

It may not be due to cloning or viruses on your computer, there are people working within the credit card companies who steal details.

[Deb P]

I suppose I should feel reassured I'm not the only one! I've never used the card for anything other than the two online transactions so it hasn't been physically cloned......I suppose it doesn't matter how they have done it, it just makes me so uneasy, that's what I hate! :-\

[Aden Roller]

I agree with you Deb - it leaves a difficult, unsettling feeling.

Mrs Roller bought something on line but paid over the phone using the card. Luckily for us the card company had declined an unusual sale and immediately contacted us. The card was then blocked and a new one reissued.

Someone at the other end of the phone when my wife trustingly gave her details promptly wandered off with the numbers and security code to line their own pockets.

On this occasion they got nothing - I would love to think they were nabbed but I can't say for sure that they were.

Restorative justice would be something I would like to see widely used when people are caught stealing or causing harm & damage. I'd also put their photo in the local press as well as their names.... as stocks are no longer allowed.  :(

There's too much concern and care given to those who break the law and little to those who suffer at their hands.  :(

[gp.girl]

I had it the other way, the transaction was unusual but it was me. What annoyed me was the use of an automated call system which gave out a different number to the one on the website (hmm) so I phoned nationwide direct and asked if there were any problems, no they said, so I ignored it. They then sent a letter though which said it was the credit card..... another phone call and the episode sorted if painfully. How am I meant to know my password I don't use it from one year to the next. Could have done without it.

Saw a programme on this, it's getting scary, chip and pin is now compramised. You can't let the card out of your sight and that includes the hole in the wall.

Years ago the Gatwick Express had an employee cloning cards used to pay for tickets on the train don't know if they ever caught them but a lot of people lost out.

[louise stella]

My debit card was cloned at a Premier Inn and few years back - some scumbag was using it to get cashback over the tills throughout Surrey at £50 a time, I live in Kent!  About a grand in total - all within 5 days!  Turns out it was an employee doing this!  I got asked over the phone if I was a 6ft 2" black male ??? wtf? how many of those do you know called Louise?
It was an employee who scanned the cards when you opened a tab to pay for meals!  Lesson learned!  NEVER leave an open tab with your card at a restaurant!
HSBC credited my account eventually - but took over a month - which sent me overdrawn - which I then had to fight to get put right!  ANd my card was stopped etc and I was left money-less over a weekend.

[Aden Roller]

We had it the other way round too Louise complete with me not having much more than the foggiest idea what my secret questions and answers were. As you say... who uses the blasted things from one years end to another!!

I had a phone call from a very nice oriental sounding lady asking for details related to my credit card - I was previously lead to believe they never ask for information over the phone so I wouldn't give the information she asked for. Later, when I couldn't give passwords / reminders or whatever I was asked whoops.... account locked  ::)

But, yep, it was me who spent the massive sum of £4.32 at a local garden centre as I bought a few shallots. I quite often shop there. Shame it took nearly three weeks to get the card working again.

Apparently the card company were doing a random check.... wonderful.  ???

[Chrispy]

The staff at the local petrol station were cloning cards few years back, and had a security camera pointing at the pad to get the pin number (always cover the pad).

My (ex)OH got caught, stopped her buying another pair of shoes ;D, but she made up for it the next day  >:(. She did have 2x£250 taken but the card issuer canceled that immediately.
Loads of people got court out, it was front page in the local paper.

One member of the staff ended up in hospital, so somebody had got their own justice.

I have got caught once, somebody got my card details on-line, but all they did was subscribe to a porn site, they even used my e-mail address so I received the password so what was the point of that  ???.
I e-mailed the site, explaining it was not me, and surprisingly, they just said no problem and just refunded the money, and my issuer sent me a new card card in about a week.

[SamLouise]

Ah yes, such a horrible thing to have happen.  A couple of years ago my husband got a call from our bank to ask if he was purchasing about £3,000 of furniture somewhere in the middle east! Thankfully no transaction was allowed to go through. I criticise Natwest for most things but they are red hot on things such as this. Like Chrispy, the card problem also originated from a local petrol station >:( My boss and his wife got scammed by the same people! I once had my Paypal account hacked quite a few years back and the thieves managed to spend £300 in about an hour before it was stopped (and it was quite a struggle getting it back!)

I got asked over the phone if I was a 6ft 2" black male ??? wtf? how many of those do you know called Louise?

I know I shouldn't, but Louise, that made me laugh out loud!

[Aden Roller]

You are right SamLouise.

Despite my moaning about it (when my card was locked) I did appreciate that someone was keeping an eye on my account and taking care to protect it for me....even if it took quite a while to get it working again.  ::)  ;D

[grannyjanny]

We get lots of withheld numbers & as they're usually sales I don't answer & then check. It was Tesco's fraud dept, oops ;D. OH rang them & they were questioning purchases made the previous day both in Tesco branches. One came as Norwich & I Chester so I suppose they were a bit iffy but it was actually Northwich & Castle but on a Sunday Castle comes up as CHester & they had abbreviated Northwich to Norwich ;D. OH was relieved.

[Dopey]

Its interesting subject, I once used my card in a petrol garage, i gave it to him to swipe.... he dropped it on the floor, said opps (or something like that, I drove down the road and called the cops (I knew what he had done) he swiped the card in to some equipment he had on the floor and cloned my card) cops met up with me and we all went to the garage and they found the cloning machine laying on the floor, they nicked him, I'm savy with things like that, even now when I put my card in the machine, I take it pout of my wallet, put the card in, and then cover the  machine with my wallet while I put the pin number in (over head camera?) and I check the  machine as I walk up to it, and pull and prod the thing before I use it, check my statements regularly, only been cloned once (from Hong Kong) the transaction was for £25 ( a test to see if it worked) i picked it up right away, the credit card company paid for there mistake, most of the time its there fault just a total lack of care and security, try and have your C/Card for use in JUST the UK... they wont do it, most fraudulent transactions happen from abroad, so this will cut down on them considerably, but they wont do it 

[Deb P]

Further to this tale, I've had a letter this morning from the card company informing me that my name and address have been placed on a CIFAS database. Apparently this means companies will be alerted my details have been used fraudulently and if I apply for any products or services in the future, they will ask for further checks to verify my details. This is designed to protect me and prevent my details being used again, but I'm guessing it may also inconvenience me as well in the future. Has anyone had experience of this?

[Aden Roller]

I've no experience of this at all but the CIFAS database sounds a good safeguard. Let's hope it doesn't cause you too much of a headache in the process.

Did the card company say for how long your details would remain active on the database?

[Deb P]

No, from what I can tell, some people pay a fee to get put of this database so a fraudster would find it more difficult to commit fraud. I guess I shall wait and see how it affects me in the future..... :-\