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OT nasty banking shock

Had an email from my bank on Tuesday night, advising me that I had an online statement to view. I don't get them in the post anymore, much easier to read online and saves paper etc...

So I duly logged onto my bank website, checked the statement and whilst online had a quick look at the current state of my account.

Ye Gods - thank heavens I was sitting down - my current account was £525 overdrawn - it was only the 16th of the month and I don't get paid until the last working day - and my overdraft is only £600... what on earth has gone wrong?

So I check further - to discover 3 ATM withdrawals from Bangkok, Thailand, totalling just under £300 (thats about $590)... now I have never been to Thailand in my life, and probably never will now! I rang my bank in complete hysterics, and was told that it looked as if my debit card had been "cloned" and my account "skimmed".

Now I realise that £300 is not a huge amount of money (hearing from friends and colleagues about people losing thousands) but for me, that represents just under a third of my monthly salary, so for me its a really big deal. I have been to the Police, who advised that as it "appeared" to be an International transaction (most of the locally reported clonings have had ATM withdrawals in the UK), it will take longer to sort out, so I have had to go to my bank and open a brand new bank account and wait for a new debit card, pin number and cheque book to come through before I can carry on with my life. I've hardly slept for the last few nights, and feel really sick. Its the knowledge that some little oik somewhere with a serious grasp on technology has decided to help himself to my hard earned cash, probably (and lets be really cynical here) just to buy drugs.

The bank say it could take up to 8 weeks for the money to be credited back to my account, thats if they decide that I am not responsible. Hence having to go to the Police and sign loads of forms giving them authority to liaise with the bank and paw through my bank accounts. Apparently, the card could have been cloned anywhere up to a year ago...

MORAL: check your bank accounts regularly. Don't let your debit or credit cards out of your sight at petrol stations, restaurants, shops etc. Not that I'm getting paranoid or anything, but I shall certainly think twice about where I use my debit card in future, and who I give my bank information to to as well. Where does this leave future online fabric purchases? (dragging the subject back on topic!) who knows...

a seriously "hacked" off Suzie B

Reply to
Suzie B
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What a terrible shock for you Suzie. My heart is doing wobblies for you. Hugs Shirley

In message , Suzie B writes

Reply to
Shirley Shone

Susie B, do you have a good fire wall on your computer? Have you recently had spyware on it? It could have come right off your computer and I suspect it did because when I was using this one fire wall, which I hated with the exception that it told you where the people that were trying to get into your equipment were from, I found that most trying to access mine were from Thailand and Shanghai.

Just a thought and I am so sorry to hear of your experience, that would put me behind for a long time myself, as is fabric purchasing.

Jacquel>Had an email from my bank on Tuesday night, advising me that I had an

Reply to
Jacqueline in KY

Suzie,

That would be such an awful shock! I'm so sorry for the stress and inconvenience this has caused you--although I know I would be totally freaked out too. I'm sure the bank will sort it out, and though I'm not good at taking my own advice, try to relax and be patient. You don't want to get so worked up that you get sick.

Hugs, Michelle in NV

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Reply to
Michelle

Suzie, so sorry! Please check into the CitiCard, which gives you a little desktop gadget that generates a "virtual" credit card number good for one purchase, one merchant, one month. NAYY, just a happy satisfied safe (so far) customer. I do hope the bastards don't figure out a way to bust that one.

Sending good thoughts your way, hope everything straightens out for you in jig time!

Reply to
Carolyn McCarty

How I hate to hear about this. Maybe we should go back to trading beads and shells or something. Polly

Reply to
Polly Esther

Suzie, I'm so sorry to hear about your banking problems. Hope they get it straighted out and your money back to you quickly!

Hugs, Donna

Reply to
Donna in Idaho

There was just something on the news about a similar situation, last night when I was half asleep in front of the TV, so I missed some details. Involved Nordea Bank in Sweden, which apparently lost a lot of money from clients' online banking accounts. Some scammer has figured out a way to pick up when a client accesses a bank website and read the client's ID and password. So it has nothing to do with how careful you are in leaving your plastic cards lying around! Roberta in D

"Suzie B" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:6kbsh.102250$ snipped-for-privacy@fe3.news.blueyonder.co.uk...

Reply to
Roberta Zollner

Isn't it amazing how invasive even a virtual theft feels! My credit card number (not the card itself) was stolen this month and used by someone to set up an advertising account with msn advertising and spent

2000$. Fortunately, the credit card companies seem better prepared than local banks to deal with this kind of fraud. That particular charge was denied and the credit card's fraud dept contacted me to check on whether it was mine or not. Since it wasn't, they told me that it wouldn't be charged to my account and they read through about a dozen more recent charges just to see if there were any more fraudulent charges, which there were. I immediately destroyed the existing cards with that number, and called the msn ad agency to inform them that the account they had set up with that credit card number was fraudulent and would they close it immediately, which they did and promised to investigate it (that's not very likely, since I haven't gotten the followup call they promised a week ago). I still trust using my major credit card much more than other forms of money because of this experience and how immediate the credit card fraud dept was to spot a fraudulent charge and actually deny payment without talking to me first (which kind of seems like I'm not in charge of my own account, yet in reality communicates to me that I'm covered by a second level of security)

I'm sorry about your experience with he bank, and hope it works out as well for you. Musicmaker

Reply to
Musicmaker

On Fri, 19 Jan 2007 16:09:06 -0600, Suzie B wrote (in article ):

((((HUGS))))

I know how you feel, having just gone through my own theft problems. Still need to work on filling out all the insurance forms, and then hope I will get back enough $$ to replace at least my iMac.

Maureen

Reply to
Maureen Wozniak

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