General Chat

Hello All, This has probably happened to so many other people, but it is the first time it has happened to me. I was at the till at Tesco's Tues evening when my card was rejected. How embarrassing! I knew there was plenty of money in the account as I was only paid last Friday. So I had to leave with no money and no shopping and feeling rather foolish, especially as this is my workplace and my colleagues. When I got home I checked my account and discovered that £338.66 had been withdrawn abroad Monday and Tuesday while I was at work. I was so shocked I was crying, shaking and felt sick. This has caused me so many problems and such stress. I know I am lucky, so I keep thinking, what if this had happened to a pensioner or a single Mum with kids to feed. I am so lucky I have a wonderful husband who will help me. I have since discovered that it has happened to a colleague and that the cashpoints at work had devices found on them last week, so this is probably how it happened. I just wanted to remind everyone to be careful, check those cashpoints for any devices and cover up your pin number when entering it into the pinpad. I always cover my pin number with my hand, but they still managed to get my money. These people are very clever, very devious and very cruel! I'm off to the bank and police station now, and today I have to try and explain to people why I can't pay my bills!

Sorry to hear your news. Having worked in a bank for nearly 20 years I can truthfully say you are definately not alone & it is on the increase. Banks are normally quite helpful. Hope it gets sorted smoothly & quickly Penny

OMG thats terrible, hope you manage to get things sorted. Jackiexx

Oh how awful sorry to hear this Hope you get your money back. catherine xx

My heart really goes out to you, that is devastating. Thinking of you, hope your day is a good one today. All the best. Tina x

The B****** sorry but it makes my blood boil you worked hard for your money and some so called human being does this and thinks nothing of it. Hope it all gets sorted very soon for you. Sorry I do get on a soap box sometimes - climbs down carefully. Take care Love Mary in Spain xx

sorry to hear about this and hope you get it sorted soon. best wishes dawn xx

How awful, I would be the same if it happened to me. You protect your card etc as much as you can but it still happens! Good luck and I hope you weekend gets better. Sharon xx

I'm sorry to hear this. I hope the bank refunds your money Julia

Sharon, Dawn, Tina Marie and Mary, Many thanks for your kind thoughts. I am trying to keep a positive attitude and keep smiling!

Julia, Penny, Jackie and Catherine Thank-you. I will add that the bank have been very good. I have now been given an emergency overdraft. I have to fill in some Fraud forms from the bank and the Fraud section will investigate. Once they have satisfied themselves that a crime has been committed they may refund my money. No saying how long that will take tho.

I feel for you, it happened to me last year, caused so many problems, i was lucky, although it took 8 weeks, i got the money back....horrible feeling. I hope you get it all back pdq. Donna xx

how awful for you i do hope you get your hard earned money back good luck joyce from hollandx

If you've not already done so, ring the bank now - if it's a joint account make sure your husban is with you incase his card was used not yours as he hill need to speek to the bank. I hope they give you back your money very soon. My tutor had this about a fortnight ago, she looked at her balance and transactions online to find a large some of money had gone out but didn't reconise where, she rang her husband who was comuting to work by train to check that he hadn't withdrawn the money then contacted the back. They could tell her that her OH's card had been used and they would have to speek to him, so he had to sort this all out on the train but the bank said the money had been taken out in Indian and on a certain day. As he had used his card to perchase something that day in the UK and had his recipt, the bank agreed that use not his fault as the card couldn't be in two places at one. Just to let you know, chip and pin is not as safe as we were lead to believe, the BBC Watchdog programme reported on this, just this week (Teusday) they said if someone tampers with the card reader then your card details can be transmitted to a computer that another person has, then they put a dummy card in another cardreader and enter the details and you can pick up the bill - hidding your pin helps block them but it's still possable.

Sorry to hear of your troubles and hope its cleared up soon.......we ALL hope its going to happen to someone else....and never to me..but we can fall into the ''It cant/wont happen to me'' box. Is it better then, to take advantage of the Cashback facilty, rather than use the cashpoints? just a thought... Bob

Sorry to hear this and yes it is on the increase. I am like bob and prefer to use cashback in a shop even if I only buy a packet of chewing gum to get the cashback its better than using a machine outside. I must say though that now with most people using pin numbers as I work as a cashier I never bother checking the names on the cards where as before you had to check the signature and a couple of times I caught the wrong sex using the card. i.e Mr instead of Mrs. Maybe it was their partners cards but now if they know the pin number they are free to use them. I have even used my sons card on his behalf to make a purchase and nobody questions you about it so long as you enter the correct number. So in some cases fraud can be easier with the new system.

How awful Hope you manage to get things sorted Claire xxx

As a pensioner, this is the sort of thing that I find so deplorable. What we do now is only spend cash. Each Thursday morning we go to the bank and draw out sufficient money to cover the week. I have never used an ATM machine, and yes, they are essential for people who cannot get to the bank, but I want face to face service for the bank charges I pay, that way I hope I am helping to secure the jobs at the bank. Kathlyn

I know just how you feel-the same thing happened to us a few months ago. The bank were really good and got it sorted quite quickly and gave us a free covering loan until their insurance was sorted. We didn't have to use it though as the robbers had accessed our account through a foney e-mail which OH had inadvertantly opened from 'the bank'!! They were sloppy though and we realised within a few hours so they were caught and we had our money put back within 48hours. I hope it gets sorted out as speedily for you--it's a horrible experience though. Take care Carol xx

Thats awful, I feel really sad that our standards are dropping. I think I did the right thing this morning after receiving an email from (allegedly) HMCE-Her Majesties Custom and Excise offering me a refund of taxes, totalling £384. For a pensioner, it seemed like a gift, but I then opened the form to fill in and having had a look, I dumped the lot, I'd rather go without. Derek in France