Today, I have discovered that for the second time in a month, one of my bank cards has been cloned and used for fraudulent purchases.
About three weeks ago, upon checking my bank statement through, I noticed that my debit card had been used for two large purchases in John Lewis totalling over £600. They weren’t mine and to give them credit (no pun intended) the bank refunded the money without any argument and replaced my card very promptly.
I have now discovered that my Barclaycard has been used by someone else to purchase large amounts of stuff from Amazon. Amazon did pick it up, stopped the order and alerted me, and Barclaycard have been equally good at suspending the account and are sending me a replacement despite the fact that their call centre sounded like it was in Delhi and something out of 'The Bext Exotic Marigold Hotel'. So I haven’t lost any money, just about two hours of my life on the phone. But it is the sheer inconvenience of it all which is so galling.
The first time I was without access to my bank account for about a week (it’s with First Direct, so is entirely internet and plastic card based). I had very little cash in my purse, so was forced to borrow from The Hubby. And I couldn’t buy anything in shops as I had no card and they won’t take cheques any more. I had Tesco groceries on order paid for by said card, and the payment was refused because by then the card was suspended. Ensuing lengthy phone calls to Tesco Customer Services ensured we didn’t starve, but did nothing to reduce my blood pressure for which the doc has already upped my medication.
This time it’s a credit card, so not quite so pressing as I have others, but still bloody inconvenient. My visa card is the one which I have had for years and which I know the number of, expiry date and security code off by heart. I use it all the time over the web (which is where some bastard probably hacked the details from) so don’t have to go and get it out of the safe every time I want to buy a CD or book (I don’t carry credit cards in my purse any more – too tempting). I have it logged as my payment method with lots of web sites I use regularly so I don’t have to go through the tedious process of entering the information every time. Supposedly these sites are encrypted – they all display the little padlock sign at any rate – so it must be someone in their back office who has access to the full card details who is doing this.
The Fraud Department at the bank tell me that the details could have been copied ages ago, and then sold on to unscrupulous people who sit on them for a while and after several months, make purchases from temporary addresses using false names, get the goods then scarper. Frequently, they buy stuff which they can sell on for the cash. Often, they wait until just a few weeks before the card expires (my Barclaycard was due to expire at the end of April) as they know they will only get away with a few transactions on each card. They have it down to a fine art.
My shiny new visa card will, I’m told, arrive in about a week’s time. Even though this has happened to me about five times in the last few years, inevitably, I will log it onto the same web sites for routine shopping and treats because I now use the web so much to live my life I’m not sure I could manage any other way. Groceries delivered, flights and hire cars booked, birthday and Christmas presents purchased are just a few of the things I use it for and which make life manageable. Without using the web in this way, which I’m sure was never envisaged when Mr Berners Lee invented it, there simply wouldn’t be enough hours in the day.
If I ever come face to face with the scum which have either nicked the card details and sold them or those that have actually used them to defraud both me and the bank, I think I will ask the government to revert to mediaeval times and bring back punishment by chopping off their fingers and cutting out their tongue. Then the thieving toe rags won’t be able to use their keyboards and phones to steal from anyone else, and it’ll serve them right.
Ah, nothing like a little medieval justice.
ReplyDeleteI agree though, these bastards need to be put down.