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Thieving Credit Card Cloning Bastards

15:04 / 07.05.03

Hoo boy am I grumpy.

I mean, I'm all for redistribution of wealth and all that, but just not right now. okay? And not without asking.

Some fucker has cloned my credit card and wiped out £750 worth of credit. Not sure how it happened, either through a dodgy internet transaction or maybe some unscrupulous waiter or petrol station attendant or shop worker who copied the details down.

Anyway, five hundred quid on flights to Spain, £150 off Amazon and a hundred quid on soft furnishings.

I mean, I wouldn't mind but I can't afford to spend that kind of money on myself at the moment.

Rant over, but simmering.

15:17 / 07.05.03

Shit. Okay, I'm not 100% sure on this but I don't think you'll have to pay it - I think you're covered for this sort of fraud. Surely? Otherwise noone would ever use credit cards.

Have you contacted the credit card company? Presumably you can prove you didn't go to Spain? And in fact, assuming they used their own passport, they might even be able to catch the person who did it.

Good luck anyway.

15:25 / 07.05.03

You should be covered for this with most credit cards. The postal address for anything ordered online is usually pretty good evidence.

15:25 / 07.05.03

Really shitty thing to happen. Hope it works out okay for you

15:26 / 07.05.03

Yeah - I thought they could catch credit card fraudsters if they had a delivery address. I might be very gullible though.

Either way - shitty news. Chin up Sax.

15:32 / 07.05.03

That's v. shitty... sorry, Sax.

15:57 / 07.05.03

***Posted by Tez's lurking partner***

Hi, since I don't have a login myself, I'm using Tez's, and, as I work in the credit card industry, I can give you some general advice:

If you havn't already, tell your credit card company that you do not recognise these charges and you have not authorised them. Oh, and get them to stop the card and send you out a new one. At this point they'll put a temporary credit onto your account so that all interest charges relating to these debts do not affect you. They should then open a case up to deal directly with the establishments and provide info as to who ordered/purchased the goods. Airlines will have a name of the person travelling, and Amazon will have a billing address (which they should have checked before sending out any goods as mail order tends to be very strict about posting goods out to anywhere bar the billing address.)

Make sure you keep up your monthly payments as the credit card companies get suspicious if you claim fraud then don't keep up your payments, and they may close your account out completely. Also, if you think it has been an account takeover, you may want to contact Equifax and Exprian to make sure the bastards haven't taken any other cards out in your name.

I know it sounds bad, but a good credit card company will help you sort this out, just remember to stay calm when talking to your card's fraud team. Hope it works out for you

16:26 / 07.05.03

And perhaps report it to the police, again if you haven't already. When a similar thing happened to me (and it's really nasty, and I'm very sorry that it's happened to you, old chap) I was told to report it and did, but the police couldn't register it as a crime because the actual use of the card had taken place outside the country. If I remember what the desk sergeant said correctly (I was in a bit of a state) the branch of the force responsible for dealing with the offence would be the branch *where the crime was committed*, which might be a bit tricky at first, but ones presumes the stuff from Amazon must have been sent somewhere, &c.

17:19 / 07.05.03

once, i went to use my atm card, and it had been stopped for some reason. so i called the bank and they told me that they suspected someone other than myself used my card. turns out someone (i dunno how) got my card and tried to use an online dating service. the woman said it got flagged cos it was out of my normal buying patterns. now, i've never used a dating service, but i *do* buy things online...it creeped me out that the bank company knows my whole buying steez, but at least it came in handy this time. i didn't have to pay for it.

Lilly Nowhere Late

20:49 / 07.05.03

This just happened to my childminder who got wiped for £5000+ because
it was her visa cheque card thingy and she had all her money in one
acount. Ultimately she isn't responsible for any of the charges and
will be re-imbursed because her cards are insured but this is all
going to take weeks and meanwhile not only does she have no money, the
bank won't loan her any because her account is empty AND she has to
spend all her time and effort proving that she didn't make the charges
she didn't make. g sus.

Card cloning is on the up in London.

Basically, I think we should all just stop paying for everything ever.
Can't they catch your thieves by the plane tickets?

04:09 / 08.05.03

you would think so, eh?
i sure as hell wouldnt buy plane tickets on a credit card if i didnt want traced, and i certainly wouldnt order things to be delivered to my house.

this may be paranoia on my part, though.

i hope they catch the buggers and make them eat heartily of the humble pie.