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Card Fraud, how do they do it ?
Peteff - 14/7/13 at 06:36 PM

I looked at our account this morning and noticed £45 of top ups, 3 on O2 and one on EE/T Mobile which were taken out 11th and 12th. I rang the Halifax help line and they refunded the money and told me to destroy the debit card and it will be replaced in the week along with a letter to fill in to tell the police about the online fraud. I don't use the debit card on the internet only credit and it is not registered with anyone and we are careful about entering pin codes in public. Surely if the top ups are for a PAYG mobile account they can trace whoever topped up.

Ben_Copeland - 14/7/13 at 06:40 PM

Usually cloned in shops etc, sometimes from card machines. They are very clever with it too

blakep82 - 14/7/13 at 06:44 PM

Payg phones don't need any info on the person using it. Anyone can buy one, if asked for name and address, anything can be given. Theres no credit checks, so theres no need. Untraceable

I do know of someone in a greenock petrol station who tried some card fraud, cloned a card, used it to buy a new bed, to be delivered to their house... yep

[Edited on 14/7/13 by blakep82]

britishtrident - 14/7/13 at 06:49 PM

If it was used to top a PAYG the phone was probably nicked too.

Slimy38 - 14/7/13 at 07:04 PM

quote:
Originally posted by britishtrident
If it was used to top a PAYG the phone was probably nicked too.


When I got the obligatory PAYG topups for networks that I don't subscribe to, the fraud team explained that the topups are to 'test' the card, and that if they're not flagged or the card not destroyed then they go for the bigger items.

I'm not entirely sure why the topups aren't traceable though, wouldn't take much for the phone company to get the details and completely block the phone. That could start making it expensive for the thieves.

I saw a video of a device on a cash machine that read the card as you entered it. I expected it to be quite a bulky device, but to be honest I only saw it was an extra device because they removed it to reveal the original card reader. It is quite impressive.

Davey D - 14/7/13 at 07:06 PM

I had it happen to me about a year and half ago. I hadn't used my credit for quite some time.I went to my local beaverbrooks to buy my wife some jewelry for Xmas, and then 2 days later there was a transaction for nearly £1k from an online shop called Best buy.
Halifax were great at getting it sorted though. Can't see how anyone other than beaverbrooks could have scammed my card

Peteff - 14/7/13 at 07:41 PM

I'm just glad it is online and I checked the account or we could have been cleared out by the time a paper statement arrived. I just found this site which explains how it happens and that O2 and TMobile are lax with their security which is why they are used for the scam. They should up their game or lose the privilege of using card payments

[Edited on 14/7/13 by Peteff]