Unnoticed ongoing credit card fraud

M

Mrs Doyle

Registered User
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Hi, I know the topic credit card fraud has been covered in other threads, but this is slightly different in the fact it has been going on for a year, unnoticed.
My boyf has only just recently set up internet banking thus has only been examining his statements recently. He discovered there have been monthly transactions going out of his credit card account to AOL broadband in England (He doesnt have broadband). After several phonecalls to AOL "Customer Service", it was discovered it was to an address in England with a different name. He cancelled the direct debit immediately. After a couple of unhelpful calls to AIB (credit card provider), and cancelled the card, a letter was sent to AIB regarding the matter, and expressing our disappointment with the lack of security of the card and how he expects a full refund etc. All that was returned was a 'Thank you for your letter, we have written to AOL to cancel the agreement'.Now, because it was such small amounts every month (€25), I reckon this would possibily be just a wrongly taken down credit card no (quite possible as they're all foreign in AOL and dont understand english!! yes, it was frustrating...). SO, who is at fault???

a. AOL - for taking the money from the wrong credit card
b. AIB - for not providing appropriate security checks on the card
c. My boyf - for not seeing these transactions immediately?

Note he has been returned 2 months worth from AOL, but what about the remaining 10 months? Has he any comeback on this?
 
Check the terms & conditions of the card to see what is covered in circumstances such as these. I would have expected the card provider to do a chargeback to ascertain that the cardholder had not authorised the transactions and then refunded the charges. Unless the T&Cs explicitly rule out such a process he should pursue it with AIB, make a formal complaint in writing if necessary and then take the matter to the [broken link removed] if he gets no joy out of that.

Note that I am assuming that there is absolutely no way that he was responsible for compromising his own card security.
 
Mrs Doyle said:
My boyf has only just recently set up internet banking thus has only been examining his statements recently.
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Just an observation, not intended as criticism.

As well as concern for the fraud which appears to have occurred, I'd be concerned for anyone with a credit card who doesn't examine their statements whether they're available online or not. Doesn't everyone check the monthly statement to verify that all transactions belong (or is it only me?!)
 
It's a reasonable point, good advice and I'm sure that you are not alone in checking printed statements.
 
gipimann said:
Just an observation, not intended as criticism.

As well as concern for the fraud which appears to have occurred, I'd be concerned for anyone with a credit card who doesn't examine their statements whether they're available online or not. Doesn't everyone check the monthly statement to verify that all transactions belong (or is it only me?!)
Click to expand...

Some people do, some people dont. A friend of mine recently discovered her laser card number was being used to buy phone credit for a network she does not belong to, again it was very small amounts, 20 euro a month, what actually triggered her to the fact something odd was happening was that there was a transaction paying ticketmaster over 300 euro for tickets that was refunded the next day - when she saw that she examined the statement carefully and discovered the 20 euro transactions. The ticketmaster transaction turned out to be a mistake that ticketmaster rectified, but the phone credit transactions were never explained, her bank cancelled the card and re-issued her a new one. I dont know if they gave her back the money or not.
 
Mrs Doyle said:
I reckon this would possibily be just a wrongly taken down credit card no (quite possible as they're all foreign in AOL and dont understand english!! yes, it was frustrating...). SO, who is at fault???
Click to expand...


Course its the foreigners....has to be the foreigners....bloody foreigners! :rolleyes:
 
Banks have got far more fussy these days in terms of refunding people when fraud occurs. The question they will ask is how did your bfs details get used in the first place, how did someone in the UK get hold of his credit card and expiry date.? If they think in any way that it was his fault, they may not necessarily refund and indeed may have no legal obligation to do so.
Whilst banks may check on high value transactions or ones that are out of the norm in terms of location, €25 pm direct debit, probably wont raise any alarms
 
Thanks for the comments!
With regard to checking statements, dont worry,he got a lecture about this already. but to be honest if I didnt have online banking,I dont think I would check my statements rigorously,unless something jumped out at me, I spose the amounts were so small...
No I didnt pass address onto guards, think that would be abit drastic at this stage? Might be just an innocent mistake!
I'm not even sure if the expiry date matches the card...does expiry HAVE to match before a transaction can be processed? Could it be a misentered card no, or is this actually fraud (the small amounts lead me to believe its innocent!)
Lastly, couldnt find an AOL irish no when we started looking, we thought twas just UK,(didnt google right!)thats handy to know!!
 
No I didnt pass address onto guards, think that would be abit drastic at this stage?
Click to expand...

I would pass onto guards as chances of it being innocent are remote. Irish & UK credit cards have different numbering system, so it could not be a case of someone in UK getting e.g. 1 digit wrong, when giving credit card number.

This type of credit card fraud is becoming increasingly common - fraudsters taking small, but regular amounts of money from a large number of accounts. One of the principal causes is someone in a trusted position in a large organisation - who handles credit card payments & so has access to details - selling the information to fraudsters or who themselves is involved in this activity. The people perpetuating the fraud need a lot of credit card numbers to make money (or pay their own bills), so the source is large institutions.

I am aware that this has happened from time to time in some other large companies and organisations in Ireland who take credit card payments including one public sector organisation who suspended an employee pending criminal investigation. The usual profile of the insiders selling the information are relatively young recently hired clerical/administrative staff who are involved processing payments.
 
Please, please do check all your a/c's online or statements. A lot of fraud goes on for small amounts precisely because people don't really take much notice. The small amounts do add up though & neither your nor your bank should have to fork out on fraud.

It's the success at small things that makes the fraudsters go on to bigger & more lucrative schemes.
 
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