help please think ive been credit card scammed !

[JeffC]

looks like someone is out to defraud me, last week I had a credit card statement from Nat west in my name and addy although name mispelled , there had been some online transactions and a purchase at Darlington balance was £100,  I dont have a nat west account, I thought it was a mistake so called up and they cancelled the card.

 

this morning I had an Argos credit card statement in my mispelled name and addy balance of £11 , I called up to query it  as it obviously isnt me and discovered they had filled in the card using all my details inc date of birth :-(

 

 

cant understand why on a £2000 limit they have only spent small amounts ? if you were going to scam someone would u not spend the limit  

 

Im guessing now im in for a few more of these, is there anyway I can stop this happening  

[Kevin Jones]

That does not sound good, this booklet from Experian looks like it has good advise.

[SootySport]

There is no way of stopping someone opening any type of account. It is the resposibilty of the Bank or organisation to to check the account holder is who he says he is. All you can do is tell the Bank that the unwanted/spoof invoices are not for you and had nothing to do with you. It is pain but if you don't do anything you will be plagued by debt collectors etc. and can affect your Creditworthiness.

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

I came home one day to find £300 worth of women's clothes on my doorstep - not even my size! Someone had opened an account in my name (DOB and address correct) and changed the delivery address at (beyond, fortunately) the last moment. Instead of going to where they wanted the package, it arrived with me as they left it marginally too late. So I told the vendor and they sent a parcel to the intended address - a white van full of constables!

[pickmaster Andy Lowe]

Had similar with a Vodafone bill

All they had was my name address and birthday

They started setting up new phone contracts on my account

Then wanted £100 cancellation for each!!!!!

That's why I no longer have my birthday on forums

I now have extra checks on my account

It's a complete night mare you have to be so careful now

[pickmaster Andy Lowe]

They only do small amounts as they don't get the same level of checks to clear

[Doug Dastardly]

I read in which that scallywag's check facebook looking for birthday greetings to get one more piece of information. They can often pick up mother's maiden name too, with a bit of deduction.

 

If you were worried they could also pick up pet's names, children's names, photo's of the inside of your house etc.

[jonjh1964]

A couple of weeks ago I had two ~$405 ATM withdrawals in Las Vegas from my current account.  I contacted Barclays and after some checks they immediately credited back my account, cancelled all cards on the account and re-issued them.  They advised that there is a scam where a card skimmer and camera are placed in an ATM and it records the card details and the pin number.  Had I not noticed so quickly, it is likely that withdrawals would have been repeated every 24 hrs until the account was emptied - not good as I had the cash for Tricia's new tin top in the account at the time.  The advice from Barclays was to look for any unusual additions to ATMs before you use them and ALWAYS cover the keyboard when you're typing in the pin number.  We received a letter from Barclays yesterday confirming that they'd completed their investigations and were satisfied that we were not to blame and the refund was permanent.

[Stuart]

Doesn't help the immediate problem but you should consider registering with CIFAS Jeff.  It's only £20 for a year's registration and can give you peace of mind it won't happen again.  I did it for a couple of years after a similar scam - some scumbag transferred a £5k debt onto my credit card and was in the process of trying to change my address to some mailing address in Milton Keynes - fortunately the card company caught it. 

[ACW]

Hang on a minute..... How do we really know this is you and not some dopleganger?

[jeff oakley]

The criminals seem to be one step ahead all the time. I took out a client for a meal in London and payed on American Express. Next day went for some fuel and it was declined. I rang them and they had cancelled the card as there had been two transaction on it the night before after my meal. One for £6k the other for £5.5k. The giveaway was one was in LA the other India.

I lost nothing but when I question how they had gone past my limit without PIN or ID I was told no matter how fast we do anything they find a way around. Russia and the far East is a scource of much of this.

 

As someone said, keep information to a minimum on any scocial site, check your computer regularly for trojans or any programe designed to gain passwords and id info.

[JeffC]

thanks all for the replies ,boils my urine the scum of the earth     if only these lowlifes put as much effort into working for a living      

[User0083]

Watched a film called

"The Rise and Fall of a White Collar Hooligan"

That was about credit card fraud. I've had cards stopped because I used them in UK, France, Germany and Italy within 24 hours. Called the bank and they suspected fraud, so cancelled my card. I was in Italy with no cash, bank card or anything and the bank couldn't re activate it! But as you said, you'd max it out till it stops! Although on army pay statements there's odd £2 for one thing on odd occasion and nobody questions it. Take £2 off every soldier in the army once every six months for three years...

[Wile E. Coyote]

I read in which that scallywag's check facebook looking for birthday greetings to get one more piece of information. They can often pick up mother's maiden name too, with a bit of deduction.

 

If you were worried they could also pick up pet's names, children's names, photo's of the inside of your house etc.

 

Rumour has it that they also look at forums - especially those with photo avatars - in order to target likely candidates.  AIUI, you're at risk if you look particularly debonair and have been captured in a seemingly exotic setting, against a backdrop of tropical plants for example...

[SteveD]

Rumour has it that they also look at forums - especially those with photo avatars - in order to target likely candidates.  AIUI, you're at risk if you look particularly debonair and have been captured in a seemingly exotic setting, against a backdrop of tropical plants for example...

im ok then