Well it’s finally happened. There was an attempt to defraud me!

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I’m actually stunned. Within the space of an hour I’ve seen tens of transactions for uber and uber eats come up on my phone for approval. My notifications were going off like crazy. Of course no approval from me because it wasn’t me! Froze the card immediately but they kept trying (pops up as declined because card was frozen).

I’m quite tech savvy - I never click on links, I don’t give out my details, I don’t even use my card details only Apple Pay for this exact reason. I had to AI how the hell this happened and it could have potentially been a bot that goes through thousands of combinations of numbers until they get a match and then use uber to test it as it has very low authentication mechanism for transactions. Then they move on to bigger stuff.

Well thank god for my bank! I stood on the tube frantically clicking ‘DO NOT APPROVE ITS NOT ME’

This was all a while back when everything was paper. Now everything is on my banking app which makes it all so much easier! Plus my bank texts when there's any activity on the account, so I've got no excuse.

Have just come off the phone to my credit card company for the same thing. Thankfully they'd spotted dodgy activity and texted me. Apparently the scamming bastards had done a test 1p transaction through Workfolio. Then they'd tried a transaction with a company in Lewisham, then they tried setting up Amazon Prime - there may have been other attempts, I can't remember. All declined by my bank. I was impressed that it had been detected straight away and no dodgy transactions got through, but clearly my info's been compromised somehow.

Another hint is to never buy anything or access online banking or any website with your card details stored when using WiFi out and about. It's not secure and is hackable. Also scammer will set up wireless access points that make you think you are accessing Costa Coffee's WiFi for example but you are accessing a dodgy hotspot and they can see everything you do over it. It's known as an Evil Twin attack. Don't scan QR codes unless you are sure they are legit.

It’s mental how many people came to this thread to say it’s happened to them over the last couple of days!

Yes second this, my bank pops up with a notification on my phone from the banking app where it tells me the moment a transaction happens (opt in for notifications everyone!). It’s handy for stuff like this, not handy when DH says ‘why have you gone to Starbucks for the third time today’ 😂😂

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002mp9k?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

I am fortunate that its never happened to me but I know plenty that have been scared.

This bbc series is really good and this episode in particular deals with card scams.

I wasn’t sure if it checked the cab before or after the bank check. It would be exceptionally bad luck of course if they had almost identical card numbers and the says expiry and cvv. But I can’t see why a fraudster would continue trying multiple times once it fails - wouldn’t they move onto the next? Whereas if I thought I’d entered my details correctly and the bank approval wasn’t appearing, I’d hit the button to try again. Especially if it were for something l needed quickly (we don’t have Uber here but I presume you order it when you need it so want it to go through quickly).

Yea the odds are unlikely - but not impossible. As I said though, either way you need to cancel your card!

They are usually doing "carding" which is checking if the stolen details are correct and active.
They are probably not ordering a cab, some work with complicit Uber drivers paying for ghost rides with stolen details as a way of money laundering.
Also the way Uber works if a bank issues you a new card number it automatically updates the new card details to "recurring merchants" like Uber. Fraudsters rely on this, meaning they can continue to use the account even after the original card is blocked.

When it happened to me it was Uber Eats. I wonder why that company specifically is prone to this type of fraud?

I was scammed recently, and I felt so stupid afterwards! It was a fake O2 message telling me that they were having trouble processing my bill payment (which was by direct debit) and asked for my card details.

It just so happened that it was only 3 days after my bill had been paid, making it more credible than it would have been at another time in the month. The text message looked exactly like a genuine O2 message, too.

There were red flags, if only I’d thought before reacting. There was no email; O2 always contact me via email as well as by text. Plus, any genuine O2 text joins the thread of previous texts. But I was too panicky to think of that.

Thankfully, my DH immediately worked out that it was a scam and we acted to cancel our cards, so we didn’t lose any money.

However, it didn’t end there. Both my DH and I were conned by the scammer, who made us believe that he was working for the fraud office and persuaded us to download an app that allowed him to access my DH’s laptop. He proceeded to take out a loan in my DH’s name, and the bank approved it despite knowing that there was a scammer about.

It’s just about resolved now, though I’m still worried that we might be charged interest by mistake. Because the bank hasn’t exactly managed things all that well.

How did the bank know it wasn’t you at the shop?

@LizzieW1969 awful. Which bank !

I would assume they had made 3 smallish purchases which would flag as suspicious

Oh how awful. Yes, never download any apps anybody tells you to download. They’re usually remote desktops where they can see and control your device. So if you have passwords written down etc they can see those and gain access to a load of things.

I still don’t get it! I’ve often made 3 small purchases in quick succession. I guess the banks’ algorithms are more sophisticated than we know.

It’s to do with how little authentication they need to process payments. And the ‘goods’ are instant.

It’s actually Nationwide. They’ve been very good mostly but I do feel let down this time.

I had very similar recently! I was minding my own business watching my sons rugby tots class and my phone just blew up with notification after notification, all for Audible and Amazon, small amounts. It was so bizarre. Even the woman I spoke to on the fraud team seemed a bit baffled 😂 they were very good though, cancelled and reissued the card, and reversed all the charges.

So they did try a couple more times today - this time on the google play store but luckily I think they’ve given up now

It did put me in a spot of bother today though because my bank replaced the cards for both of my accounts as a precaution so I had a panic when I couldn’t get on the tube! Luckily I remembered about a dormant CC I never use and turned out ok in the end!

Yes, he got us to download an app called ‘my desk’. We really did feel totally foolish. Thankfully, our devices have now been cleaned.

I asked them that and they said it had flagged something in their systems. The very quick repeat swipes. The first two had gone through then presumably the system had requested a PIN and they had failed to provide one. I was also baffled as it is a shop I use all the time too.

I once made a profit on a scam. Came home from a trip and saw a transaction for Uber. Contacted Uber to dispute it as I wasn’t even in the country. They said it all looked legitimate and investigated. Turns out it was Uber eats and my DC had ordered pizza on my card. Fine and the call operator and I chuckled about it. Then she refunded me the £25 anyway! (Was the very early days of Uber eats and I didn’t know it existed).

I had an unsettling experience a few months ago whereupon a very well spoken woman rang my mobile, saying she was from the fraud team at my bank. She knew several of my details (including my post code) and said a transaction had been attempted in a city miles away from me. In all she had my full name, my post code, my mobile number, the name of my bank, the last four digits of the long number on my debit card and the CVC number on said debit card (she may have had more personal info, I can't remember entirely). Genuinely, she sounded like Princess Catherine, that's how well spoken she was!

I'm usually SO savvy when it comes to stuff like this, but I was initially taken in and told her my balance when she asked (presumably she was gauging whether it was worth the effort). I became suspicious when she asked me to confirm the remainder of my card number (beyond the final four digits she had). I told her I was going to hang up and ring her/the bank back, and she told me it wasn't necessary because weren't we having a lovely chat and hadn't she proven she was genuine? I told her I was ringing the bank and potentially the police, and at that point a man cut in (as though he was listening on another line) and told her to hang up. I rang the bank and cancelled the card etc.

She actually rang me again the following week (not realising they'd already tried to scam me) and did the whole spiel again. I let her go through her spiel, and told her a wildly fake balance for the shits and giggles (said it was £5 mill 😂) then told her the line was tapped and I'd kept her talking long enough to trace. Same guy cut in yelling hang up.

I'm convinced they got my details (given it was only the last 4 digits of my card they had) from one of these well publicised hacks. Your CVC isn't meant to be stored in an online store account, but I can't see how else they got it given the card in question had only ever been used online. I don't use an online store account now when I'm buying, I always check out as a guest now.

I’m actually stunned that on a post where people are sharing their experiences of fraud someone would come on and post a fraudulent link. I’ve reported this.

I agree thought it was odd. Reported.