Debit card theft - should I it investigate myself?

[heartshapedpositnotes]

My friend visited my neighbourhood this afternoon/evening. We spent a delightful time at a gastropub (the last time she made a payment on her card), then we went back to mine for a couple of drinks. Upon leaving she realised that her contactless debit card was missing. We assume she didn't secure it properly after paying at the pub and that it dropped out of her coat/bag.

She called up the bank straight away and it transpires that over the course of two hours someone had made seven transactions at four different locations (in a half mile radius) at just under £30 each time, so to the tune of £150-200. The bank have said they'll reimburse her.

We know exactly where the transactions were made and how much. There will be no investigation (which is completely understandable). But I feel like I want to do my own 'investigation', at least going to each location and saying what happened and asking whether those payments ring a bell. I don't expect them to pull out CCTV or to start a big manhunt, but it doesn't sit right that this person, who is obviously local, committed such theft under their and our noses.

What are we meant to do in such circumstances? (Obviously cancelling any contactless cards to prevent this happening again). Will the shops appreciate knowing that fraud has occurred and to look out for the thief in the future?

Oh isn't that shitty.
I know its besides the point, but At least she's getting her money back.
However why will there be no investigation.
This is not only theft it's also fraud. Therefore I don't blame you both for wanting answers. Although I do find it odd that you say 'its understandable that there'll be no investigation."
As I've alluded to a crime has been committed here.
This is why I wouldn't have a contactless card. It's so easy for them to be used frAudulenty.
I once found a contactless card and just handed it straight in to the bank. However not everyone is a honest as me.

It's the price the banks pay in exchange for the convenience of contactless cards.

It’s so annoying isn’t it. I had my card details stolen once and they literally tried to book a taxi- how easy it should have been to catch them!
The lady at Barclays told me it’s not up to the bank to report it to the police but the individual companies where the fraudulent payments were made

I'm not sure what you mean when you say there will be no investigation?
Your friend should report the theft to the police and give them the details of the fraudulent transactions (locations, times, amounts)
The police should make enquiries re CCTV and any further investigations in an attempt to trace the person responsible

I think I just assumed there would be no investigation as she didn't mention anything about police. You're right, of course it should be reported.

The bank, not the individual, are the main point of contact and report to the police if necessary. Bet they don't.

www.actionfraud.police.uk

Your friend can file her own report if the bank don't

It should be reported to the police, but realistically they won't do much. The exception is if there has been a spate of these incidents in the area, in which case your report may trigger further investigation.

it transpires that over the course of two hours someone had made seven transactions at four different locations (in a half mile radius) at just under £30 each time, so to the tune of £150-200.

Weren't we originally told that you could only make three contactless transactions before a PIN is requested ?

What's the upper limit on contactless transactions ? I thought it was £30 ?

Yes DGRossetti, I thought that it was three transactions limit too. How strange

It depends on the floor limit of the individual shops sometimes. If they have a high floor limit then the transaction will go through.

It depends on the floor limit of the individual shops sometimes

They snuck that one through, didn't they. I bet it's no longer "3 contactless before you need the PIN" but "whatever" ?

The exact same thing happened to an elderly relative whilst buying Christmas cards - as she leaned over to choose, someone stole her purse. She had three contactless cards and they were used six times in a 30 minute period for just under £30 mainly buying shoes and perfume. The police sent victim support out as she was very distressed but they didn’t investigate even though the transactions were detailed and there was lots of CCTV in the area.

I wouldn’t blame you for trying to investigate! It’s ridiculous that these scumbags aren’t brought to justice and that they can just get away with it. My relative now won’t go out into town on her own and it’s stolen her independence from her.

Sex offender is wrong don't worry, the £30 limit per transaction still applies but ime you have to do loads before it ask for PIN again, literally months for me and I can't use mine now until I remember the PIN

The same thing happened to me a few weeks ago. My purse was stolen from church at my sons baptism.
Once I’d realised my purse was missing, I’d called the police and all card companies. The person had used them in various shops within 400m from my house.
The police said nothing they could do as I had no suspects. I went to the shops as the banks had given me times and values of transactions. I found can it which chops had cctv. A couple of shops gave me a description of the man (said they thought he was dodgy at the time!)
I went back to the banks and police with the new information. Apparently not worth their time to investigate?! I did get my money back - £200-£300 BUT still annoyed that this person got away with it!

Our bank cards were stolen in a burglary and we didn't discover it until we got up in the morning. Reported it immediately to the banks but over the next few days we discovered that the cards had been used many times in multiple locations. The police were investigating the burglary because our car was also taken and other houses were targeted the same night. We sent them the details of all of the garages and shops where the cards were used but they weren't very interested. My husband went to all of the shops and 3 had CCTV that they let him view (probably shouldn't have). He arranged for them to keep the footage to give to the police. The police then found our car being driven by someone, who claimed they had bought it. We insisted that the police collect the CCTV and turned out the person who was caught driving our car was also the same woman using our bank cards. It was this evidence that convicted her of burglary but had we not done the leg work I think she would have got away with it.

Visit the places where the cards were used. They might not let you view the CCTV but they might.

OMG awful spelling, sorry!

Yes I think you should try - otherwise they will continue getting away with it. Someone local round here had their purse stolen and tracked down the shops and looked at their CCTV. They then posted the guy's face on the local news group in facebook.

Sex offender is wrong don't worry, the £30 limit per transaction still applies but ime you have to do loads before it ask for PIN again, literally months for me and I can't use mine now until I remember the PIN

Was that aimed at me? I never said the £30 limit didn’t apply. I said that the floor limit of the shop may affect whether a PIN is requested in response to the 3 contactless transactions in a row post. If the thief knows the floor limit of shops then they can continue using the card as long as the transaction is under the limit.

Sorry sexnotgender if I misunderstood but you said that a higher amount will go through depending on the floor limit, I was reassuring the poster who was worried that the £30 limit didn't apply - it does, what do you mean by a higher amount, higher than £30? I'm not clear

I work in Fraud & your friend can report too Action Fraud but due to amount taken they might not follow up.

Recently some saucy bastard helped themselves to my credit report, £150 from my current account, applied for an American Express card, a VISA credit card and then opened a Santander bank account.

I bank with NatWest, who were fantastic about the whole thing and dealt with it better than I would've expected.
Credit where credit's due.

And every organisation I spoke to, in order to cancel the above, all recommended that I report it to the fraud report site, so it wouldn't affect my credit scores and also covered me in the event of an investigation.

No I mean if the floor limit is say, £25 then the transaction will go through regardless of how many previous contactless transactions have been made.

The £30 contactless limit still holds but the floor limit of the shop may stop a PIN being requested as it never asks for authorisation.

I don't think any of the shops would remember tbh OP. I've worked in retail and we serve literally hundreds of customers a week, sometimes a day.

No one will remember a £30 transaction among hundreds of others. The only way we remember customers or transactions is if there is something remarkable about them. I remember the bearded, biker man who used to come in very stylishly dressed in a silk blouse and designer handbag but I couldn't tell you what he bought. I remember the woman who flipped her shit because I wouldn't refund a 9 year old DVD player that she had no receipt for but I couldn't pick her out of a line up. They won't recall a run of the mill contactless transaction especially if you have no idea who served them or which till they went through. You might get lucky if you know the time and amount and the person you speak to was on shift at the time but I wouldn't bet on it.

Ok, I see what you mean sex offender but afaik when a PIN is requested is determined by the bank not an individual retailer and isn't determined by the amount, maybe some one who works in a bank can confirm