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Original poster

ATM withdrawal wasn’t me!

180 replies

SingSweetNightingale · 06/08/2022 18:38

Hi all,

I’m looking for some advice as I can’t find much online that matches my current situation.

Whilst at work last Sunday I noticed two cash withdrawals at cash points had been made on my card. I immediately panicked as they totalled £300.
I contacted the bank and cancelled the card and they opened a dispute with the fraud team.

This is where my problem starts. The bank are refusing to refund me as they say it can’t be fraudulent. They said the transactions were made with my chip and pin card which can’t be cloned and whoever took the money used a cashpoint so must have known my pin.
I realised the last time I’d used the card was in Aldi the day before using chip and pin but these withdrawals weren’t made until the following day.
The location of the cashpoint is 30 minutes from my home however at the time I was an hour away from the location at work which I can prove.
Nobody uses my card or knows my pin but they’re adamant that it is not fraud and will not refund.

Has anyone been through something similar? Is it really impossible for cloning to happen on a chip and pin card? It seems like a complete mystery yet I’m being made out to be a criminal and I’m currently £300 down.

TIA

OP posts:
LIZS · 07/08/2022 09:29

Was it the shopping card you used at Aldi or the main one? Could someone have watched you use it and distracted you? Either there or when you previously had used it? Was it the bank Fraud team you spoke to?

Endlesslypatient82 · 07/08/2022 09:30

I’ve been in a similar situation with DP. He lied and lied about money, I never knew how much debt he was in until I broke down and said I was leaving unless he sorted himself out.

@SingSweetNightingale posted this a few months ago.

op - I suspect that the culprit is probably rather close to you. Don’t waste your time trying to get a refund from bank or pursuing with ombudsman.

queenmeadhbh · 07/08/2022 09:30

Endlesslypatient82 · 07/08/2022 09:26

YOUR card was used.

either by you or someone else.

And if someone else - they oddly enough returned it to you! Ie someone who has access to your wallet (and is a bit thick)

Nope - OP has either since discovered, or since revealed (unclear which), that she did not in fact have the card, still doesn’t, so it has been stolen!

Endlesslypatient82 · 07/08/2022 09:34

queenmeadhbh · 07/08/2022 09:30

Nope - OP has either since discovered, or since revealed (unclear which), that she did not in fact have the card, still doesn’t, so it has been stolen!

Show quote history

And on basis of that post, I know who I’d be looking at first

LIZS · 07/08/2022 09:34

Has the card been cancelled?

Wheresmywoolyjumpers · 07/08/2022 09:40

I think as fraud and theft increases the banks are looking for more and more ways not to pay out. So making this stuff much harder and looking to blame you for your losses. I would be it is a shoulder surfer who pickpocketed you.

queenmeadhbh · 07/08/2022 09:42

Endlesslypatient82 · 07/08/2022 09:34

And on basis of that post, I know who I’d be looking at first

Show quote history

definitely a possibility, however I think there’s quite a high likelihood that someone in Aldi saw her enter her PIN and pickpocketed the card.

i really want @SingSweetNightingale to come back to explain the sequence of discovering she didn’t in fact have the card because yesterday at 20:16 she says that the last time she had it was last Sat afternoon and that she initially thought she still had it but didn’t - but then at 20:18 says she is in the dark as to how the card could have been cloned….even though by then she definitely knew it had been stolen, not cloned 🤯

CecilyP · 07/08/2022 09:42

2 Questions

Was it your main card or your shopping card used at Aldi?

If the shopping card, when did you last see your main card?

I don’t really understand why you didn’t check that you didn’t still have both card before phoning the bank and talking about cloning.

alnawire · 07/08/2022 09:48

I can't understand why OP is asking about cloned cards when she knows it wasn't cloned, it was stolen. Is it some desperate attempt for us to validate the cloned story so she doesn't have to face up to the fact she knows exactly stole her card and money?

burnoutbabe · 07/08/2022 09:51

Have you ever had this main card?

I do have sone cards in my filing that I never use -debit cards -and the card would be in my paperwork with original pin (which I would hade changed on recipt)

However it's possible you never got the card on set up and someone intercepted your post to get card then pin?

But then the fraud usually happens quickly after that.

So have you ever had the card/that pin?

MRex · 07/08/2022 09:55

Endlesslypatient82 · 07/08/2022 09:30

I’ve been in a similar situation with DP. He lied and lied about money, I never knew how much debt he was in until I broke down and said I was leaving unless he sorted himself out.

@SingSweetNightingale posted this a few months ago.

op - I suspect that the culprit is probably rather close to you. Don’t waste your time trying to get a refund from bank or pursuing with ombudsman.

Ah. Prime suspect found then. OP - best to ask (hopefully ex) DP for your money back.

MolkosTeenageAngst · 07/08/2022 09:59

If you know which cash point was used, can you ask for CCTV? It was years ago now but when I was at sixty form a girl stole another girls card and used it to withdraw money, she was found out because the CCTV clearly showed who it was using the cash machine.

Oblomov22 · 07/08/2022 10:06

You do sound confused. Have you now reported it stolen. You need to phone tomorrow and chase, apologise for the confusion and say you now realise it's stolen not cloned.

iRun2eatCake · 07/08/2022 10:14

SingSweetNightingale · 06/08/2022 21:01

I last used it in Aldi on the Saturday afternoon at 4pm. It was then on Sunday at 11.45am that the withdrawals were made.

So is it possible that you didn't take the card out of the chip and pin .... and that's where it was stolen.

Contact Aldi

JenniferPlantain · 07/08/2022 10:19

OP - from what I am reading your card was stolen. You need to phone police and report it as such.

luxxlisbon · 07/08/2022 10:19

I can't understand why OP is asking about cloned cards when she knows it wasn't cloned, it was stolen. Is it some desperate attempt for us to validate the cloned story so she doesn't have to face up to the fact she knows exactly stole her card and money?

Exactly, even after OP accepted her card was missing she was still going on about cloning and contacted the ombudsman! What does the ombudsman have to do with her PIN and card being physically taken/stolen??
No wonder the bank aren’t taking you seriously OP.

BorsetshireBanality · 07/08/2022 10:28

Either there is some sort of duplicate card that maybe was intercepted before OP received it by a person who knows her PIN number (the ex?) or her card was stolen by a person who saw her PIN number, at Aldi

AllThatFancyPaintsAsFair · 07/08/2022 10:35

venicebeachb · 07/08/2022 09:02

This has happened to someone I know and they didn’t have to jump through this many hoops.

common scam. You use your card and pin, the person watches, they then pickpocket your card. Now they know the pin and have the card

It's seems really really unlikely that a skillful thief was in the queue behind the OP in Aldi AND that she used her pin (not contactless) AND was able to steal her in card whilst she was still at the till, I'm assuming she might have noticed if the person suddenly abandoned their shopping to follow her to steal her card

oranmore · 07/08/2022 10:36

OP this whole post is really confusing.

You never once said in your original post that your card had been stolen.

You need to get your story right and report back to bank/police EXACTLY the chain of events

Original poster
SingSweetNightingale · 07/08/2022 10:47

Ok seems everyone is confused so let me give a detailed play by play.

Sunday at 11.45 I’m at work and a notification pops up on my phone saying I’ve made two withdrawals at cash points totalling £300.

I immediately contact the bank and cancel the card. They ask me a series of questions including whether I still have the card. I say yes and at this point assume it must have been cloned. Please bear in mind I know NOTHING about cards, fraud or cloning as this has never happened to me before. I’m only going off what I’ve read in the news etc.

The investigation is passed to the fraud team but I hear nothing for two days as Starling have a strange system where you can’t speak to them directly you can only email or send messages via the app.

When I finally hear from them again they tell me it can’t have been cloned and ask me again if the card is in my possession. I again check my purse and find the card I’m in possession of is the linked card and not the main card. IMPORTANT PIECE OF INFORMATION - I never use the linked card. I only ever use the main card as I found it annoying having to top the linked card up.

I then give this information to the bank so by now we’re on Wednesday. They then ask me questions about how someone could have seen my pin and I explain the last time I used the card (the main card) was at Aldi on Saturday afternoon using chip and pin. I tell them at this point the card is clearly lost or stolen and do not
speak of cloning.

Friday I receive my final message from starling saying they will not refund as the withdrawals are not fraudulent.

I have passed it to the ombudsman as their job is to review decisions and this is the only way I can now receive my refund.

OP posts:
alnawire · 07/08/2022 10:56

So why have you posted here asking about cloned cards? It has not been cloned. You already knew that when you posted.

Glitteratitar · 07/08/2022 10:58

So the main card has been taken from your purse, and replaced with the linked card?

Why do you think it must have been a stranger? How would a stranger have the linked card?

Original poster
SingSweetNightingale · 07/08/2022 11:01

Nobody has replaced my card in my purse. The linked card was already in there but I don’t use it so mistook it for the main card. They’re the same colour, same bank account details, same name on the them.

OP posts:
Endlesslypatient82 · 07/08/2022 11:03

Not confused op
but based on your previous posts op - it is possibly quite likely your dp has something to do with this

Glitteratitar · 07/08/2022 11:05

Right, so you always carried two cards around, and now only have one? And when starling asked you if you still have it, you said yes because you confused the linked with the main card?

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