credit card fraud - odd details

[duckydoo234]

Lots of fraudulent activity on my credit card today. I've spoken to the company, and I'm sure it'll all get sorted, but there are a couple of odd details.

Firstly, they say some of the transactions took place on my phone. Obviously not the case, but I'm now concerned whoever it is has some sort of access to my phone or can spoof it. Anyone have this happen to them?

Secondly, most of the total amount (though not most of the # of transactions) is to pay parking fines to councils. Now, I know no-one likes paying parking fines, but this would create a paper trail back to the person who used it. Am I missing something?

Watching with interest.

Can I ask was your credit card either an M&S card or one that was held on the M&S site when they experienced their data breach?

I had an M&S card linked to my M&S account when the data breach occurred along with one from a different bank. Both have been targeted and peppered with numerous fraudulent transactions in the months since.

In the end both cards were closed because the banks didn’t seem to be able to explain why changed pins / cards / passwords were not stopping the transactions being charged.

Fraud is definitely becoming more and more complex with the scammers always one step ahead.

I hope you sort the phone aspect in due course.

It would seem so obvious but I don’t think anybody will be bothered. Unless the person with the parking fines admits they will not take this further due to ‘lack of evidence’.

You see this in the police programmes where they stop the people driving without valid insurance, driving licence and MOT. They usually get a 6 months ban from driving (which they are not entitled to without a licence in any case).

No, it wasn't M&S.

I've done some research today, and credit card companies use a fraud prevention method called digital fingerprinting, whereby they build up a profile of legitimate use, e.g. user often buys cinema tickets from an iphone in the evening, and then reduces the security measures on transactions that fit this profile. Which, I'm sure is great, until the fraudsters get hold of the digital fingerprint key and can replicate it on another device.

Seems this is what happened here, and prior to knowing this, I had already let them know I believed it was an inside job and pointed to a specific employee.

So we'll see where we get to.

Another £1000 or so went through this evening, despite them blocking the card and saying all pending transactions would be cancelled.