UB Debit card skimmed - long weekend?

VanZan

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I check my online account ridiculously often. Last Friday I was shocked to see around €100 had been reserved. I immediately got onto UB's fraud number and was told there were two payments, in sterling, to Vodafone. Never been a Vodafone customer in my entire life or made a payment to them.

Anyway I got the card cancelled. Now the thing is I've been using it online for around ten years and never had this happen before. I don't think it was online at all.

I made a withdrawal at an ATM on Wednesday the 30th July. It was in a shop but I do remember a woman standing "looking" at a shelf very close behind me. I had a good look at the slot the card goes into and everything seemed fine. I even put my hand over the keypad when putting in the PIN. Now prior to this my last ATM withdrawal had been nearly three weeks before on the 11th July so I'm betting it was this especially with it being the run up to a bank holiday weekend.

Anyway the payments are just showing up on my account now. Two payments to Vodafone UK, Newbury one for and another for

I'd say the swines deliberately picked the Friday before a long weekend to start making purchases. Most people would probably be off getting drunk or travelling.

So I'm 90% sure it's this woman that was standing behind me in the shop. I didn't take enough notice of her to recognise her again but I rang the shop owner on Friday to try to warn him that there was funny business going on. The Gardai have proved themselves hopeless and uninterested in my few prior dealings with them. Do you think there's any chance the shop owner would give me his CCTV footage for the morning of July 30th? Especially if (a) I'm on it and (b) this woman does something naughty to the machine after I leave?

But I just can't fathom how they got my card details. Must have been a skimming thing but boy it must have been good. I had a good look at the slot like I said and didn't see anything untoward.

I'm never using an ATM again! I'd love to get the CCTV footage and verify it was this woman and then shove it up on youtube! :)
 
In fairness, it's also possible whoever sabotaged the machine could also have used some sort of keypad overlay. I wouldn't go blaming random people in the absence of any knowledge.
 
Do you think they definitely got the PIN? I know often online you don't need the PIN to purchase items. Not sure about Vodafone POS transactions. Surely if they had the PIN they would have just done a cash withdrawal from an ATM?
 
Sometimes they guess card numbers and run up transactions that way. Happened to me before with a card I had not used in a couple of years, I reckon they just kept trying card no's till they got lucky.
 
I don't use my card on our joint account. I just use the account for paying rent and bills.

There was over €2600 taken out of the account using the card details in my name (not the gf's one).

There is one site I was using and pay for it with a regular payment. So unless someone sat on it for 2 years (the last time I used it in an ATM) they must have gotten it from that site.

It was UB too. They paid the money back no problem though.

A 'hotel' in Kenya was booked twice for over €1k each.
 
I'm never using an ATM again! I'd love to get the CCTV footage and verify it was this woman and then shove it up on youtube! :)

Any update?

From my own experience, I wouldn't make knee-jerk reactions. I had money taken from my account in March immediately after I used an ATM in a shop up North. I was totally convinced it was skimmed in the shop. In reality it had been skimmed at an ATM two months earlier.

The BOI fraud team was able to notify me before I even realised it had happened and had assured me a refund was on the way.

If I was you, the only thing I'd do is ensure I was refunded by the bank. They have sophisticated fraud detection software and take responsibility for the security of their systems, including ATMs. So it's in their interests to get to the bottom of this.
 
Oh sorry! Didn't think anyone was interested. Yes I got refunded the Wednesday following the long weekend so much relieved. Kind of ruined my weekend though as I was seething the entire time.

There were two payments to Vodafone Ltd., Newbury. One for £50 stg and the other for £40. UB were quite good except I still haven't received this "declaration form" they were going on about.
 
As I said above, we were hit for a lot more than that. I was told I would receive a declaration form to sign and I might have to give a statement to the guards.

This was a few weeks ago. Received the refund but never received any form.
 
I got a declaration form today. It was dated 10 August and said I had 15 days to return it or my fraud refund would be reversed!!

Unreal...so basically I had one day to post it back...today! Just after going to my local post office so hopefully it'll get to Dublin by Monday. Wish the weekend wasn't coming up though. I wonder do they mean 15 business days though? If not then it's a little too close for comfort for my liking.
 
Vodafone had a bug a few weeks ago and they text me twice thanking me for payment of €50 and €40, they acknowledged that they had a problem and corrected it, no money was taken from my account
 
My account got hacked this morning. 2,800 taken out. Last time I used the card was Sunday so I presume it was done then. The money has been withdrawn in China and Korea.
 
Is there not limits on withdrawels which are less than this ? Was it done over a few days ?


It was done over 2 days. Last Monday and Tuesday.

Just got the case form from the bank today and the money was used to buy jewellery and computer products.
 
hi mark

Was it an UB account also?

Brendan

Hi Brendan.

No, this was PTSB. But I did use a Ulster bank cash point on Sunday, maybe the card was skimmed there? I'm not sure, but apparently they had every number and visa verification code needed to access my account.
 
I did use a Ulster bank cash point on Sunday, maybe the card was skimmed there? I'm not sure, but apparently they had every number and visa verification code needed to access my account.

Is not the visa verification code something you only use online? You wouldn't enter this at an ATM surely.
 
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