Credit Card Cloning AARRGGHH!!!
 

Oh my god!!!!! What a flippin nightmare :mad:
Briefly the story goes like this: Got my locker broken into the other day at the gym, got my watch & mobile phone robbed,and my car keys were found in the car park, thought that was were it ended. I wish!

Today my wife tried to use our debit card it got declined, so she checks the account and instantly thinks I have a mistress, :D as a number of transactions appear at a restaurant that we have never been to. So after a further bit of digging we find our credit cards have been blocked as the company declined them as a few transaction for around the £500 mark were tried at shops, etc.
Anyway after a few frantic phone calls we have found out that last week when it all happened & my car keys were found, they must have been in my car taken my cards, cloned them and put them back hence me thinking everything was okay. Apparently according to one of the fraud people I spoke to, there is a device readily available on the internet which allows people to swipe a card, plug it into a PC and download all the cardholder's info, and juut make a new card called "cloning" the original.

Now I have posted on here just to let people know and beware that it happens and if you feel that you cards have been tampered with, take no chances and get them cancelled straight away, or you could end up trying to explain away about £3500 worth of unwanted transactions :scared:

And the moral of the story is; It wouldn't have happened if I was quite happy to stay fat :)

Oh and by the way still no viewers for the house, so January isn't looking too promising at the moment.

Currently feeling a bit down after the high of getting the visa's

Re: Credit Card Cloning AARRGGHH!!!
 

OMG Dicko what a nightmare!!!!!!

Hope you get it sorted. The cheeky buggars have the nerve to nick yer cards and put em back :mad: ..........OMG I dont know what to say!! Robbing swines, dont know how they sleep at night. You will get it back wont you??

Cheeky

Re: Credit Card Cloning AARRGGHH!!!
 

Hey Cheeky
Thanks for the remarks, I dont know about getting the money back, I think it all depends on what happens with the police investigation, I have to fill in a few forms to state it wasn't our spend and also attach the police crime reference number, but I will have to wait and see.
It would be interesting if this has happend to anyone on here, as I had a look on the internet and it was more common than I thought.

Re: Credit Card Cloning AARRGGHH!!!
 

We had our card cloned,must have happened at a restaurant. Only came to light when the credit card co phoned.


Also had identity of dead previous householder stolen when we got bills for him. Bit difficult when he's been dead for nearly 20 years. Had people round the house demanding money and everything! Somehow they got a driving licence. Don't underestimate these crooks!

Re: Credit Card Cloning AARRGGHH!!!
 

There was a documentary on it a few months ago. It's huge in Luton apparently - 5 miles away - nice :eek:

Point they made - NEVER let the card out of your sight. If it needs swiping, either go with them or have them do it at the table or wherever.

Bad luck, Dicko - you had no way of knowing they had gone and come back. Unfortunately it is big big business and you are not alone. No help but a bit of karma coming your way
:)

Re: Credit Card Cloning AARRGGHH!!!
 

The thing is what about this 'chip and pin'???? Thats supposed to safeguard you when you use it in shops and stuff....... :confused:

From what I can gather its not up and running everywhere yet..........be glad when it is.....

Cheeky

Re: Credit Card Cloning AARRGGHH!!!
 

Very sorry to hear about that - you must be very stressed and angry about it.

FWIW, we've got some card protection insurance which costs us 30 GBP/year for all our UK bank and credit cards. Yes, I moaned about the cost, but when we were mugged in Barcelona and all our cards were stolen, all it took was one quick phone call to get 'em all stopped and new ones reordered for priority delivery (they arrived in a couple of days). The stolen cards were stopped instantly (and in fact, from the time of the theft) and we were not liable for the fraudulent spend. I can't remember the name of the firm we use, but if you search on google, there should be plenty such companies (or ask your bank?).

Hope it works out OK for you....

Cheers,
Anya

Re: Credit Card Cloning AARRGGHH!!!
 

We also had our card cloned at a restaurant. The stupid thing was that we were there with a party of about 20 people and we all had our cards cloned!As we didn't meet very often as a group we instantly knew that it had happened at that particular restaurant. We informed the police but not much seemed to happen...

GLR

Re: Credit Card Cloning AARRGGHH!!!
 

You'd think the credit card company would take the restaurant off its list of merchants, wouldn't you?

I thought the micro-chips on cards were meant to prevent this kind of thing?

Other than that, the problem will persist until the penalities are made to fit the crime. They clearly don't at the moment.

Jeremy

Re: Credit Card Cloning AARRGGHH!!!
 

The view seems to be that it was a problem with a single waiter rather than the restaurant as a whole so the police and credit card co.s seem not to take action against the restaurant.

This was a couple of years ago though so before chip and pin. I should think that cloning is much harder with the new chipped cards.

GLR

Re: Credit Card Cloning AARRGGHH!!!
 

The company I use is Credit Card Sentinel - and I think it cost me £39 for 3 years membership. They're very good - and if you need to call them from abroad you either do it reverse charge or give them the number and they call you straight back. Excellent service.

Re: Credit Card Cloning AARRGGHH!!!
 

Oh How awful,

But how can you tell if they are swiping it through a paying machine or a cloning machine???? And in in resteruants you stay at the table while they take it dont you, wonder what they would say if you asked to come with them :confused: This is scary......