It happened to me on a two week trip to the UK in 2014. The CC company were very good and I got it all back but it was pain to sort out. I think my CC was cloned at a BR station where a transaction did not go through and something weird happened with the card: I cannot remember. Now the credit card company text me on my UK number periodically (I have a dual SIM phone) and I have to text back confirming that the previous few transactions (which they list) are actually mine. I found out when it happened to me and I told people about it just how common CC fraud is.

In addition, when my husband first left for Canada (I went later), someone used his name and our address in the UK to get out loads of mobile phone contracts. That was a nightmare to sort out as the companies would not talk to me as I was not him and he was in Canada. I wondered how the thieves managed to get the phones (which apparently were delivered to our address). Someone told me they wait down the road and intercept the delivery.

The weirdest thing that I will always remember occurred several years ago on the UK. I got a call one evening from Barclaycard. I could hear call centre noises in the background. They asked me for my personal details and reminded me that when I had signed up for Barclaycard, I had agreed they could ask me for them. This sounded odd as I've my B/C for well over 30 years and you did not sign up for anything like that in those days (it was a cheque guarantee card on my Barclays bank account). When I told the caller that I would prefer to call them back because I did not feel comfortable and I was sure he would understand, he lost his temper with me and I got very upset.

Barclaycard told me on calling them that that was the clue: a representative would never make you feel that way if you wanted to verify they were who they said they were. The call sounded so authentic and for a while I was really taken in.

S

Scotiabank have TWICE sent me replacement Visa cards out of the blue, with a letter advising me that they had thought that my card had been compromised.

When I enquired the second time, I was told that they couldn't tell me anything about it.

There were no fraudulent transactions on my account, so they must just have been attempted ones.

Ive had Scotia do this twice to me, and I don't even use my Scotiabank credit card

We've had this done in the UK. My understanding is that sometimes someone's card is used fraudulently and the bank/provider replaces all the cards with numbers that are similar or have similar sequences (something like that) to be on the safe side. So it might not be your card but it might have happened to someone with some sequences of numbers on theirs the same as yours.

S