Originally published in the North Norfolk News, February 2008. Lightly proofread from the surviving column copy, with routine sign-offs or unrelated asides trimmed. The views, figures and circumstances are those of the period.
Every day in the news we read about bank robberies, and even in our own county we’ve had a spate of robberies recently. But the good news is that there’s protection against us losing any money through this and we tend not to worry about where it’s gone because it’s not going directly from our account.
However, did you know that daylight robbery is often going on in your bank without you possibly even realising? I’m talking about fraud – something me and my family shrugged off as being just one of those things that happens on the news, but not in real life – until last weekend.
As my parents aren’t that clued up when it comes to the world wide web and using online banking it is usually me that ends up checking to see what’s happening in their bank accounts.
Last weekend was like no other, except with a few extra bills to pay, and so my mother watched as I logged on to Barclays’ online banking. The current balance was a lot less than expected, and I just presumed she’d spent a lot more during the week and had forgotten where it had all gone.
As she looked through the list of what had cheques had been paid, where card purchases had gone and what had been paid in she soon realised there was one suspicious payment – to ‘LB Camden’. Now as much as I love Camden, this certainly wasn’t me, and it certainly wasn’t my mother who rarely leaves Norfolk! And upon speaking to the bank they couldn’t shed much light on it either.
This was card fraud, and the bank couldn’t tell us anything about it. They cancelled the debit card and I got on the phone to Camden. Camden Council were a little more helpful telling us that it had probably gone on a parking fine from a dodgy mini-cab company. Again, they couldn’t tell us a lot more because it was a weekend – heaven forbid you might have a crisis going on during a weekend!
The weekend and passed, and after two days we were still no closer to finding out where this payment had gone. After visiting our local branch we were put on the phone to call centres in India and Scotland and we found out several more payments had been made including a small £1.00 transaction. But that was all the bank could tell us, and over a week later they still can’t tell us any more then that until their systems update.
This was one of Britain’s leading banks that makes a profit of several million each year, and they couldn’t tell us where all of our money was going.
Consequently this means you don’t have to use a dodgy ATM or have to be shopping on a dodgy website to give others your bank details. Scammers can now go online and use donation websites to constantly guess credit or debit card numbers. And that’s where the £1.00 went from my mother’s account. As soon as they have success with that, they know that this card is in use and can pay money wherever they like. It’s shocking isn’t it?
Luckily for my family, we check our bank accounts regularly and thoroughly. If we’d have left the bank account for another day it’s quite likely her balance would now be in negative numbers. You’re protected against it all, but when you get the money back is another worry. Now are you one of those people who doesn’t check where those transactions are going? Let this be a warning to you…