More card cloning (this time VS MBNA)

Mods- I never know where to post these days so please move as appropriate .
All VS MBNA cardholders please be extra vigilent
Mr DL has had a bit of a bashing today as it looks as if his VS MBNA card has been cloned (£7,000 and rising by the minute ). MBNA sent him a text on his way home to ask if a large flight related transaction was his (No - it wasn't me in my effort to creep up the front on my next jaunt), several expensive rail trips in France etc etc. He has replied in the negative but their website seems to indicate 9-5 opening hours .
OMG ultra spooky!!! MBNA have just rung him!!!!!!!
Lets see what happens.....
DL

PS On a lighter note he did wonder if he could keep any FC miles that were earned

This happened to me - I could actually identify the transaction where it almost certainly happened. The only time the card was out of my sight was when behind the desk at Dixons.

I determined to never use a credit card again at an airport.

All too easy when they can see your ticket at duty free! And of course it's just being friendly when someone asks your travel plans - isn't it? NOT!

I later learned of others in very similar circumstances.

I doubt this would in any way be related to just VS/MBNA.
If they can get sticky fingers on your card and scan it and pass it in front of a camera, its the same as actually having your card - almost any card!

Never nice when it happens. Be interesting to hear how you think MBNA dealt with it once over. When it happened with my Nationwide Current account, I was impressed with their handling and how quick the money was back in my account.

Bill, this is deja vu for me I've had my Post office MC cloned (as has my stepfather with his Lloyds MC). I have to say the PO were fantastic (£11,000+ being spent by somebody pretending to be me) and they sorted it out without any major inconvenience to me (Lloyds were less helpful with my stepfather but eventually sorted out the situation).
MBNA have frozen the account forthwith with new cards to be issued etc etc.
Mr DL doesn't use his card for much apart from VS transactions (although he did use it a few times in the USA last month including PF Chang , Cheesecake Factory, Banana Republic ).
DL

I was very impressed when they contacted me a few months ago before any cloning had taken place!

The petrol station at our local Sainsburys had been raided and the thieves took the computer which had the card details recorded on it of everyone who had been through the station for the last week or so. They contacted me to say they were cancelling the card as a precaution and a new one was already in the post to me. They just checked to see if all the transactions recorded were correct. All they actually said was a security breach had occured - we saw a report in the local newspaper a few days later and put 2 + 2 together.

We had our card cloned in Rusholme, Manchester once and the people used it to buy Car insurance and pay for a driving test....(!)

We had our card cloned in Rusholme, Manchester once and the people used it to buy Car insurance and pay for a driving test....(!)

oh the stupidity of some of the criminal fraternity ! not only give them all your contact details but also where your going to be on a specic time / date !

oh the stupidity of some of the criminal fraternity ! not only give them all your contact details but also where your going to be on a specic time / date !

No, I find this only too easy to believe. A few years ago I worked weekends at a theme park - there were more than a few pre-booked tickets bought using stolen / cloned cards, which had to be presented when the tickets were collected. Not all of the people on admissions were quite as plain-clothed as they looked some days...

[honey lamb]

I've had cards cloned twice, the first time I discovered when my credit card bill arrived the day before I was due to leave on holiday The amounts used were negligible and went under the radar. There was no time to get a replacement card to me but I was able to give locations of where I would be and they agreed to monitor for any suspiciously large amounts and sort it all out when I got home. Fortunately it all worked out well and the replacement arrived two days later.

The second occasion was more sinister in that the card had been cloned "in house" as it were. On my way home from work there was a news report of cloned credit cards belonging to the three major banks here having been discovered in the USA and believed that the victims were from people who had travelled there in the previous 18 months. Of course I just had to be in that cohort and sure enough there was a letter awaiting me at home. I called. The cloned card had not been used but as a precaution there was a new one on its way to me which arrived the next day

I've had my credit cards cloned several times over the last ten years - think at least 3, maybe 4 occasions.

Fortunately never a debit card - can imagine that might be more of a pain to sort out as you're dealing with your own money rather than credit line.

I understand crooks usually try a small transaction first to make sure the card works before trying a larger amount.

The best service I ever had was when I had a real Amex cloned - one call and it was cancelled and I used their emergency card replacement - went into an Amex office in London and they made up a replacement card for me on the spot.

[honey lamb]

I understand crooks usually try a small transaction first to make sure the card works before trying a larger amount.

A stop was put on my credit card last summer in Las Vegas after I purchased a $3 bus ticket on the Golden Ace as my 24 hour ticket had just run out and I hadn't any change to use cash!

So sorry to hear about this DL - mr cat had this happen to him a few years back (to the tune of around £7k) and I know how it made us feel. It was a Saturday and we called them straight away. As you say, we were advised to call the fraud dept on the Monday, as that was when the office was next open, but the number we called on the Sat did put the amount into suspense immediately.

What puzzled us then - and still does puzzle us - was that there were 3 fraudulent transactions - all on the same day, in the south of France (never been there) and at the same shop. Wouldn't you have thought that might just have flagged up an unusual pattern to them? Well, wouldn't you????

[Scrooge]

I've been lucky, never happened to me, did happen to my boss though,it's become a Christmas party favourite story. The guy never carries cash, everything goes on his Amex card, he had his cloned and a few charges ran up Amex called him, ran through the charges to find out when the card was cloned, needless to say he was amused to find that the last charge was actually a hold put against it for expense on a room at a hotel he owned, needless to say finding the idiot that cloned the card wasn't hard, but it was painful.

I understand crooks usually try a small transaction first to make sure the card works before trying a larger amount.

A stop was put on my credit card last summer in Las Vegas after I purchased a $3 bus ticket on the Golden Ace as my 24 hour ticket had just run out and I hadn't any change to use cash!

Nightmare to have your card suspended when you're overseas. I only really use credit cards for unexpected transactions when I'm abroad (or pay at pump in gas stations... wouldn't risk a debit card in one of those!) - so I always use the online messaging facility with the card company to tell them that I'll be away and the dates... Worked so far.

Letting the CC company know when travelling is a very good idea.

Usually do this over the phone - where can I find details of the messaging service for VS AMEX for example?

I would have to say that transaction monitoring appears variable.

I frequently get calls from Natwest mastercard requesting confirmation of transactions - anything that looks unusual to them (well, ok, their computers) basically.

VS AMEX have never done so - despite many large transactions...

I have been lucky to date, never had one cloned - but have become increasingly vigilant over the last few years. This also means being very cautious about who is doing what with my card at all times particularly in high risk situations like airports, resaurnats, bars etc, hiding my PIN entry etc.

Still, they'll probably get me one of these days!
Take care out there!

[mitchja]

where can I find details of the messaging service for VS AMEX for example?

If you log into your online account, then click the 'message' button, one of the options for the subject line is 'I'm going on holiday'

I had my VS Amex cloned a few weeks ago too, i noticed it when i made a monthly payment and the balance went up ! Have no idea where it got cloned as i never let it out of my sight, in stores i go with the assistant to the till, same in restaurants etc.

Rang MBNA and they immediately closed the card and a new one arrived 2 days later. They refunded all the dodgy transactions just on my say so over the phone. All were internet transactions with card holder not present.

I always let them know when i am going abroad just in case they spot an unusual spending pattern, which they did previously when i spent £4000 in 10mins booking flights, hotels and car hire online for a holiday, they rang me within 30mins which i thought was outstanding.

Sorry to hear this DL, sadly this is becoming a regular feature among our friends. To date we have always had the money replaced very quickly but the time, inconvenience and general suspicion of all strangers thereafter makes it a very negative experience.

I always let them know when i am going abroad just in case they spot an unusual spending pattern, which they did previously when i spent £4000 in 10mins booking flights, hotels and car hire online for a holiday, they rang me within 30mins which i thought was outstanding.

A couple of times in the past I have had the experience of the card being denied at a till, and my phone going off immediately with Tesco / RBS asking "can you confirm that you are in x and have just attempted to make a payment of y?"

There was an interesting article in the Sunday Times Money section on 30 January.

It seems that MBNA give out pin numbers via their automated reminder service, in other words,customers can retrieve their pin in real time, rather than by post.

Apparently the pin will be given out by supplying very little information ie DoB and address.

So if your wallet/purse gets nicked/lost and your driving licence is also in it.........!

In the article there was also a warning about giving personal information (DoB etc) on social network sites.

MBNA provides cards for Amazon, Virgin and some Amex.

[Neil]

It seems that MBNA give out pin numbers via their automated reminder service, in other words,customers can retrieve their pin in real time, rather than by post.

Apparently the pin will be given out by supplying very little information ie DoB and address.

So if your wallet/purse gets nicked/lost and your driving licence is also in it.........!

That's right, but they have to get on to your online account area first. So it is important you have unique log in details to that, as without that info they won't be able to log on and subsequently get to the 'show me my pin' section.

That's right, but they have to get on to your online account area first. So it is important you have unique log in details to that, as without that info they won't be able to log on and subsequently get to the 'show me my pin' section.

Hi Neil, this is not about being online.

I don't have a MBNA card. However it seems that if I did have such a card and had forgotten my Pin, I could telephone their automated reminder service, give information typically found on a driving licence (one chap was asked for the security number on the back of the card and his date of birth, another his DoB and address) and I would be given the pin. No passwords required.

And off to the shops the fraudsters go.

Hi all,

Thought I'd revive this thread as it looks as though we've just been hit on our VS Amex card.

Strange thing is neither the wife or I (we're both cardholders) can work out where we might have been compromised. The account is used a lot but we are both super conscious since we've been had twice before with other cards.

Spoke to MBNA tonight and the account is frozen, security will call next week to go through the details.

Miopyk

My Priority Club Visa card had fraudulant activity the other week & the fraud dept rang me. At the time it was cloned, the card was locked in a briefcase at my home but had been used in the USA.

The only time I'd used the card recently was to purchase some goods thru Priority Club shopping site, so it hadn't been out of my site.

I'm stumped

R-P

Hope it all gets sorted out soon DL. I had a strange situation where we were advised when we came back from holiday that someone had tried to intercept a delivery of an expensive camera to our house. We had not bought the camera but it had been purchased over the internet using our credit card and our address. If the courier hadn't known us he may have handed it over to him. We had told the card company we were abroad so wondered if someone in house had passed this information on as the credit card company seemed to know of the scam.

Get a Natwest Debit card - I am sick of calling them to unblock it when overseas. Given my line of work it is a pain and as such have alternatives in place.

But even when the trail is obvious - buy airline ticket, pay for LHR parking, lunch in T3 and 12hrs later try to use in LAX it's blocked.

Still they keep paying my a goodwill compensation and cost of my international call so it's almost worth it!

w.