unsceneunheard

Bank/Credit Card Fraud.

It's always one of those 'it could never happen to me' senarios. It's always something you read about or hear on the telly.

Not something that happens to yourself and five others around you - in less than a week.

Today I suffered that dreaded experience.

I guess thats what I get for shopping in River Island. (haha)

Went to buy a shirt/dress/thing that I'd been eying up, only to be told that there were 'insuficient funds' in my account when I went to pay at the till. Knowing this was not the case I asked them to put it aside and would just go get the cash from the machine outside (I know chip and pin machines can be mighty fussy so I wasn't much phased). Then I check my balance on the cash machine. Weird. NEGATIVE NUMBERS. I check my online balance. It's the same. WHAT THE HELL???

Call my dad. He tells me to go right to the bank and talk to them. Which is what I do (I guess I'm lucky that our shopping centre has everything I could ever need all under one roof!).  The wonderful lady there got me a cup of not too terrible coffee and sat me down and went through all the account with me. We checked all the account activity and discovered that money has been coming off since Sunday in small batches - and while we were sitting there money was still being taken! It seems these fraudsters think if they do it in small batches (say £20-£50 at a time) that you wont notice....I think I'll notice quite easily considering there was only about £150 ($300) in the account to begin with!

Blah. Its sorted now - well as sorted as it can be. The account is on hold (no money can come out), and the fraud department will be calling me in the next week - but I won't see my monies for close to a fortnight probably. It seems the fraud team are very busy right now.

I'm sure the fraud teams at all banks and CC companies are overworked lately. Several friends have been victims within the past couple of days - some for small amounts and some, like mine, throwing them into the red and deeper and deeper in debt that isn't ours.

So...be careful kiddies (and grown ups!) Check your accounts and monitor them like a hawk; in this financial climate the crooks are steeping lower and lower.

Some articles to keep in mind:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7952598.stm

Oh and if your wondering...yes I did go back and pick up my top/dress/thing. And then I got a carmel Sundae from McDs. :D