Hi,
While in the UK, I would suggest using ATM's inside banks. I used an ATM, just once during a two week trip, outside of Russel Square station, and somebody got my card and pin number, draining my account $1,700 before it was noticed.
I'm not a newbie at travel. Still have no idea how it happened. Would also suggest checking your bank account daily while on holiday.
It happens like this:
https://youtu.be/C5z8JZk7bsI
I assume you contacted your bank. As long as you notify them in a timely manner, you are not responsible for fraudulent withdraws from a debit card.
Unfortunately, unless this was the only time you have used the card at all in recent history, there is no way you will ever know when or where that information was stolen. If you use the same card back home, any number of opportunities will have been presented to the thieves allowing them to collect the card info. You bank will never tell you even if they find out where and who and when the card was compromised. It is just an unfortunate coincidence that the theft from your account happened when it did. Hope your bank restores your funds quickly.
It is to keep aware of this type of issue that I have every alert turned on for my cards that they offer. Any use, any amount, any where, and I get an email and a text from the card issuer asking if the transaction was done by me. It sometimes gets annoying when I am having a bust shopping outing and I am constantly getting the messages, some requiring my response to allow the transaction to complete, but if it stops just one on this type of issue then it is worth it.
In Rome, in 2016, I was at an ATM in an enclosure at a bank branch on a Sunday afternoon. A man rushed in, rattling me and reached over my shoulder and grabbed my ATM card right out of the bank slot. He was so fast and I was rattled that I did not realize he stole my card! I thought the machine ate it. I went to the bank on Monday morning to ask the Manager for my card and she said it is not here. That's when I knew.
I called my bank and he and his gang had drained my account of $3,500! I was refunded the money of course but first of all, I had to replace it for about a week before the bank refunded my money. Scary!
My new rule for ATM use is: only at a bank during business hours when assistance is available if needed. I try at all costs not to go on a weekend or evening when the bank is closed.
So far, so good. Hope my experience can help someone else.
Michael thanks for posting the video link - very instructive.
I always wiggle the card reader to try to detect a skimmer, but thanks to the video, I can see that I was being too gentle.
From now on, I will try to pull it straight out (and hard!) before using my card.
Lesson learned.
You're welcome. In my neck of the woods their has been a rash of skimmers at gas pumps. The police have made some arrests. Sunoco has installed Apple/Android pay readers their pumps, so that's where I get my gas nowadays.
Just a side note on the advice to check your bank account daily -- make sure you do that from a secure site!
I have all transactions by magnetic stripe blocked on my main travel account.
Increasingly ATMs in the UK are contactless but they are still fairly rare.
Bank was notified and I got the money back. I checked it for a skimmer, but I guess not well enough.
@Mark, I do rarely use the card; however, my bank did show me all the details. The skimming (I guess) did occur in London and all of the fraudulent transactions occurred at the same ATM near the V and A museum.
Anyway, there is an alert for the UK by the American embassy regarding this issue.
The irony of it all: in the two weeks I was there, I didn't spend more than 20 pounds in cash anyway. Next time I might try to go completely cashless.
The latest generation of skimmers are much smaller, especially the ones that read the details from the chip rather than the stripe, as they fit entirely within the mechanism, although this information can only be used to create a stripe card not clone the chip.
Very glad you were reimbursed by the bank. That, however, may not always be the case. The following in information I posted back in Sept. 2018 (I think).
Read the fine print!! We recently opened a new checking account and there is an interesting item in the disclosures about the Visa Debit Card. It states "Unless you have been negligent or have engaged in fraud, you will not be liable for any unauthorized transactions using your lost of stolen Visa card. This additional limit on liability does not apply to ATM transactions outside the U.S. .......". When questioned, the bank stated they would not be liable for any unauthorized transactions, but that Visa would be, and we would be indemnified and not suffer any loss. But the bank then further stated that Visa would not let the bank put that in writing for some legal reason they either could or would not specify. Needless to say, we are having an ongoing discussion with the bank about this as we have never encountered anything like it with any other bank. It's not a big problem for us as we can always open an account with another bank that does not have that restriction. It's just another of life's little pains in the anatomy.
Just posting this information to give folks a "heads up" when opening new accounts.
