Helen asks: “M&S have told me that someone had used my card without my knowledge. I rang up the fraud team and they told me someone made a £300 purchase which I didn’t recognise. M&S said they’ll cancel the card and send out a new one. What should I do?”

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Q&A 68 – Fraudulent Transactions on My Credit Card – Shownotes

Helen asks:

I received a letter from M&S telling me that someone had used my card without my knowledge. I rang up the fraud team using the number on their website (the number on the letter was the same – I checked) and they told me someone tried to make a £300 purchase which I didn’t recognise. M&S said they’ll cancel the card and send out a new one.

What worries me is how someone has managed to get the card details? I have only used the card at 3 retailers for big purchases (it’s a 19 month 0% card) and I just leave it in my wallet.

I’m thinking of signing up for CIFAS to give me a bit of protection just in case anything else crops up. Is that a sensible thing to do? Or am I just being paranoid? Any advice welcome!

Thanks for your question Helen. That’s our second question in the past three weeks on fraud. Let’s hope that this doesn’t become too common.

 

M&S Are Doing Their A Good Job!

First of all, good work M&S! You are right to worry about someone using your card without your knowledge, but it doesn’t sound like you (or M&S) are doing anything wrong. As you say, you’ve only used your card at 3 retailers. It may be worth checking those retailers to ensure they were genuine and your details were passed over a https website, the S indicating that the site is secure.

Concerning the question of how someone managed to get your details, the most likely reason is that they got it by luck, using a random number generator and coming out with your card details. Other possibilities is that it’s an inside job from either M&S or one of the retailers that you used, but this seems fairly unlikely compared to the random number scenario.

Whilst CIFAs is one option, it’s probably a little bit of overkill in this scenario.

 

You Are Doing The Right Things…

I would say that a more sensible approach is to continue what you are doing. Be careful about where you physically keep your card, keep your online access passwords safe and secure and ensure that when shopping online that you use https sites.

The good thing is that you have seen that the M&S fraud team are definitely doing their job, and more importantly that you are protected from any liability when a transaction like this does occur. Yes, it’s a little bit of a hassle to resolve (and can be a little worrying that someone has managed to use your card), but the fraud protection on mainstream credit cards is superb and so I wouldn’t be overly concerned if I were you.

I hope that has help alleviate your fears somewhat.

 

 

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