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And just when I thought...

Steve Maskery

Steve Maskery

Old Oak
Joined
Jul 27, 2014
Messages
2,135
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989
Location
87290 Laplagne, France
...it had been a very good day (eye lady said everything is fine, come back in 12 months, found a proper timber yard, all good)
Then, afterwards I went to the supermarket, flled up and went inside to do some shopping. On the way out, I droppeed a bag and this guy came over to help. He excorted me to my car. He wanted to practise his English. He used to live in Bristol. Why was I here? It was a nice conversation.

On the way home my phone starts pinging like crazy. So when I get home and look, there are lots of messages from the bank saying transactions blocked, I've reached my spending limit, yada-yada, and when I look, someone has taken €1000 out of my account and I no longer have my bank card.
I have no idea how he got my PIN, it's not written down anywhere. And they closed our local bank branch just last week, so now it's a half hour drive to talk with someone I don't know.
Not a happy bunny.
S
 
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At least he didn't take my wallet. Everything is in there, Carte Vital, Carte de Sejour, Mutuelle, UK bank cards, driving licence. My life. Not a lot of cash.
I'd just paid for my shopping when I dropped my bag so I guess I'd not put it back in my wallet.
I've blocked the card using my app, and I expect that the bank will be understanding (this sort of thing must happen all the time), but what a pain.
There is some sort of insurance that comes with this account, so we'll see what happens.
S
 
Bad luck Steve. I’m curious. How was the money taken? ATM? Looks as if the max daily withdrawal in France is higher than in the UK.

Did you use an ATM that day? If so then either the scooter was behind you and looked over your shoulder to get your PIN or the ATM is compromised.
 
That’s really bad luck Steve. Probably just as well the “sans contact” limit here is only 50€ .
 
Steve, the EU regulations (Payment Services Directive 2) provide strong consumer protection so hopefully while you are stuck with the inconvenience the bank (not you) will bear any loss.

In short, provided you have not done something like write your PIN number on the card (and yes, some people do) your liability is capped at €50 but if the fraudulent withdrawals were made using “card not present” methods you have no liability.

The bank have to refund you quickly (normally by the end of the following business day).

Don’t beat yourself up over it. Unfortunately this stuff happens.

If your PIN has been compromised it could have happened as Roger said, an accomplice watching over your shoulder if you made a debit transaction elsewhere or even been bought on the dark web. You’ll probably never know for sure.
 
Lurker said:
Do you need to carry all that stuff around in your wallet?
Click to expand...
My wallet has only left the house on about 5 occasions in the last 12 months. Hate having to carry it and have everything I need in my iPhone wallet. If that didn't work then I'd be stuffed, but it's not failed me in over 10 years, touch wood...
 
TrimTheKing said:
My wallet has only left the house on about 5 occasions in the last 12 months. ....................
Click to expand...

Same here. My phone case has RFID protection apparently and all I carry is a credit card and bus pass for the rare occasions I use the latter.
 
I have a a bit of cash, one credit card and a bus pass plus various memberships cards and that’s all. I might add my driving licence if I need identity verification but that’s fairly rare. Also add a debit card when I need more cash but don’t routinely carry it.
As for my phone there isn’t anything sensitive on that at all. Would be a minor inconvenience if it was lost, mislaid or nicked.
 
By all means keep stuff on your phone but why FFS do people waste other people's time while they faff around with their effing phones trying to find the app/wallet/train ticket/flight ticket/whatever.
 
RogerS said:
By all means keep stuff on your phone but why FFS do people waste other people's time while they faff around with their effing phones trying to find the app/wallet/train ticket/flight ticket/whatever.
Click to expand...
Lack of understanding of how to use it. I guarantee I can pay for something or show a ticket quicker than you if we arrive at a somewhere with our phone/wallet etc in our pockets.

To access the iphone wallet its a simple double tap on the power button and every card in my wallet is there. It defaults to my default payment type, and if it's a ticket or whatever then a quick scroll finds it.

I appreciate some people might be slower, but I could say the same about the people at the airport that turn up with a handful of tickets and don't bother to hand them to their party until they're at the gate.

That's a people problem Rog, not a tech problem.
 
Well I didn't get much sleep last night, thinking about all this, I was still awake gone 5.30am. Finally I got to sleep, but awake again before 8, so I got only a couple of hours.
I mentioned that my new branch is now half an hour's drive away, instead of 10 mins, so this morning I set off. The young lad on the desk was very good, but his English, whilst not non-existent was not as good as that of his colleagues before him. But we got by. He took all the details, then gave me a piece of paper to take to the police.
At the Gendarmerie, a young lady took down all the details. It took forever. She spoke no English, but did speak slowly and clearly for me. We managed quite well.
Then back to the bank with the paperwork from the Gendarmes, and more paperwork at the bank.
Then, just when I though it was all done, we started again for the actual remboursement.
I don't know how many times I've signed my name today.
Eventually he smiled at me and said we were all done. The whole thing took over two hours, over 3 when you include the journey. There were several rather impatient people waiting behind me.
The rembousement is a decision made by someone in an admin office somewhere, but I am hopeful. I think I've done all the right things and in a timely manner.
Until my new card comes, I have a virtual card, now, on my phone.

So now I am going to take my contact lenses out and try to sleep for the rest of the afternoon. And that will be the day gone.

S
 
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Well I am impressed with this.
I've just had an email from the police officer lady who says she has found the till number for the LeClerc store and has requested the CCTV footage.

And I've I've just had three hours of the most wonderful, deep, restful, rejuvenating sleep. Fantastic.

So now I am ready to start the day...
S
 
Lurker said:
Do you need to carry all that stuff around in your wallet?
Click to expand...
Probably not, actually. I should have a rationalisation. I cannot justify always carrying my UK cards all the time. I do need my Fr bank card, my driving licence (still UK until next year), my Carte de Sejour (to prove I have the right to live here) and my Carte Vitale & Mutuelle. OK, the last two I could keep with my portfolio of prescriptions - actually that's not a bad idea. My prescriptions live in the car, the cards could live with them.
I'll see what I can clear out.
S
 
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Steve Maskery said:
Well I am impressed with this.
I've just had an email from the police officer lady who says she has found the till number for the LeClerc store and has requested the CCTV footage.

And I've I've just had three hours of the most wonderful, deep, restful, rejuvenating sleep. Fantastic.

So now I am ready to start the day...
S
Click to expand...
Seriously impressed with the French police. I will not make comparisons
 
There is no way of protecting against all eventualities but I would never leave important documents in the car.
 
I seem to remember you used to have a “man bag” at one point.

I think you should be asking yourself, how many times have I needed these documents at short notice? And if it’s infrequent then in the safe at home is the best place for them.

Obviously I don’t know about out there, but I have never been asked by the police for my driving licence and if I was I could easily take it to the local cop shop.
 
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FWIW I’ve been using a leather bum bag for many years. Enough room for wallet, phone and chequebook.
This time of year coat and/ or zipped fleece will cover the bumbag, worn on the front. If I need to be in high risk crowded areas, eg the Olympics in Paris last year, I will thread the bag’s belt though the belt loops in my trousers for added security.
 
AndyP said:
FWIW I’ve been using a leather bum bag for many years. Enough room for wallet, phone and chequebook.
This time of year coat and/ or zipped fleece will cover the bumbag, worn on the front. If I need to be in high risk crowded areas, eg the Olympics in Paris last year, I will thread the bag’s belt though the belt loops in my trousers for added security.
Click to expand...
Haha, reminds me of years ago visiting huge open air markets in Spain, I put my wallet with my crown Jewels, definitely know if anyone was trying to get at it there!
 
Well there have been developments.

First of all, I owe the gentleman who helped me an apology. It wasn't him.

What I had forgotten when I originally posted this was that there was a second encounter that day.

I put my shopping in the boot and was just getting in my car when two young women came over and asked for help. I took off my manbag and threw it inside and turned to talk to them. The door of my car remained ajar. They were lost, did I speak Spanish? No I don't. One of them produced a map and asked me to show her where we were so that they could get to the city centre. I had no idea, I've yet to work out the geography of the place. Still, I had a look at the map, still none the wiser. Never mind, we'll find a bus.

I thought no more about it, but as I said, my phone started pinging on the way home and the rest I have already described.

Now I'm 99% sure that these two women were in the queue behind me at the till. So what I now think must have happened is that while I was being pestered with the map, the other went into my man-bag (she would have seen me enter my code and where I susequently put my card).
The people who do this are slick, because they do it for a living. If you do anything long enough, you get good at it, don't you? And they prey on people's kindness and willingness to help. I'm just grateful she didn't take the rest of my wallet.

So no more Mr. Nice Guy! Possibly.

I've had more requests for info from the Gendarme, so she's obviously not just putting this in the round filing cabinet on the floor. She is young, so perhaps she wants to persuade her boss that she is up for CID! Well if she is, good for her.
 
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Steve Maskery said:
Well there have been developments.

First of all, I owe the gentleman who helped me an apology. It wasn't him.

What I had forgotten when I originally posted this was that there was a second encounter that day.

I put my shopping in the boot and was just getting in my car when two young women came over and asked for help. I took off my manbag and threw it inside and turned to talk to them. The door of my car remained ajar. They were lost, did I speak Spanish? No I don't. One of them produced a map and asked me to show her where we were so that they could get to the city centre. I had no idea, I've yet to work out the geography of the place. Still, I had a look at the map, still none the wiser. Never mind, we'll find a bus.

I thought no more about it, but as I said, my phone started pinging on the way home and the rest I have already described.

Now I'm 99% sure that these two women were in the queue behind me at the till. So what I now think must have happened is that while I was being pestered with the map, the other went into my man-bag (she would have seen me enter my code and where I susequently put my card).
The people who do this are slick, because they do it for a living. If you do anything long enough, you get good at it, don't you? And they prey on people's kindness and willingness to help. I'm just grateful she didn't take the rest of my wallet.

So no more Mr. Nice Guy! Possibly.

I've had more requests for info from the Gendarme, so she's obviously not just putting this in the round filing cabinet on the floor. She is young, so perhaps she wants to persuade her boss that she is up for CID! Well if she is, good for her.
Click to expand...
Probably you are the umpteenth victim and they are doing something about it. But yes she sounds keen.
Ladies looking at me in admiration? Ooh er, it’s been a very long time since that happened lol.
 
Sorry to hear all that Steve. Have you ever tried a bumbag? When I strap mine on it does not need to be removed until I get home. Can drive with it without a problem.
 
That’s a relief Steve, I had a similar situation and my bank made it right very quickly.
Unlike a good friend of mine that had a very large amount taken from his bank 18 months ago and now doesn’t look like they will make it right.
How do you take a bank to court without costing a small fortune that he doesn’t have anymore.
 
Jonathan said:
That’s a relief Steve, I had a similar situation and my bank made it right very quickly.
Unlike a good friend of mine that had a very large amount taken from his bank 18 months ago and now doesn’t look like they will make it right.
How do you take a bank to court without costing a small fortune that he doesn’t have anymore.
Click to expand...
FCA ? Financial Ombudsman ? Assuming they are in the UK, of course
 
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