Yesterday I noticed some worrying activities going on with my bank account so I went along to Barclays to see what was going on. Shortly after explaining to the lady at the desk that I've got approximately £250 missing from my balance, (and her giving me her "yeah, yeah" eyes) she showed me my statement on the screen. To my shock there had been 3 lots of transactions the sum of £88 that I just could not explain. I was then told to use the service phone to call the debit card department who went on to reveal that some wise crack in PERU had withdrawn £264?! "What???" I heard myself demand! Apparently, according to 'Matt' I must have used a cash machine somewhere in London that had a skimming machine attached to it. So there we go, I've used the machine and now the fraudsters have my ALL details, go on to (somehow) make a copy of my card and off they trot to South America to rinse my account for all its worth! What a joke! So how do you know NOT to use a cash machine that may have been tampered with? I hear you ask. Well it's pretty difficult to tell if you ask me (obviously, or we wouldn't be having this conversation) but for your visual pleasure I've included a photo of a hole in the wall I recommend you stay away from! Despite this nightmare, credit where credit's due (s'cuse the pun) Barclays have been very helpful throughout my whole ordeal and have already dispatched my new card and I'm expecting my dispute papers in 2-3 days so I can claim my stolen money back! So, moral of the story, when withdrawing cash if the machine looks like it's been messed with, don't use it! Equally when you can, try and use cash machines inside banks as they get regular check ups for skimmers. Lesson learned, from now on I'll be even more suspicious of everything and everyone! Trust no-one...
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