WCYT

A FRAUD investigator was targeted by identity thieves who ran up a £15,000 bill on her credit card. Karen Lloyd, 49, who spends her working life investigating fraudulent benefit claims in North Devon, is one of the latest victims of an increasingly common crime known as “account takeover” fraud.

Thieves, pretending to be Ms Lloyd, spent £15,000 on her Visa card in a matter of days. The raid forced her to cancel her summer holiday and postpone the purchase of carpets for her new home. She said: “It has been a couple of months of hell. It puts your life on hold.”

Ms Lloyd, from Barnstaple, who has used a Lloyds Visa card for 31 years, first realised something was amiss when a £10 shop purchase was refused on June 14. To her horror, Lloyds told her the card had been rejected because she had spent up to her £15,000 limit. The last time she checked her balance, in May, she only owed £1,900. Someone else was using her account.

“It was a massive shock,” she said.

Almost a week later, she had not heard again from Lloyds so she rang and they asked her if she “still lived” at a London address. When she told them she had never lived in London, the call centre worker said their records showed she had phoned to change her address on May 25.

It then became apparent that the thieves, as well as changing Ms Lloyd's address, had asked the bank, over the phone, for a new card and a pin number “reminder” on May 27, which the bank gave to the thief.

On May 29 and May 30 the bank noticed the unusually high use of the card in London — including daily cash withdrawals of £250 — and rang the number they had on their system (which by then belonged to the thief) to check it had not been stolen. Ms Lloyd said the thief, pretending to be her, reassured the bank that everything was in order. The bank later told her they had deleted the phone number used by the thief, which they had called for security checks.

As well as withdrawing cash, the thieves spent £4,300 at a post office and bought designer clothes. One transaction — for £2,000 — happened within an hour of Ms Lloyd spending £25, on the same credit card, in New Look in Barnstaple, before she knew about the fraud. Ms Lloyd was unhappy with the level of customer service at Lloyds, who sent her an automated letter on July 23 — weeks after the bank knew about the fraud — making a general inquiry if anything was wrong. A helpline was always engaged.

She said: “I have been upset, in tears, angry, because I couldn't get my concerns voiced and kept getting misinformation. “The whole thing is a catalogue of disasters. As a fraud investigator, I was expecting Lloyds to do some covert surveillance (on the address in London). But they don't intend to do that.”

A Lloyds TSB spokesman said the bank took fraud prevention “extremely seriously” and had “robust systems and controls in place”.
The spokesman said when customers want to change their details over the phone, they are asked questions designed to verify identity.

“We have thoroughly investigated the fraud that occurred on Miss Lloyd's credit card account and have used the information to adapt our systems accordingly,” she said. “We would like to apologise for the inconvenience Miss Lloyd suffered and have taken steps to ensure she is not out of pocket following this incident.”