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Probe after ASDA credit card fraud

4:29pm Tuesday 30th September 2008 in


SUPERMARKET Asda has launched a fraud inquiry after High Wycombe customers reported their card had been used illegally after visiting the store.

The retailer today promised customers at its Cressex store would get their money back after the fraud, which one customer said saw £1,400 withdrawn from ATM machines in the US and Pakistan.

About half a dozen chip and pin machines were removed as part of the investigation at the Holmes Farm Way store.

A statement from ASDA said: “We are aware of the situation and can confirm we have had a number of customers contact the High Wycombe store to say they've had fraudulent activity on their credit or debit cards and we are currently investigating this in conjunction with the banks and the police.

“At Asda the safety and security of customer data is of utmost importance to us. Importantly, any innocent customer who is the victim of any type of card fraud is protected by the Banking Code, which means that they will not lose out financially.

“As with all their financial transactions, customers always need to be extra vigilant when they use their credit or debit cards and should always report anything suspicious or strange to their bank or credit card provider.”

It said: “Customers can be assured that we are taking all the necessary steps to ensure the continued safety and security of customer data.

“As with all issues around card security we work very closely with all the relevant authorities to ensure that everything possible is done to mitigate fraudulent activity and to continue to develop technology to stay ahead of fraudsters.”

One customer, who wished to remain anonymous, said he had had £1,400 stolen from US and Pakistan through more than 25 withdrawals.

He said his mother had also had £300 stolen after shopping at the store.

He said: “I was absolutely shocked, I couldn’t believe it. When chip and pin came in you thought this sort of thing wouldn’t happen any more – that is clearly not the case.”

Are you affected by this story? Leave your comments below or contact us at bfpnews@london.newsquest.co.uk or on 01494 755082 or text bfp news and your message to 80360.

Comments(22)

wycman says...
5:05pm Tue 30 Sep 08

Me and my wife have had both our cards cloned with numerous attempts to withdraw money from pakistan and the states. Thankfully our banks realised this and blocked them. The problem we have now though is the accoutns are blocked and unable to withdraw until new cards arrive at the end of the week. Think I should go to ASDA and fill up my trolley full, go to the counter and when they ask for payment say ' oh dear I can't due to you causing my account to be blocked and then demand it all for free.I think ASDA should compensate anyone effected.

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gungun says...
6:41pm Tue 30 Sep 08

I am the customer who has had the £1400 of fraud happen on his account. I believe Asda has to take a significant proportion of the blame for this happening and should undertake a complete review of its vetting process for employees. My wife handles customer transactions in her role with a bank and the security vetting procedure she was subjected to was intense to say the least. Cashiers are no different in the handling of cash transactions so should be subject to similar vetting.

I for one am astonished that a company the size of Asda in High Wycombe and part of the global wallmart group have not jumped at the opportunity to offer compensation to its customers who have been effectively robbed by one or probably a number of its employees. They should be held to account and made to compensate fully.

I like the previous contributor now have a wait of between 5 - 10 days for my new card and pin number to arrive. I agree with them we should all converge on this "happy to help" or should that be "happy to Help themselves" store and have goods to the amount stolen by their employees given freely by them, along with a further offering for the inconvinience caused by having to take time out of work to complete endless paperwork to attempt to reclaim the monies stolen.

Yes we should with luck be covered by the banking code, but if the security monitoring at Asdas in High Wycombe was up to scratch none of this should have ever happened.

I am disgusted!

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dooza says...
6:45pm Tue 30 Sep 08

I have heard reports from friends who have suffered the same after shopping in Tesco Loudwater. Both of them had there cards cloned in India. One of them had used the self serve checkout in Tesco. It would seem to be an inside job, but apparently Tesco aren't doing anything about it.

I worry enough about the state of banks, they have to keep refunding all these bogus transactions as well as suffer from other problems due to this so called credit crunch.

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ivor says...
7:11pm Tue 30 Sep 08

So much for the dangerous new-fangled methods of payment. You’re far better off (and safer) paying with cash.

Have you read Ivor’s blog today? Click on the “YOUR SAY” link at the top of the page then click on “BLOGS”.

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Roger Wilson says...
7:21pm Tue 30 Sep 08

Fraud crimes will get worse until banks make signature and PIN systems reliable as proposed on website www.xwave.co.uk

Why would anyone get tempted to do identity fraud when they know that their signature personalised with their ID sticker will expose their identity? Current signature system does not even expose person's gender and so boosts identity fraud. Only this system will deter use of fake documents.

Why would anyone get tempted to use stolen or skimmed cards when they know that they will not be able to activate the transaction without new security code which will change to a new value after every transaction?

This system will also eliminate the need for us to protect our personal an card details since fraudsters will not be tempted to misuse these stolen details.

Organisations would make their customers personalise signatures by letting them use mobile phone size device which will capture image and activate printer to print their ID sticker virtually instantly.

Proposed system will deter virtually all fraud crimes including those Chip and PIN, data protection and even biometric ID cards will not deter.

This KEY and PIN system could be treated like international ID card since it will personalise signature and PIN to the right individual in any country in the world.

To protect the public and entire business industry from becoming victims of fraud government and banks should act now and exploit proposed system before it is too late to stop a fraud crunch which will be far worse than credit crunch.

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Observer of says...
7:25pm Tue 30 Sep 08

Shortly after chip and pin was introduced I had £150 withdrawn in cash from my debit card account in Sri Lanka, a country neither my wife nor I have ever visited.

I think the fraud was traced to the Shell Service Station on London Road.

The bank treated it as a "normal" fraud, requiring us to attest that we had not given our pin numbers to anyone else, etc. Never mind the fact that the cloned card and pin ended up in Sri Lanka!

New cards, new account number, all because of the slack security of chip and pin.

It seemes to me that it was safer with chip and signature!

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Lane-ender says...
7:29pm Tue 30 Sep 08

Gungun said:
I for one am astonished that a company the size of Asda in High Wycombe and part of the global wallmart group have not jumped at the opportunity to offer compensation to its customers who have been effectively robbed by one or probably a number of its employees.
====================
==========
You really should not have wrote what you did there m8, ( you could have opened yourself up to a court action for that ). you do not know the full facts, I do know that is was an outside job and the am almost certain that arrests have been made, people were arrested about a month ago, but it has taken this long for the card cloner's associates to start using the cloned cards, so it shows how many cards they have cloned not only from Asda but from everywhere they have scammed before this store.

it does however go to show that chip and pin is not safe and needs changing and securing as soon as possible.

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polypore says...
7:34pm Tue 30 Sep 08

We too have had cash withdrawals in the US. And we are also awaiting arrival of new card, etc., etc. Whilst we have shopped at Asda with this card during this month, we have also used the card in many other local shops. So we are wondering how people know that the problem stems from Asda?

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gungun says...
8:10pm Tue 30 Sep 08

I am currently £1400 out of pocket and I will sleep soundly tonight certain no writ will be landing on my doormat. I will be less comfortable in my sleep however, knowing that any large company did not let its customers know straight away that there could be a potential for fraudulant activity on their accounts. Arrests for this kind of activity would be public knowledge within hours and certainly not kept under wraps for the month you suggest!

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faisal mahmood says...
10:19pm Tue 30 Sep 08

I feel sorry for all the people that are affected by the fraudulent activity, hopefully asda might help its customer by refunding them in any way they can!!

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Wycombe is still high on... says...
10:23pm Tue 30 Sep 08

ivor wrote:
So much for the dangerous new-fangled methods of payment. You’re far better off (and safer) paying with cash.Have you read Ivor’s blog today? Click on the “YOUR SAY” link at the top of the page then click on “BLOGS”.
I don't normally agree with Ivor - but, what he says is entirely true.

95% of everything I buy is paid for in cash. Since my bank details are rarely called for I have never been defrauded.

Yes, an employee can try and pocket the cash you have handed over: this is then the retailers problem since you have already paid for your goods.

I do use my bankcard at the bank to pay in money and withdraw from the cashpoint (inside the bank where possible). I do shop online using Paypal or my card as long as it is a big named / national company.

Damage limitation has always worked for me. I appreciate that Asda / Walmart qualify as a big name but I remember reading in the press about a Tesco employee passing cash up to his friend hiding to intercept it in the toilets.

Minimum wage does not appeal to everybody and some folk wish to top up their meagre wages with tax free cash. Be wary is the message!

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true blue says...
12:03am Wed 1 Oct 08

Boycot the stores concerned until they sort this out and repay those who have been robbed.

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FD says...
9:54am Wed 1 Oct 08

My bank rand me and stopped my credit card at the end of last week because there had been cash withdrawals in the US. I am now looking into when i last used my card in Asda!!!!

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taylor2 says...
11:06am Wed 1 Oct 08

I was effected by this and I'd like to say the manager I spoke to was incredibly helpful and took time out to explain to me what had happened. It is not the stores fault they were subjected to external criminals doing this. They had no way of knowing that they had been effected. They have taken action against the people involved through the right methods involving the police where necessary what more could they do? I feel like everyone is blaming the wrong people! Its the criminals that we should be getting at not ASDA!

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Irate of Bourne End says...
12:32pm Wed 1 Oct 08

Dear Polypore,

I can defintely link it to Asda High Wycombe because I was lucky(???) enough to have 2 cards cloned. One was on my husbands account which I only ever use to buy petrol and the other I use for shopping etc. Therefore the only common denominator is Asda. (I dont buy groceries at Shell and I dont use the Grocery card to buy petrol)

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Merge in Turn says...
1:10pm Wed 1 Oct 08

Perhaps some George clothing vouchers would be suitable compensation?

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polypore says...
1:26pm Wed 1 Oct 08

Taking in various other comments:

The people involved were arrested a month ago.

Surely Asda and/or the police must have been able to pass information on to card issuers in this time?

So how come the associates were able to use the cloned cards last week?

Obviously not card-holders' fault.

Asda, the card issuers have a duty to protect card-holders' interests.

So it must be the responsibility of Asda, the police and/or the card issuers. (Maybe not their fault as such, but responsibility, definitely.)

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Stokey says...
2:08pm Thu 2 Oct 08

Yep, this explains it! I had HSBC fraud protection call me up last week about an attempt to withdraw £90 on my card in India. Luckily HSBC stopped the transaction and cancelled the card!

I looked at my card activity and I had only used it in B&Q and ASDA in High Wycombe, so I guess that explains who was responsible! ASDA, sort the thieving scabs out at your store!

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gungun says...
1:04pm Fri 3 Oct 08

No One has been arrested in connection to this fraudulant activity! FACT!

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Explorer says...
1:59pm Fri 3 Oct 08

Now i know why my bank has phoned me 3 times to query my card accounts and cancel 4, thats FOUR!!! of my cards and 1 of my fiance's cards. Guess where i shop and buy my petrol/LPG from!!!! ***NOT HAPPY***

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rippedoff says...
2:05pm Fri 3 Oct 08

I also have been a victim of this crime. I shopped at Asda last week and on tuesday this week discovered virtually all funds from my bank account had been cleared out. 1 transaction from New York and another set up as a payment. I could not believe it, and I still can't get my head round this. I agree Asda have a responsibility to their customers and I feel failed here. I also have to wait 5-10 working days for my card to be re-issued and with children to feed and clothe, am left with a pittance unless I want to traipse to wycombe, pay a fortune in car park fees and get money out over the counter, which then leaves me at risk of mugging. I feel very vunerable and frightened that this could happen again. Yes, I will get my money back in 10 days time, once the crime has been investigated - what good is that to me now? I agree with a previous comment that perhaps Asda should give our groceries to us free of charge! Will they show any compassion or concern? No way! I can't even seem to get that from my bank who have not been exactly helpful. I don't know what this world is coming to when you can't even feel safe shopping anymore.

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Explorer says...
2:28pm Fri 3 Oct 08

Luckily my bank declined the transaction in India and so far i'm not out of pocket (thankfully). How the hell did the fraudsters get our card numbers AND our pin numbers???

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