Hacked bank account, what to do?

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I know I'm in the UK, but I had my new three-yearly bank card stolen in the post a few years back. I had no idea as my current card was still valid. The day the new one was valid, I got paid and thieves emptied my account with a succession of transactions.

The police couldn't care less about it, the banks didn't seem to really care about the crime, either. But they refunded every fraudulent transaction. Took about a week, and I had no money in the meantime. Since that time I have always had two accounts, one with some emergency cash in.

In those days you just signed for things, there was no PIN number on transactions.
 
Thanks for the advice everyone.

I was blessed to have had a backup account which I use only for savings and college cash. I'll be able to make it till my other account is fixed. Otherwise I'd be up the creek!
 
Just got a call from the bank. Apparently my debit card, which is issued by Visa was on a long list with other people whose cards were "compromised." The debits that were made have not technically cleared with K-Mart although the funds do not appear on my account. So at the moment my card is frozen (canceled), the money is gone, and K-Mart thinks they are getting paid. The bank was on it right away I guess and had already issued me a new card when they called me. They just had to have confirmation that I in fact did not make the purchases at K-Mart. Monday I have to file an "Error Resolution" report and should expect my money back within 7-10 days. The compromise was through Visa, which I have now learned has a zero liability policy. They are supposedly trying to return the funds early if they can since this problem affected several people.

So I am feeling a lot better now! One last time, thank you to everyone who gave advice or support in my time of trouble. I will be taking several proactive/preventive actions in the next few weeks to protect my credit, accounts, etc. from this type of situation in the future. Maybe this was a wake up call for me to get my private information in order and secure!
 
I had this happen via my debit card, when i went to the bank to talk about it, they cancelled my card, got me a new one. They said that banks typically have people who work for them that only investigate these situations. Bank usually refunds money to the victim, and then goes and sees if they can find out who did it and get their money back. And they notify authorities upon their investigation.

It always helps if you can give information to them. I was able to. I knew I had gone to a particular gas station and the person at the register is the only one who took my card, and someone used my card 2 more times at that gas station. I told them that it had to be the cashier. HA. how dumb of someone to use it the same place it was stolen. If they had done it somewhere else, I would have no clue where they would have gotten it from me.
 
The compromise was through Visa, which I have now learned has a zero liability policy. They are supposedly trying to return the funds early if they can since this problem affected several people.

Again I would urge everyone to avoid debit cards - particularly the new ones that don't even have to be swiped to be read. If you can find a bank that issues secured credit cards, that is a safer option.

If you must go with a debit card, shop for a bank that will offer full protection. BofA, for example, used to (I don't know if they still do).

And finally NEVER let a creditor draft money out of your bank account. Always initiate all payment transactions.
 
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