One elderly woman had her purse snatched – and the crooks had watched her use pin number at ATM
A Rochdale mum was left distraught after her purse was nicked while she was doing her weekly shop, sparking a lengthy battle with her bank to reclaim the stolen funds. The family’s life has been thrown into chaos for months following a theft in Aldi that saw a pensioner lose £750 when the thieves swiftly withdrew cash from an ATM. The incident was reported to the police and caught on CCTV, but the nightmare didn’t end there.
The victim’s son-in-law reached out to This Is Money’s Helen Crane on her behalf after Halifax refused to refund the stolen money, citing certain exceptions to the Financial Conduct Authority’s rules on assisting victims of fraud and theft. He detailed how his mother-in-law had her purse swiped while shopping in July. The police were called and she cancelled her debit card before even leaving the store.
However, because the woman, who is in her 80s, doesn’t use internet banking, it wasn’t until her next statement arrived that she noticed £750 had been withdrawn within six minutes before the card was cancelled. Halifax reportedly failed to mention these transactions when cancelling the card and refused to reimburse her.
The reader explained his theory that the thieves observed her weekly shopping routine, watched her use her PIN and then steal her bank card. Using the PIN led the bank to suspect “gross negligence”.
Money-saving guru Helen Crane expressed her sympathies, pointing out the alarming spike in such “cruel tactics”, with thieves increasingly trailing elderly individuals to glean their PINs at familiar shopping locations. She remarked that this kind of targeted pickpocketing is far from uncommon.
With regulated guidelines established by the Financial Conduct Authority, banks are usually obligated to reimburse unauthorized transactions unless they can demonstrate that the customer’s ‘gross negligence’ or intentional lack of care for their security details facilitated the theft.
Each bank draws its own line on what constitutes negligence, often considering whether PINs were noted down near one’s card or if card and PIN information was knowingly shared. Identifying the malicious strategy at play, Helen advocated persistently to Halifax on behalf of the troubled customer, detailing the incident thoroughly in an appeal to This Is Money.
They clarified that the account holder typically withdrew cash, so the transactions weren’t flagged as unusual. However, Halifax refunded £752.19, along with a £75 goodwill gesture and £4 in lost interest on the money.
