Fradulent Charges by MiPay Talkmobile Brookwood Surrey found on my bank statement!! We have just checked our online banking this evening and we've found a mysterious charge that we didn't recognize for £30 against one of our Bank Debit Cards. It appeared to have been charged for a phone top up.
This is the entry we found:
"6 Apr 2009 POS 03APR09 MIPAY TALKMOBILE T BROOKWOOD SUR"
After doing a quick online search, we came across a thread on Money Saving Expert Forum where many others out there are reporting this happening to them over the past 3 weeks. We are not alone!!!
As a user 'Underground' put it on the Money Saving Expert Forum:
'Talkmobile is a 'cheaper calls' company run by Carphone Warehouse. It's primarily a PAYG service and Mi-Pay manage the payment systems.
If you or your family don't have a Talkmobile SIM then your card has definitely been used fraudulently.'
According to one of the blurbs on MiPay, they:
'facilitate the direct transfer of funds between mobile phones onto overseas banks'
So from what we can gather, it would seem that someone is charging people's bank accounts for a mobile phone charge and then having the funds transferred to overseas banks.
We contacted the telephone banking part of our bank this evening and it turned out to definitely be only one of our two debits cards, which has now been canceled, with a new one being issued in 3 to 4 days. We will still need to follow up on this in the morning with the bank themselves, before we can find out what will happen, but for the now, we've stopped any further fraudulent charges being taken out of our account.
Just this past February, on the same debit card, our on line bank statement also showed a £30 payment to O2 that was NOT authorized, which is still under investigation. At the beginning of each month we had been in the habit of putting £20 phone credit on both of our girl's accounts, one being with T-Mobile, and the other with O2. The payment had always been made over the phone, giving the debit card number out to the operator on the phone, but who knows if this is how they got our details. The theory does seem to hold some water though as from what others have been saying on the forum thread, many paid for mobile phone top ups with that debit card that had the fraudulent charge applied to it.
We are extremely careful about using our debit cards, or any credit cards for that matter, so it came as a complete shock to us that this had taken place. These fraudulent charges seem to be widespread so be sure to check your online bank accounts for a withdrawal of £30 to MIPAY TALKMOBILE T BROOKWOOD SUR, a subsidiary of Carphone Warehouse.
For those of you that don't have on line banking, we strongly suggest you check with your banks to see if such a payment has left your accounts.
According to another poster on the moneysavingexpert.com forum:
'The banks/ building societies also have concerns over Carphone Warehouse, ( the linked company ). I had a valid transaction to them blocked by my card provider, Nationwide, they told me it was because of the high amount of fraudulent activity that is linked with CPW.'So apparently the word is getting out there in the business community about this particular scam that is going on, but the word needs to continue to get out there. And it's important to understand that often times low fraudulent charges will be taken out of your account so that it goes by unnoticed. It is vital that you check each charge that is coming out of your bank accounts in order to catch any fraudulent charges that might be hitting your account. If you find that this is happening, notify your bank immediately, ask for the refund and cancel the card and have a new one issued. They'll likely pass you on to their fraud department so that they can follow up on the case and check it out before issuing a refund.
You can get a more comprehensive known list of Fraudulent Charges at digitalagefraud.com.
Here is another story on someone's experience with small fraudulent charges being taken out of their bank accounts: http://www.stopbuyingcrap.com/personal-finance/goodie-my-first-fraudulent-charge/
Fraudulent Charges MiPay Talkmobile Update
I just spoke with Michele, a representative from MiPay, just a few moments ago and have received more information to share. According to Michele, MiPay is fully aware of this situation and is investigating it vigorously. They are also aware of the number of people that have been posting their case both here at Essential Chatter and over on the forum for Money Saving Expert. At this point they have not yet responded publicly because of the ongoing investigation but plan to do so very soon. According to Michele at MiPay, she is due to hear from managers sometime today on whether or not they will be putting out a public notice on these fraudulent charges that a large number of people have been getting hit with over the past few weeks.
I have already received my replacement debit card from RBS and have destroyed my old card that the fraudulent charge was posted against. I have also received the paperwork from RBS' Fraud Dept which officially starts up the investigation on this fraudulent charge. I was informed that it would now take about 7 to 10 working days till I hear back anything.
It must be said that MiPay is just as much a victim in this as the rest of us. They are a company that processes payments for mobile phone topups, if my memory serves me correctly from what Michele stated, and they are not personally the ones taking this money from people's accounts. Michele was very helpful and gracious over the phone, and I appreciated that more than anything.
If anyone has any more information they can provide, please leave a comment.
