Moreover, this fraudulent action happened even after customers have cancelled cards which have been lost or stolen. The website said that while some accounts are prevented from being raided by this type of fraud, in other cases it is left to customers to spot awkward payments. The risk of fraud going undetected is caused by the fact that people have cancelled their cards wrongly assuming that means they can no longer be used. Additionally, when a cancelled card is used some banks will still automatically debit the customer’s account and not check whether the purchase was made.
To defend itself, Halifax said in a statement: In the unlikely event that contactless transactions have been made on a cancelled lost or stolen card, we will always refund the customer in order to ensure they are not out of pocket.
MoneySavingExpert.com acknowledged that the problem generally lies in the way contactless card payments are being processed: online or offline. The fact payments arent taken out straight away could mean that a customer can continue spending money without it showing up on his or her statement.
In the case of offline payments stored up for a few days before being processed, even careful consumers checking their balance every day, or with alerts set up when they near their limits, could incur charges.
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