The Thieves Are Out (2)

[jdr]

Hi
A person very close (Personally) to  me was shopping in Lidl GA, mid day Saturday, the persons Spanish debit card was giving problems so it was decided to use our British Master card, in doing so contactless transaction was not allowed, so PIN was registered manually. On arrival in home we were unable to find the purse being used that contained cards!!!, a swift visit to Lidl proved negative, of course the required phone calls to both card companies put a stop to cards. On check our Uk bank account Sunday one can only imagine our surprise and panic find that with in minutes of the purse/cards going missing the card had been used in Harvey Mundo £250 in goods, a rail ticket and three withdrawals ATM machines in lower GA/ Ave. Finlandia, all adding up to several hundred £, the Spanish card had not been used. Gaurdia Civil paper work sorted with a little help from a pal of ours, the purse its self no value, there was no cash in purse, two credit cards, UK driving license, medical cards for our  scheme. We have our receipts from Lidl our purchases, and times good were purchase and money from ATM, soon we will shall be calling to Harvey Mundo as we have been told they have a CCTV system as do Lidl but if they are like Lidl we don,t hold out much hope, the positive side is that in several calls to UK banks we feel we have a good chance of money being return to our account, Gaurdia Civil tell us we were " lucky" they only used the UK card!!, and they may well proceed to get access to CCTV, its obvious that someone was watching the PIN being used and they had a plan or indeed accomplices' working as a team.       PLEALSE BE ON YOUR GUARD IN SUPERMAKETS at this time of year especially

Regards
Jim                                                           

[Corporal Jones]

Sadly these people walk amongst us at all times, they are well trained and disciplined. They will not stand out they are professionals in this activity. Basic rules apply, trust no one even shop/bar/restaurant staff, when going out take the barest you need, leave the kitchen sink at home. These thieves will burn out stolen cards within minutes so contacting banks needs to be done swiftly to mark the time of theft.

[jdr]

Hi Every one

Just an update we were FULLY covered by BARCLAYS and got every penny back in our account, we were informed that this is not the case but will ask when next to Deutsche bank GA.
However you can imagine the massive surprise when two Guardia Civil turned up on our door step, turning heads in communal pool, to return the purse including UK driving license, bank co ordination card, but all other cards gone.
So only cost us £14 to replace driving license, that didn't need to be done!!, several long call to bank in UK to sort, a lot of hassle as you can imagine these people have gained several hundred pounds, that we all pay for on our cards in the end, they don,t care how hard we all have worked over years they are winning, won't swear PLEASE be careful in ALL supermarket and markets
Cheers
Jim

[hyetometer]

Hi Jim,

did guardia civil tell you how they got the purse? Was it left somewhere? Anyhow, it must be a relief to have the money back and the driving license. What about the medical cards? Can they be of use for someone?

I once had my purse stolen with identity card and driving license (not in Spain), what a fuss to get them replaced. Better to have everything seperately, but that can be complicated as well.

When I go to the beach, I don't take anything with me except for the keys of the flat on a ribbon wrapped around my wrist.

Cheers,

Monika

[Spurs]

If I’m on my own at the beach I take a disposable nappy (clean one )and put my keys in that while I’m in the sea then lay it on the towel no ones ever touched it yet

[jdr]

Hi
The Guardia civil just told us purse was found in a rubbish bin ( Santa Pola) by a member of the public who contacted GC, the medical card is of no good to any one, it only made it harder for my wife to go to doctors this week, we have ordered a new driving license after advice from GC & consulate in Alicante at a cost of £14, the driving license was due to run out next year but as the UK authorities had a recent photo used on a recent passport, the new licence will last for several more years, so now have two for the moment
Cheers
Jim

[Corporal Jones]

If I’m on my own at the beach I take a disposable nappy (clean one )and put my keys in that while I’m in the sea then lay it on the towel no ones ever touched it yet

Be careful with sharp edges on those keys jangling around in the sea.

[jdr]

Hi All
My final post on this issue, on picking up a new card in Deutsche bank this morning if our Spanish card had been stolen and used we WOULD have be fully compensated, however we were informed that  we would have had to "prove" & would be "investigated" it would take several weeks even with the police report.
Hope some of our story is use full FIRST of all be careful in ALL supermarkets
Cheers
Jim

[Blue and white stripes]

Reading this everyone please make sure that you use a different pin number on every card just as you have a different computer password to every account.