HSBC has admitted an embarrassing mistake by failing to help an innocent victim of fraud after £369 went missing from her account.
On November 27th Irina Stavreva, 38, Islington, wanted to use her card and it was declined. Miss Stavreva was later told by her HSBC branch in Camden that her money was spent on a washing machine from a site called ‘Whitebox’. The bank immediately credited her account with the sum whilst they carried out an internal investigation.
As the transaction was undertaken on a secured e-commerce site – which means that whenever the card is used, a valid email address and password has to be entered – Miss Stavreva received a dispute enquiry letter from the bank explaining that for the same reason they will re-debit the amount within 7 days.
In the letter from HSBC, Roshni Kurukkal, signed as Manager Chargbacks, said: “I suggest you contact the retailer direct in this matter for any further assistance.”
Numerous calls to HSBC and Whitebox were made to no avail.
Irina Stavreva said: “The bank not only left me to deal with it on my own, I felt abandoned and had no guarantee that this would not happen again.”
The police were also contacted within the week and she received a letter from the Crime Management Unit. In their correspondence they said: “Having fully considered the allegation, police will not be actively investigating this matter further.”
PC Alison Joel, from Islington police, dealt with the case and told Miss Stavreva that although the decision may cause some disappointment and inconvenience, she would seek to assure Ms Stavreva that the matter is fully recorded as a crime and may provide valuable intelligence in combating fraud.
Miss Stavreva was advised that she should contact Financial Ombudsman Service to see if it could help with her case.
They contacted the bank to review the case one more time to make sure that they have looked into it properly. A week later, a representative from HSBC fraud team contacted Miss Stavreva to apologise and acknowledged that it was actually the bank’s error. HSBC have refunded the money, along with a bottle of champagne, and a sorry card was sent in way of compensation.
A person from HSBC said: “All customers who are victim of fraud will be refunded their losses but they need to do their investigation to ensure that these are not bogus claims.
Ms Stavreva was very happy with the final outcome, and says: “I felt safe and protected by Financial Ombudsman and cannot thank them enough for their help. As to HSBC, it is a pity to be put in such a situation after I’ve been their client for more than eight years.”