Yikes! Card cloned!

Pesky phone with predictive text. Please ignore obvious idiocies.

Hoping you got your money back Jane.
A similar thing happened to me ages ago but it was a handbag theft. They got away with cheques and credit cards worth over £2000. Thankfully all reimbursed by the bank (Lloyds TSB)
I've never had a credit card since then.

Yes all reimbursed. I gather that several local ATMs had been fitted with devices to skim card details. I won't be using ATMs again. Will get cashback when paying by card at the supermarket.

Sorry to hear this, Jane10. It's happened to my niece and my DD1 too. Funnily enough, all our young folk, including these two, think it's hilarious that we only use outside ATMs when we absolutely have to. I feel vindicated now that I've heard that you've been advised to avoid them!

Also, my niece had said to her husband, who was with her, that something felt different about the ATM she used. He said it'd be an upgrade, she'd be fine. He's a bank manager!

I don't think the police are remotely interested but at least I got the money back when it happened to me last Christmas.

The bank asked my permission to report it to the police which was fine by me. Maybe the police have to be informed? I don't know. It's a crime after all. In my case because I do online banking I checked my account soon after the money was taken so could take action quickly. Someone waiting for a printed monthly statement could be cleaned out by the time they find all the dodgy transactions apparently taking place on their account. My suspicions were aroused by discovering that I had apparently paid for a family ticket to an outdoor adventure centre!! Not likely!

You can report it to the police and get a crime number; this is needed if you have to claim on your insurance.
They could have traced exactly who used my credit cards by the address used for delivery for all the lovely Christmas gifts and the setting up of the Sky scheme but they did not.

I didn't need to claim. The bank refunded me asap. I wonder who did lose out though? The outdoor centre, the bank or some insurance company?

Glad you had a refund; I did too, one company was better than the other to deal with.

Jane I've had this happen to me in 2008 when local gangs targeted ATMs and local.petrol station card readers. Luckily, like you, I spotted the illegal withdrawals quickly.

Try not to stress - it's just part of modern day living. But I'm now very aware of how an ATM "looks* and I never let my card out of sight at petrol stations or restaurants - I make sure they bring the machine to me.

I had a refund in similar circumstances, but the bank had no interest whatsoever in chasing up the culprit, who had used the account to pay their council tax and their details were there in our statement for all to see!

Unbelievable Luckygirl! You'd think that would be a massive own goal for these thieves! Probably cheaper to just repay us than go after them. Sigh.

We paid for a month's bus pass on Manchester, £150 spend in Next, and a meal out somewhere ! I hope they had a lovely day (not !) And also a good few years ago my card took out maximum allowed at just before midnight , and the same again just after ( Obviously to max out card on separate day ) in blooming South Africa !! I received a call from my bank to tell me. All monies were reimbursed by the bank.