TSB customer refuses to leave branch for three days after fraudsters stole £2.5k from his account
Charlie Sweeney, 53 from Largs, Ayrshire has now got his cash back, in a victory for The Sun Online
A FORMER police inspector has forced TSB to reimburse him £2,500 that was stolen from his account, after staging a three-day sit in.
Charlie Sweeney, 53 from Largs, Ayrshire, spent three days at the high street branch trying to find out what happened to his money after hackers left him with just £20 in his account.
He claims he spent more than 700 minutes on the phone trying to get through to the fraud team since Tuesday, but thanks to an intervention by the Sun Online, the bank has refunded him the money.
Charlie, who now works part time in Morrisons, had £1,500 stolen from his TSB current account and another £1,000 in savings after scammers got control of his account.
The fraudsters changed his passwords, memorable questions and mobile phone number so that he couldn’t access it.
But after he alerted the bank about the theft, Charlie was left locked out of his account with no idea about how to recover the cash.
“As soon as I realised what had happened I went straight to cash machine and got a balance slip,” Charlie told the Sun Online. “I had £20 left in my account.
“I called customer services straight away but after two hours of trying to be put through to the fraud department I was told they would call me back.
“Since then I’ve been struggling to get through and no one has told me what’s going on.
“It makes me feel sick to think about what else may have been compromised because of TSB.
“When I realised I panicked. I felt gutted and helpless. I feel absolutely destroyed.”
Fed up, Charlie went to get help from his local TSB but they couldn’t get through to the fraud team either.
He spent almost three days there, from the moment it opened at 9:30am until it closed at 4:30pm, and was even prepared to be arrested.
He first became suspicious that is account was under threat during the online banking chaos caused by a botched IT upgrade.
On May 5 he tried to log in to his online banking but after he entered in all of his details he was sent straight back to the log in page.
What is a 'sim swap' and how do scammers use it to steal your money?
IT'S a technique used by fraudsters to gain access to your phone.
This is because most banks use two-step authentication when you want to transfer money to a new payee.
Often your bank will text you a unique four digit code that you need to complete the transaction.
Fraudsters who already have your bank details call your phone network provider and prentend to be you, asking to swap the phone number to a new SIM card that is owned by scammers.
This technique allows fraudsters to intercept messages that are sent to your phone.
They can then set up a new payee and send the funds to where they want them.
Suspecting something wasn’t right, he immediately cancelled his cards and changed his passwords.
But a few days later he received a call claiming to be from TSB to tell him his account had been compromised.
Charlie hung up and phoned the bank straight away who assured him that his account was “safe”, but the following week his funds were gone.
The thieves are likely to have used a type of fraud called “sim swapping” where they convince your mobile firm to activate a new sim card giving fraudsters control of your mobile number.
The crooks are then able to reset your mobile banking passwords and transfer money out of your account.
Because of this, Charlie’s phone is completely out of use so he’s been using his home phone to call TSB.
Luckily, he has more than one current account so was still able to pay the bills.
Since the Sun Online contacted the bank, Charlie’s got his cash back and had his account unlocked, but he still doesn’t know how they hacked it in the first place.
He added: “Thank you so much to The Sun for helping me but that shouldn’t be what it takes for me to get an answer about my money.
“How many other people’s accounts have been hacked and can’t get any answers from TSB?
“I’m going to close my account and move to another bank. I don’t trust them at all.”
A spokesperson for TSB said: “We’re really sorry for the experience Mr Sweeney has had and the distress and inconvenience this has caused him.
“I am pleased to say we have managed to speak to Mr Sweeney and resolve his case – he has been fully refunded.”
Earlier today we reported how fraudsters used the same technique to con a 56-year-old disabled customer out of £3,500.
Rupert Jones – not his real name – from Essex, was left with just 66p in his current account and even watched the criminals drain the money from his account via TSB’s mobile app.
Some customers have managed to get a payout, but one customer only got £40 to cover a late payment on a credit card.
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