Wadeboski is scammed!!!

I checked my bank account balance today and discovered that I have most likely been a victim of credit card fraud. Not sure where or how it happened. Could have been an ATM or online interception – but I do use Norton 360 which apparently offers good protection.

What was taken out of my account? At this stage there were two £20 Vodafone top ups (I am not even a Vodafone customer) and a mysterious £50 debit that is currently unidentifiable. Unidentifiable = another example of the sloppy banking system in the UK. I was told to wait a couple of days to see what the £50 debit is before I fill out a disputed transaction report.

A couple of things to note here.

Is it a case of fraud or sloppy banking systems? Given that two of the transactions were actually £20 cell phone top ups, these are either crafty criminals or silly ones. I have no doubt that some fraudsters would apply psychology and think that average Joe will not notice some low level transactions. Said fraudster would then be able to leech off the bank account for quite a while in the hope that the credit card company does not red flag the transactions. By this time, Average Joe would start scratching their head and wonder why the balance has become low or why their card has been declined at a shop.

I, however, am not Average Joe. I keep track of my bank account in my head and can instantly identify what the balance should be. Some say I am tight with money – others would say I have a memory like an elephant. In either case – you don’t mess with the Great Wadeboski.

Maybe the debits are flowing through to the wrong account? While sounding ridiculous – it does bring home a few truths. The banking system in the UK is undeniably sloppy. There is so much double handling etc that anything can happen.

A co-worker of mine had a similar problem. A mysterious £100 debit to Virgin Trains had appeared on his account as well as a £50 Vodafone top up. Is there a pattern here? Let’s wait and see what the mysterious £50 debit is before we draw conclusions.

Where to from here? My card has been stopped and a new one has been sent out in the mail. The only problem this presents is to the various pre-orders I have at BBTS and Amazon, not to mention the fact of Merman going back on sale in a weeks time. I am off to Istanbul in a week and a bit – but I can get by until my card arrives.

In the meantime I leave you with a photo from when I went to the WWE Raw taping on Monday. It was fun and hilarious to see the botched endings get redone for TV. And then even more hilarious to see CM Punk and Kane stink out the joint a second time when they failed miserably to finish the match a SECOND TIME!

PS - I really just wanted to try and blind you :-)