2004 Staniforth Case

Key Facts

Amount stolen	£100
Number of Withdrawals	1
ATM Locations	Luton
Issuing Bank	Alliance and Leicester
Acquiring Bank(s)	Unknown
Card Type	Card for joint current account
Withdrawal time period	1 day
Days from theft to discovery	4 hours
Card theft involved	Yes
Level of customer action	Police report, Telephone enquiries to bank
PIN Status	PIN not written down
Outcome	Resolved. Customer and bank split loss 50/50

Customer used card at a local shop at 0847 on 14th August 2004.
Discovered card missing about four hours later when about to make another transaction.
Reported loss to bank, and discovered from them that GBP100 had been withdrawn from ATM about 2 miles away from shop where first transaction made, at about 1100.
Customer reported theft to Luton police by phone.
Issuing bank, Alliance and Leicester sent ATM fraud dispute form, customer filled it out and treturned it.
Bank replied in letter stating that perpetrators must have used customer's PIN, therefore customer must be involved.
Customer replied stating that PIN had nvery been written down, and that she had not even told her husband her PIN.
Police investigation was started, and customer states officer in charge was also "mystified as to how withdrawals were made without PIN".
Customer tried to reclaim loss from insurers, but insurers said that if the bank thinks customer has been negligent, they would not reimburse either.
Finally customer wrote to bank arguing case one more time. Bank decided to refund half the sum (GBP50) and waive penalty charges that resulted from customers account going overdrawn.