Woman's banking warning after four unauthorised purchases in fortnight

Sophie Glasgow has become one of the latest victims of a scam after $550 was taken from her account in four transactions. Photo / Bevan Conley

A woman who had almost $550 taken from her account in unauthorised purchases across two weeks is urging others to keep a close eye on their bank statements.

Sophie Glasgow, 21, who is studying law and business at the University of Waikato, decided to share her story after Rotorua woman Lyn Maner told of discovering $750 of unauthorised purchases on June 7.

Maner's banking woes were featured in the Rotorua Daily Post last week. Maner complained to her bank, the store the transactions were at, and the police and managed to get all her money back under MasterCard's Zero Liability Policy.

Glasgow said she was hoping for the same quick result. She said the transactions, at one online store between May 24 and June 7, were a case of "dumb luck".

"It makes me so mad and I'm scared it could happen again.

"It is just lucky that I had a little bit of savings, otherwise I would have been screwed."

The former Rotorua resident, who banks with ANZ, said she didn't notice the first $51.56 transaction until she went to pay for something and noticed that and a $162.56 charge.

She immediately arranged for her Visa card to be cancelled, was posted a new card and had her Google pay account updated by the bank.

But two more charges totalling $333.58 were debited from the new Visa card on June 7.

"I just couldn't believe it.

"I rang my bank again and was told they would have to cancel my new card, and I would have to go through the same process to obtain another one which is so frustrating."

Glasgow said she had never regularly checked her bank statement line by line in the past.

"I"m sharing what happened to me to help warn other people to be very vigilant about checking their bank account records daily, especially for any suspicious transactions.

"I know for some young people it's a case of buy, buy, buy - it's a good idea to always check your account, especially, for any illegal charges."

In a written statement an ANZ spokesperson said: "This is an unfortunate situation and we're really sorry for the stress this may have caused Ms Glasgow.

"On the face of it, this appears to be in relation to our customer's card data being compromised. We do want to stress that her bank account has not been hacked.

"We're looking at it as a matter of urgency and we hope to resolve it as soon as possible.

"ANZ has safeguards in place to help protect customers from a fraudulent activity like this and ensure there is no financial loss, provided the customer hasn't contributed to the loss in any way," the spokesperson said.

They said ANZ had a fraud monitoring system to identify suspicious activity. The bank contacted customers if it suspected fraudulent activity.

"If we can't contact the customer, we'll make a decision on whether we need to block the account until we can reach them."

Banking Ombudsman Nicola Sladden said unfortunately these types of thefts were not uncommon, and sometimes the person responsible could not be identified especially if they are overseas.

Sladden said banks were generally liable to refund unauthorised transactions provided the customer had followed the bank's terms and conditions and taken responsible steps to protect their banking information.

"If the customer is not satisfied with the outcome of the bank investigation, they can make a formal complaint - either to their bank directly or via our office."