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28 March 2024

UAE resident trapped in international debit card scam

Published
By Sneha May Francis

It's going to be nearly a month since a UAE expat lost her money to a debit card scam, but she's yet to be refunded the "stolen money".

LM’s problem dates back to November 8, when her mobile phone kept beeping messages of bank transactions that she hadn't made.

"I got five consecutive messages of transactions made in America. One was for something in Atlanta and the rest where for some other city," she informed Emirates24|7.

The transactions totalled to around Dh1,300.

She immediately dialled the bank's helpline number to inform about the theft.

"I was on the phone, when I got another call from an agent from the bank verifying if I had made those purchases or authorised someone outside the emirate to do it.

“When I told him that I was informing the bank just then about the issue, he advised me to go to the bank and file a ‘card holder dispute form’”.

LM did as she was told.

“I went to the bank on Sunday (November 10) and filed the form at the bank’s Al Quoz branch.”

Her debit card, she added was blocked the same day she had informed the agent, and she has since received a new debit card.

When she did not hear from the bank regarding the status of her complaint and when she’d be refunded the “stolen amount”, LM attempted to contact their agent many times.

“One of them told me (on November 24) that the matter would take 90 days to be investigated and settled.”

LM, who is going on holiday in the next few days, is gutted that she might not be refunded in a long time to come.

“Nobody has informed me about the status of my complaint. And, no one has acknowledged my request.”

When Emirates 24|7 contacted the bank, with LM's reference number, for an update and their take on the issue, we did not get any conclusive answer.

"As per our company rulebook we cannot comment on a particular customer if they are not present with you," a call centre supervisor said.

Upon persisting for an answer or at least an indication of what the norm in such cases, our call was diverted to many departments, with no agent able to give us any answer.

"It depends from case to case and we cannot comment unless the customer is with you," informed another supervisor.