Tymit fraud of £5k – any advice is much appreciated

[Mdjay]

Hi all,

This is a message I thought Id never post. I have been defrauded for approx £5k in 9 transactions (2x Argos 1500 and 7x 250 Morrisons), all within a 10-minute timeframe).

This was an extreme shock, but I thought that given this is a VISA credit card I would be swiftly refunded, especially given VISA credit’s fraud protection. I was wrong.

Tymit has been horrible. Only contactable via email and they hold me liable. According to them, I have authorised my Tymit card to be installed on an Android device. First I only own an Iphone device and never even owned an Android ever. Nor have I ever shared any card details, passcodes, absolutely nothing and have NEVER AUTHORISED any card to be installed on any other phone.

Now I am in a horrible situation where I am liable for £5k. I have checked the which website (https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/how-to-complain-if-your-card-is-stolen-and-you-re-refused-a-refund-aj0G15r6zWOf) and have formally written a complaint to Tymit’s internal complaints department and demanded a refund. If this is still not solved it can then be escalated to the financial ombudsman.

– I have also reported this crime to Action Fraud.
– For full disclosure, I did receive a scam call that someone was making a booking.com transaction which I said is not mine. The person then kept me on hold for the “fraud” department but I never shared any information with them nor given passcodes. After a while, the line got cut and I thought this was suspicious let me log into my app and all the transactions appeared.

Does anyone have any advice for me? Should I ask for legal council or wait if it needs to get escalated to the ombudsman? If so, do you have a recommendation?

I have been having sleepless nights because of this mess so any advice would be much appreciated. I’m a millennial, tech savy and pretty switched on I never thought this could ever happen to me.

Thank you all and sorry for the long message

[Froggee]

I have never heard of Tymit but it is an FCA registered business.

Card terms and conditions are here. Clause 7.4 should put your mind at rest.

https://cdn.tymit.com/media/Tymit_Card_Terms_v2_1_c9a2d7bdf2.pdf

If you are not having success with call centre/chat then ask to register a formal complaint. If they refuse to accept it then write to them at their registered address lodging your formal complaint.

You then need to wait. If they write back with a final decision telling you to get stuffed or do not respond in eight weeks you go to the Financial Ombudsman.

You will not need to pay the £5k but I would suggest if you can afford to that you make payments on it while this is ongoing to avoid them reporting anything adverse to the credit reference agencies which will take more hassle to sort out.

Tymit LTD is a company registered in England and Wales (No.10827757). authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) under firm reference number 796994 and is also registered with the Payment Services Regulator (PSR) for providing payment services. Postal address 5 Merchant Square. London. W2 1DP.

[NorthernLass]

Can you give some more details on how/when/where these transactions took place? (From what I can gather, Tymit is a kind of credit card which allows you to split payment over several months, with a lower interest rate than traditional cards.)

Presumably the card is now cancelled and not able to be used for further spending? Has Tymit started any kind of investigation? It sounds odd that they would just declare you responsible without at least looking into what went on.

[Mdjay]

Thank you Froggee for the information. I have now made a formal complaint via email, which I received an automated ticket of receipt. The terms are also helpful…much appreciated.

@NorthernLass I think these were all online transactions but I cant see that when logging into my account. I asked TYMIT but they never answered this question. Strangely, the day the transactions took place I was travelling abroad (which I have all the proof of) so I could never have physically been in the store (if these were in-store purchases).

All transactions happened between a 10-minute period on 8/1/2024: First 2x Argos £1500 approx and then 7x Morrisons £250.

When I received the suspicious phone call I logged into my account (via the app) and immediately blocked my card from further use. TYMIT replied the following:

TYMIY RESPONSE: On 08/01/2024, you advised that you had multiple fraudulent transactions and requested an urgent callback.
Based on our investigation, we see that when your card was added to a new Android wallet, it requested extra verification because it was being added to a new device. This would therefore require an In-app verification or one-time passcode to be successful. We then shortly see that the Android Wallet was activated on 03/01/2024 which led to the success of the payments.

As a result, the authorisation process occurred in the scenario below:
In-app verification

In conclusion:
We have concluded that as the transaction(s) were successful due to In-app verification, as this can only be done by the account holder, we have made the decision not to uphold your claim. This means you will now be liable for the payment of the transaction(s) listed in the table above. We recognise that this outcome may be disappointing to you however we hope you can understand why we have made this decision.

To be clear:
I never ever authorised any new app to be installed. Never shared codes, nor have I received any messages on the app on 3 Jan for me to authorise this on an Android phone. Nor did I receive an authorisation request for all these payments to be approved on 8 Jan.

I used TYMIT because of the favourable FX rates when travelling and they used to allow you to split payments interest-free for 3 months (which they have recently cancelled).

2nd TYMIT email acknowledging fraud: Following the recent fraud in your account, we will also need to replace your current card with a brand-new one to protect your account accordingly. Question: would this be considered TYMIT acknowledging fraud?

My card is now been completely cancelled.

[TooPoorToBeHere]

Mdjay wrote:

Hi all,

I have been defrauded for approx £5k in 9 transactions (2x Argos 1500 and 7x 250 Morrisons), all within a 10-minute timeframe).

You haven’t been. Your card issuer has been.

Be calm, it will be fine.

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

TooPoorToBeHere wrote:

Mdjay wrote:

Hi all,

I have been defrauded for approx £5k in 9 transactions (2x Argos 1500 and 7x 250 Morrisons), all within a 10-minute timeframe).

You haven’t been. Your card issuer has been.

Be calm, it will be fine.

Indeed.The OP also needs to contact Visa about this.

[Skywalker]

@Mdjay – I hope you get this sorted soon

Tymit are responding to their TrustPilot Reviews, so in your position, I would also post there, since most people who are considering Tymit would go to Trustpilot to ascertain a company’s trustworthiness.

The one star reviews are interesting to you: https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/tymit.com?stars=1

There are some service level complaints, but it’s interesting to see how they’ve responded to those with fraud complaints.

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decision/DRN-3940250.pdf – similar circumstances

[JDB]

@tymit follow the advice above. The most important thing is to get the transactions suspended while they investigate. This is what any normal firm would do, but this seems like a tinpot outfit. If they refuse to do that immediately and effectively seek to pin their negligence on you, in addition to following the complaints route I would write to the FCA and PSR to say that while you are pursuing the correct complaint/remedy route you are additionally contact them to alert them to the fraud and negligence of Tymit in failing to provide the most basic protections to you as a consumer. They have ignored basic evidence suggesting you weren’t culpable.

Tymit has acted negligently not only in allowing the card to be set up on an alien mobile but also then, within minutes, to authorise £5k of transactions including seven identical ones. All obvious red flags. The firms absence of adequate fraud systems or inside help, combined with blaming that on the customer seems to merit prompt investigation.

[Mdjay]

@Skywalker thank I have left a review now.

@JDB Thank you for the wording I will contact both the FCA and PSR today.

[Skywalker]

Mdjay wrote:

@Skywalker thank I have left a review now.


@JDB Thank you for the wording I will contact both the FCA and PSR today.

@Mdjay – and they have very promptly responded to you via Trustpilot 😉

Assuming that you have used an email that identifies you as Tymit’s customer on Trustpilot (as they a) haven’t requested any further identification information from you as companies sometimes do on Trustpilot and b) have raised a complaint on your behalf), they seem to acknowledge publicly that they are indeed unauthorised transactions. Take a screen print or make a PDF of their response for future escalation if required.

They say in their response to you that they have raised a complaint to the Complaints Team – if that is the case, ask them for a complaints reference number if this has not already been provided to you.