HSBC card fraud after using Monzo for first time

Help
1

I recently used Monzo for the first time to make a payment as requested by an AirBNB host. Immediately afterwards, the HSBC card I used was subject to fraud and £240 has been taken from my account. I have been an HSBC customer for over 20 years and never been a victim of fraud, and I made no other unusual uses of my card (e.g. I do not use it for online transactions), so it seems extremely likely that the card details were stolen via the Monzo transaction. Has anyone else had this problem? Is it worth reporting it to Monzo and how would I do that - it says the help lines are only for account holders. I will let the AirBNB host know and suggest she doesn’t ask guests to pay by Monzo in future but is there anything else I can do?

3

Thank you - yes I have been in touch with HSBC and the card is already cancelled and I have spoken to their fraud department about the Monzo transaction. It wasn’t a Monzo card, I typed my card details into a phone app (which I would NEVER usually do, but it didn’t seem to accept credit card details - I feel very stupid now as I could just have offered to pay cash). I’ve let the AirBNB host know and will pay her in cash on future visits. I am hoping I’ll get a refund from HSBC.

4

Where does Monzo come into this transaction - you didn’t use your Monzo card so how is it a Monzo transaction? And why were you not paying through the Airbnb website? If an Airbnb host is asking to be paid outside the Airbnb platform that should ring alarm bells.

Edit: unless by “an app” you mean the Airbnb app

Edit 2: I reread the thread and I think my first sentence comes across as a bit arsy - something I hate in other people’s posts and which I didn’t intend - apologies!

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6

I don’t have a Monzo card. It was a Monzo transaction because the AirBNB host has a Monzo account and asked me to pay by that method. I’d never heard of Monzo and was a bit wary of typing my debit card details into a phone app (Monzo app) but I did it anyway. I stay with this AirBNB host every week and normally I do pay through the AirBNB website, but on one occasion both her AirBNB rooms were already booked and she let me stay in a spare room as a private rental. So there are no alarm bells at all, this is no reflection on the host or on AirBNB, just my silly fault for putting my debit card details into a phone app.

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7

I don’t have a Monzo account so I wasn’t worried it was linked to my HSBC account. My card details were simply stolen after using the card to pay via the Monzo app. I know it happens to other people very often and probably for far larger amounts - I’m lucky HSBC caught it so soon and I hope I will be refunded. I didn’t mean to have a moan or overreact, just wanted to warn people.

8

Was this a monzo.me payment request? This would be a secure transaction.

I’m sure that the theft of card details is not a rare occurrence - I’m sorry its happened to you and I hope that HSBC can investigate and refund you very quickly.

But it should not be possible to steal card details via a monzo.me transaction, and if that were happening often there’d be plenty on this forum about it.

Edit: it would be interesting to know what conclusion HSBC reach once they’ve investigated

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9

I don’t know what app you put your details in to but it wouldn’t have been the Monzo app. Like any bank app, it’s used for managing your account - and as you say you don’t have a Monzo account, the actual Monzo app would be useless to you.

For your HSBC details to be compromised in this way, it seems to me most likely that you paid through a link that may have looked legit but was actually run by the fraudster. As others have said, I don’t think a legitimate monzo.me request would reveal enough details.

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10

The maximum on monzo.me is £100 so that doesn’t add up, to be honest I’d be wary that the Airbnb is a fake listing and no such apartment/house exists.

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11

OP says they’ve stayed with the host before, so my guess is the host’s account got hijacked.

12

Ah I missed that, :+1:

13

So sounds like you’ve fallen for a scam and it’s nothing to do with Monzo. It’s very common.

  1. Scammer takes over merchant (in this case Airbnb account)

  2. Waits for order, instead of paying normally use my special link instead and hope the person doesn’t question it.

  3. Link goes to a legit looking scam site branded like a bank (in this case Monzo)

  4. Customer puts card details in and thinks they are paying for the service.

  5. Scammer takes card details instead and buys something nice with it.

  6. Customer blames Monzo thinking it’s their fault and is put off from online payments.

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