So, the day I get back to England (stolen child benefit data related, possibly)

I'm going to say "we" a lot here when speaking of a phone conversation with a Barclays representative. What I mean by it is that I was listening in while DW did all the talking. I've changed initials however have named accurately Barclays.

Last night we learned that our current account at Barclays had been compromised to the tune of £1650 in amounts equalling £1000 and £650 in two transactions. The times at which these transactions occurred were 1330 and 1336, both times Z and R were in transit to meet me in York.

To add insult to injury the Barclays representative upon hearing of this fraudulent activity treated the matter with disinterest at best, dangerous negligence at worst. He really didn't seem to be taking the matter very seriously for the first two minutes, after a couple more we convinced him that it did look suspicious. Please, two atypical transactions that close to each other on an account in excellent standing and this guy doesn't even blink?

It was after several minutes we remind him that it would be a good idea to verify our address at which point he promptly read to us the address he had on file. You read that right, you don't even have to ask the bank to give out personal information anymore.

So, apparently it is Barclays' policy to give out account details like that over the phone. Of course the representative should have asked Z for the address and could compare it to the one he had on file. Instead he immediately and without even being asked gave out our address. To us, thank goodness!

I cannot believe companies expect customers to behave themselves at times like these. Never-the-less we kept our cool and in the end he did push the right button and we got email verification that an investigation has been opened.

What that means or how immediately the bank frees up these funds for fairly vital holiday shopping remains to be seen. Also important is that we are a family receiving child benefits and that data, along with sensitive account information belonging to that program's recipients is what was so carelessly lost and is causing such ruckus in the news.

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,,2216814,00.html

I can't say for sure the fraudulent activity had anything to do with the data loss but it is the first time anything on our account has been compromised and the timing is just impeccable.

[EDIT: Thank you for moving this, felt kind of wrong in news but couldn't move it myself]

I had some money taken out of my account a few months ago (someone in NYC!) and it was sorted pretty quickly -- Barclays will send you a form to fill out and then they'll "investigate" and put the money back without letting you know, so keep an eye on your account.

Spoke to someone at Barclay's who knew what they were doing today and it's all sorted in a beat. Outstanding legitimate charges on the account processed correctly. Though we're missing a crucial week in the inexorable drive to prepare for the upcoming season we're breathing a sigh of relief tonight.

So it was all bank charges? Not fraud?

If so, they are very high bank charges.

the £1650 were two withdraws that were fraudulent. There were no bank charges involved. If there were you bet we would have raised hell.

Sorry, I thought you meant the "legitimate charges" were the bank charges!! But the bank's refunded the missing funds now? If so, good job.

They did what my wonderful wife (who is in the banking industry) told them to do. They bounced the two fraudulent transactions and established a new bunch of account information which will take a week before it is in effect. The account is back to parity with the books £-wise now which makes us happy.

With all the 'talk' of customer security this is really the kind of service I would expect of any bank. I would suggest to Barclays that they establish protocol for the lower echelons when it comes to this sort of thing. That even if their front-line personnel aren't taking these matters seriously they are at the very least not giving out personal information as haphazardly as they did in our case.

I find with our bank it is hopeless talking to anyone on the frontline, they have no idea. Even the branch managers seem to have no actual power, the branch is basically just a shop front with customer service staff who don't seem to know an awful lot about how the banking industry works. (No offence to anyone here who works in a bank! It's lack of training that's the problem).  Now if I want anything I put it in writing to the head office.