Santander Bank has agreed to reimburse a customer who lost £8,000 in a fraud incident after her phone was stolen from a London gym.
The bank initially told the victim, Charlotte Morgan, that it would not be able to reimburse the sum stolen because the fraudster used her pin.
However, in an update posted on Twitter yesterday afternoon, Morgan said the bank admitted it had made “the absolute incorrect decision” and offered her an “unreserved apology”.
The bank said: “As part of our standard process, customers can always contact us if they disagree with the decision made on their case. We are not proactively re-opening cases.”
In a tweet, Morgan urged customers affected by fraud incidents to contact the bank.
Morgan was victim to the fraud after a thief stole her rucksack which contained her mobile phone, bank card and keys, from Virgin Active gym in Chiswick Park, London on Wednesday Aug 4.
It was initially reported that the thief stole £4,700 after a shopping spree in two different Apple stores and Selfridges, but Morgan has since told BBC Radio 4’s 'You and Yours' programme that the total sum lost was £8,000.
Morgan has called on Virgin Active UK to review its security as a result of the incident and on Santander to remove its PIN-in-app feature from its mobile banking app, or to at least make it an optional feature for customers as she believes this would have prevented what happened to her.
On Twitter, Morgan said she hopes her experience, and the pick up from it, sets a precedent so people in similar situations without a platform are “treated fairly and with the respect they deserve and need.”
“I’ve been contacted by so many people who have experienced the same thing - not only with Santander - whereby their bank refuses to reimburse their fraud case purely due to the level of sophistication surrounding the use of their PIN”.
Morgan added: “These people need support not punishment."
jane.matthews@ft.com
