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Pay devices cause duplicate card transactions

Johannesburg - A Fin24 user was shocked to discover that items he purchased on his debit card were again deducted from his bank account a few days later.

This has caused him to question the security of banking institutions.

"I purchased some items Sunday a week ago using my debit card. The transactions went through and the money was deducted from my account," wrote Fin24 user Brian.

"Friday morning at 02:00 I got messages telling me the money has again been deducted for the same items bought on Sunday."

He then called FNB and was told they were experiencing problems and that he should be credited later that day.

"Firstly, how bad is FNB's security to allow this to happen? Surely items can't be authorised without my pin being put in?" wrote Brian.

"And why must I wait to get my own money back due to FNB's error? If I owed FNB money I would be expected to pay it back immediately or get threats of legal action, but its fine if they owe you money."

He wrote about his experience on Hello Peter and noticed there were several other complaints regarding the same matter.

On Monday he called FNB's fraud line and was told there is nothing they can do as it was Absa's fault. He was told to call the bank's general enquiries.

His account was finally credited on Tuesday morning.

"What concerns me is how this could have happened in the first place. It shows their system security is poor," wrote Brian.

Fin24 approached FNB about the matter and the bank responded as follows:

Duplicate card transactions posted by Absa merchant pay point devices have occurred. The transactions did not arise within FNB systems.

We are working closely with Absa to reverse these transactions and to credit our customers' accounts.

A number of credits have already been completed and this process is ongoing.

Absa responds:

An Absa spokesperson told Fin24 on October 22 that Absa, together with FNB, have worked tirelessly to resolve the recent incident whereby some Visa cardholders were debited twice for purchase transactions on October 12 2014.

Nearly all accounts of impacted customers have been rectified.

"It is an industry norm and practice that any account holders experiencing a similar issue should go to their own bank to request a refund and their bank will then deal with the acquiring bank to resolve the matter," said the spokesperson.

- Fin24

* Has something similar happened to you? Share your experience.

Disclaimer: All articles and letters published on MyFin24 have been independently written by members of the Fin24 community. The views of users published on Fin24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent those of Fin24.

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