Has money disappeared from your account? mBank advises what to do
What to do if a large sum disappears from your account, for example for Bolt rides? mBank advises how to defend yourself, Bolt has no answer.
More than PLN 1,600 disappeared from the mBank client's account. The theft victim reported that the money was collected as a fare for Bolt rides at night during the May long weekend. At that time, Mr. Janek did not use the transport services because he was resting in Masuria. He last used Bolt in March.
mBank advises, Bolt throws up its hands
How does Bolt help in these types of situations? Unfortunately, not at all. I only found out that the company was “investigating the case” of a Polish client. I guess not much will come of it. If anything.
We are currently investigating and clarifying this matter. If I can say more, I will definitely come back with a broader comment.
– wrote Mrs. Martyna Kurkowska, Press Officer at Bolt
It is worth noting that Bolt is not the only one that has these types of problems. You can find similar descriptions of situations involving other passenger transport and food ordering services online. Money disappeared from Polish customers' accounts, among other things, for ordering food via Uber Eats, before this service was launched in Poland.
When asked for a comment, mBank provided a comprehensive answer. Of course, the issue of a possible refund is a matter between the theft victim and the bank. However, we received great instructions on how to protect our money against such thefts. First of all, we need to consider how this could have happened? How did it happen that someone in another country had the payment card details of someone from Poland?
Nowadays, fraudsters try to extort money or customer data in various ways. Sometimes customers inadvertently provide card details to fraudsters while on a fake phishing site, so be careful. We also observe media reports about various data leaks from websites, stores and applications in which customers provide their payment card details.
Cybercriminals often sell the data obtained in this way on the black market. This applies not only to payment cards, but also to login details for financial services, such as PayPal.
What to do if money has disappeared from your account? mBank provided the editorial staff with universal instructions. As you probably guessed, the first step is to block the card.
When we see card transactions on our account that we have not made, such the card should be blocked as soon as possible. This is the most important step to prevent further transactions ordered by third parties. You can do this by contacting mLinia, but the fastest way is to do it yourself in the mobile application or transaction website. Blocking the card is irreversible. Nobody will use it anymore.
Can I get my money back? The bank will try if the customer files a complaint. You should also report the theft to the police – maybe you will be able to catch the thieves.
The next step is to file a complaint regarding unauthorized transactions. During the complaint process, the bank will try to recover the customer's money. Of course the theft of money should be reported to the police and the customer will receive such information when filing a complaint. The police cannot block a customer's card.
There is also a simple trick that is worth using to protect your money – a card transaction limit. Just think about how much you usually spend and put a limit on it.
It is also worth remembering about daily limits on the card. We recommend keeping them at the minimum level we need. In a situation where we want to increase it for a single transaction, we have this option in the mobile applicationor on the transaction website.
This is where the solution comes in handy temporary limit. It will be valid until the limit is exhausted or until midnight on a given day. The card can also be temporarily blocked in the mobile application, on the transaction website or by calling mLinia. A blocked card can be unblocked in the same way.
It is also worth recalling the possibility of using prepaid cards offered by some banks and fintechs. If there are no funds on the card, there will be no way to steal them.