Punjab-origin man loses £12,000 via Facebook; gets apology, refund

LONDON: A Punjab-origin yoga instructor in the UK lost nearly 12,000 pounds after fraudsters gained access to his Facebook account and made transactions to an online gambling website.

Jasbir Mann, 45, kept his debit card details stored on Facebook as he occasionally paid to advertise his business on the social media site.

He was horrified to discover 110 transactions, ranging between 21 and 215 pounds, made to an online poker game site he had never used between September 26 and 28, The Telegraph reported.

“Apart from the occasional lottery ticket, I don’t gamble and do not know how to play poker,” said Mann, who runs a yoga studio in Warwickshire.

Mann said he immediately contacted his bank which cancelled his card and told him to remove his details from Facebook.

Mann raised a dispute with Facebook which began refunding some of the transactions, paying 5,747 pounds of the stolen 11,878 pounds back in 30 tranches on September 28, the report said. But then the refunds mysteriously stopped, he claimed.

“I can’t believe Barclays and Facebook have taken so long to deal with this. I’m a yoga instructor, not a millionaire,” he said.

Almost two months after the fraud occurred, Facebook finally refunded the remaining 6,132 pounds to Barclays without explanation, the report said.

Facebook has not answered Telegraph Money’s questions regarding how Mann’s account was accessed, how the fraudsters managed to steal the money and why initially it refunded only some of the money to him.

The social media site, however, apologised for delays in keeping Mann informed. “We can confirm that unfortunately this account was compromised. A full refund has now been made,” a spokesman said.

Facebook said it took a “number of precautions” to safeguard users and prevent unauthorised access.