KATIE MORLEY INVESTIGATES

CONSUMER CHAMPION OF THE YEAR If a company has let you down, Katie is here to fight your corner

LETTER OF THE WEEK Someone spent £50,000 on my mother’s bank card

My mother is a vulnerable pensioner in poor health. At the end of last year, while she lay in bed with a broken foot, someone used her debit card to spend £49,761. This money was her safety net.

The thief went on a three-day spending spree between Dec 5 and Dec 8 2019. Metro Bank sent my mother a text on Dec 9, asking whether she had made the transactions. She doesn’t use her mobile much and at the time was struggling to get out of bed. She didn’t see the message.

A week later I paid her a visit. While helping her to sort out some bills, I noticed on her online account that thousands of pounds had been spent at shops including Argos, Currys and House of Fraser in Birmingham. Mum lives in Hertfordshire. I instantly knew it wasn’t her.

I broke the news to her and she hobbled, in spite of her broken foot, to a Metro Bank branch in person. There, she was told she would not be refunded as her card and Pin had been used to buy the items in question. We complained to customer services and were told the same thing. As it could not explain how the thieves had got her card and Pin, Metro Bank was not willing to refund any of the money.

My mother had a stroke a few years ago and ever since then her memory has been poor. I’ve always told her not to write her Pin down and she insists she didn’t. Who stole her money and how is a total mystery. Now the police are trying to catch the culprits, but we don’t hold out much hope of ever seeing the £49,761 again. I wondered if you could possibly do anything to help.

MT, SAN FRANCISCO

Since you had been handling her financial affairs, one of the first things I wanted to know was whether you had lasting power of attorney for your mother.

Yes, you said, promptly sending me proof. Sadly, most crimes like this are perpetrated by someone the victim already knows, most often a trusted family member. So, as you seemed to be the only one in possession of all her sensitive information, I needed to eliminate you as a suspect.

I asked you where you were between Dec 5 and Dec 8 2019. You said you were in New Jersey, US. I asked you to send proof of this, which you did. Your Chase Bank statement showed that on Dec 5 you visited Dunkin’ Donuts in Montclair, New Jersey, spending £1.79. I was satisfied you were telling the truth.

So were there any other family members or friends who had access to her card in the way you did, I asked. Not that you or your mother

Katie Morley, Telegraph Money, The Daily Telegraph, 111 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 0DT

Please do not send original documents. Include an address, phone number and separate notes addressed to all organisations authorising them to talk to Katie. For full terms see P5 or visit telegraph.co.uk/go/ consumerchampion. You can also email kminvestigates@ telegraph.co.uk knew of, you said. Metro Bank said it had ruled out the possibility that a stranger had seen your mother enter her Pin in public, as the last time she had been out and used it was 17 days before the first fraudulent transaction.

I think it may have been a bit too hasty to dismiss this possibility. From what I can see, whoever performed this heinous crime against your mother was evil and calculating, but probably not the sharpest tool in the box. Most of the fraud cases I see are highly sophisticated; many even have a diabolical stroke of genius. Although effective, this crime was basic, to say the least.

The police may have a woeful record of catching fraudsters, but by walking into national retailers brimming with CCTV cameras and spending thousands on a card where every transaction is tracked, this character or characters were begging to be caught.

The last I heard, the police had identified two suspects. Hopefully it won’t be long before the perpetrators are thrown in jail so they can’t inflict misery on other pensioners.

Meanwhile, I asked Metro Bank to reconsider your mother’s case, urging it to consider two main points. First, your mother was extremely vulnerable and therefore unable to defend herself against being taken advantage of. Given her mental and physical state, holding her responsible on the grounds of gross negligence would be unfair.

Secondly, your mother’s “normal spending” on the account was around £200 a week, yet within the space of three days her card was successfully used to buy £49,761 worth of goods and services.

Although this was enough to alert Metro Bank’s fraud detection system, all it did was send her a text. Had it blocked the card and attempted to phone her, as it should have done when the big purchases started, it could have prevented most of her

My wife was diagnosed with bowel cancer and had to have two major operations and chemotherapy. When she finally received the all clear, we went on holiday to celebrate. As a special treat, we booked to fly first class on Emirates to Dubai and then on to Phuket in Thailand.

Our seats from Phuket back to Dubai were downgraded to business class for “operational reasons”. The aircraft did have a first-class cabin, which we saw only as we disembarked. We saw that a number of seats were unused, so we could have sat there.

We have received a £150 refund, which is insulting considering that we paid £9,400 for the round trip. We complained and have been fobbed off with air miles.

BF, SURREY

This was supposed to be the holiday of a lifetime to celebrate your wife’s good news, so you wanted everything to be perfect. I do understand why you were annoyed when it wasn’t, although some reading this will think having to sit in business class sounds like a rather lovely problem to have. Online reviews say Emirates business class barely differs from the first class experience anyway.

Emirates has been cagey about why you were downgraded, which has aroused my curiosity. I wonder whether your seats might have been needed to make way for an important politician, or even royalty? Perhaps you saw empty first-class seats because the VIPs were ushered off the plane before everyone else?

I asked Emirates to check if you had been refunded correctly, as a quick online search suggested you might have been short-changed. However, I had the airline provide a full breakdown of costs and I’m afraid it is adamant that no mistake has been made. If you’re still unhappy you can complain to AviationADR, which arbitrates in unresolved Emirates complaints.

Emirates downgraded our first-class plane seats

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