VICTIMS SPEAK OUT

. . . the 64-year-old told to borrow from relatives and the doctor insultingly accused of helping the crooks — the harrowing stories of TSB victims

THE last time Tracey Best had any money to buy food or other essentials for her children was more than a week ago. The mother-of-three, who fell victim to TSB fraudsters on Tuesday last week, fights back tears as she explains her predicament.

Since fraudsters stole the entire £1,600 in her TSB current account, she has been feeding her family from tins in her kitchen cupboards. The 42-year-old, from Woodbridge, in Suffolk, says the food is rapidly running out.

‘TSB has let me down so much and I would like some compassion,’ says Tracey.

‘Criminals have taken the whole lot from my current account, so I have no access to money whatsoever. But TSB has been so cold and I just feel like a number to them.’

Tracey is among hundreds of TSB customers whose accounts have been drained by criminals in the wake of the bank’s IT meltdown last month.

Like her, many have been left without funds, but found it virtually impossible to contact the bank on its overwhelmed fraud helpline.

Some are now being told that the thousands of pounds snatched from their accounts will not be refunded.

The response from TSB — which has previously boasted about how it puts its customers first in everything it does — has deeply upset victims such as Tracey, whose children are aged nine, 13 and 16.

She has no other savings and yesterday had to accept a food parcel from a friend.

Every time she tried to contact the bank, she was left on hold for around two hours. on one of the few occasions she did finally get through to the fraud department, she was told its staff had gone home for the day.

Like many victims who have contacted Money Mail, Tracey’s fraud nightmare started with a call on her landline from a man who claimed to be from TSB and asked about a suspicious transaction on her account.

He told Tracey she had been defrauded and asked her to read out a code that was being sent to her mobile phone.

Tracey usually receives texts from TSB alerting her to announcements by the bank and says she was given no reason to suspect the message was fraudulent.

But the man was a con artist and the code allowed him to change her online banking password. once in possession of this, he was able to raid her account.

After her struggle to report the fraud over the telephone, TSB blocked her account. Tracey says that she was told the bank could not say when it would be unblocked or if she would receive her money back — and asked her to be patient.

After Money Mail intervened, Tracey was repaid the money — although she still cannot access her account.

‘BORROW FROM YOUR FAMILY’

KEITH JONES was told to rely on the goodwill of his loved ones after his TSB account was raided. The 64-year-old from Brandon, County Durham, had his current account blocked by the bank after a crook stole £826 at the weekend.

He was left wondering whether the money would be refunded.

Keith’s nightmare unfolded on Sunday afternoon, when he received a call to his mobile from a man who claimed to be from TSB. He told Keith that he was calling to check whether a £500 transaction on his account was genuine. Keith said he had made no such payment.

The man then told Keith that he had been defrauded, but that TSB would refund the cash. A six-digit authentication code was sent to his mobile phone in a text from TSB. The man demanded Keith read it back to him.

Keith believed this was necessary to help him get his money back, but, in fact, it was a code the criminal needed to change the password on his account.

He checked his balance shortly after the call and discovered £826 had been snatched.

When he tried to contact TSB, the phone rang for four-and-a-half hours before it was answered.

TSB blocked his account, but could not tell him when he would get the money back or when the block would be lifted. Keith, who is disabled, says the call handler suggested he should borrow money from friends and family to get by.

‘The woman in the call centre sounded thoroughly fed up,’ he says. ‘I can’t blame her, having to deal with this, but TSB really needs to get a handle on it all.’

£29,000 CANCER PAYOUT STOLEN

IN ANOTHER CASE, seen by the consumer website MoneySavingExpert, a cancer patient had her £29,000 critical illness payout snatched. The woman in her 30s, who asked to remain anonymous, received the money following her diagnosis with throat cancer.

She was hoping to use it as a deposit for her first home.

TSB has said that it will refund the woman. SAMANTHA and Adrian Phillips, from Bacton, in Suffolk, were told TSB would not pay back the £4,880 they lost in a text message scam.

Samantha, 48, received a message at the end of last month as TSB’s IT meltdown raged.

She says it appeared to come from a genuine TSB number and showed up next to other texts from