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Aaww
Newbie

Security issue/hacked?

I had a payment from my Halifax account suspended because the fraud department claimed the wi-fi was showing that it was being used from Lincoln not Hampshire. Is this anything to worry about?

4 REPLIES 4
RoyB
Legend

@Aaww 

Yes it is. Why should the Halifax care where you are?

Set a Payment PIN on your account so that no-one but you can buy memberships on it. Check your bank accounts monthly for any other unexpected payments to Now. That way you can at least nip them in the bud, while you and Now figure out whose fault they are.
Aaww
Newbie

Halifax Bank said at 12.00 today that they blocked the transaction because my Wi-Fi showed the transaction was taking place in Lincoln at 9.10 am, not in Hampshire where I live. They felt someone may be taking control of my Wi-Fi settings. ( it was a large £££ transaction)

RoyB
Legend

@Aaww 

I understand the technology here; assuming you were at home in Hampshire, and using Now, then I assume that the IP address that Now had dynamically assigned you flagged to them as Lincolnshire, and they decided that was a risk for a large transaction.

Sounds squinky to me. What made them think you couldn’t (at Christmas already?) actually be in Lincolnshire? But ‘for security’ of course, they probably won’t tell you what larger mismatch made them suspicious.

Since geolocating IP addresses is an inexact science at best 😢

But you are entitled to ask them. And there must have been something else that alerted them; if there wasn’t, then they will need dynamic IP addressing, trunk rerouting, and a few other arcane internet concepts explaining to them.

Now customers sometimes report they have been blocked because some server somewhere decided they were on the Continent.

I suggest you browse to fast.com, which will tell you where it thinks you are. And if it doesn’t think Hampshire, turn your router off for 20 minutes or so. And after turning it on again, see where fast.com thinks you are now; and if it says Hampshire, try your transfer again.

And hope that the Halifax hasn’t lost you the house, or whatever the downside might be.

Set a Payment PIN on your account so that no-one but you can buy memberships on it. Check your bank accounts monthly for any other unexpected payments to Now. That way you can at least nip them in the bud, while you and Now figure out whose fault they are.
Jayach
Elite 3

Were you using a device you had not used before for the transaction? It seems strange they would use geo-location for security and not all the other options available. (such as 2FA Two-factor authentication)