English and History graduate Meg McMenamin (22), from Knocklyon, Dublin was left in shock last Thursday morning as €1500 was stolen from her account within a matter of hours and spent on shopping sprees and various flights.
Speaking to the Herald, the former UCD student told of how she “almost passed out,” when she received a phone call on Thursday morning from Bank of Ireland, inquiring about some suspicious activity on her account.
€764 was stolen from McMenamin and spent on three different flights online, while a further €300 was spent on a spree in Arnotts, €80 in River Island and a smaller amount in other various transactions.
McMenamin did not notice the missing money herself, but was completely unaware of the theft until her bank had contacted her.
“I was in work and I checked my phone and the bank had sent me a text and an email and left me voicemail,” she told the Herald.
“I gave them a call and they said, ‘We just wanted to check with you about a number of transactions on your account’, and they ran through each of them and I was like, ‘No, no, no’,” she continued, before adding that by the end of the phone call, she was “hysterical,”
“I had my card with me so they told me they would file a fraud report and that it could take up to three weeks to get the money back.
“I couldn’t believe it. They told me the card details could have been taken at an ATM, or when I handed it to a shop assistant or that someone had my details.
Bank of Ireland stated that they couldn’t comment on an individual incident, but that whenever fraud was reported it would be investigated.
“There are various organisations that are out there making fraud attempts,” said a spokesperson for the bank.
Image Credit: Colin O’Riordan
