Lost or Stolen or Strayed: Dizzy Daughter's Debit Card Seems to Have Been Mislaid, Somewhere in Italy

It’s summer, it’s holiday time, and my youngest daughter is currently spreading her wings and enjoying a nice long break in the sun, InterRailing around Europe for a few weeks.

Every few days for the past couple of weeks I have been getting texts, emails & Facebook messages from lovely places like Barcelona, Perpignan, Nice, Rome, Florence and Bologna.  All saying much the same thing: lovely weather, great food, meeting new people, having fun, everything is great, don't worry.

Then on early Saturday morning came the call I had been dreading:

“Mum, help! I’ve lost my bag with my phone, money and bank card. What do I do?  Can you sort it out for me?’

This was around 8.00 am BST, and not being a morning person at the best of times, the sound of the phone ringing woke me up from a blissful, deep and much-needed weekend slumber.  As soon as I heard it I knew exactly who it would be. Ruddy kids, how blooming typical!

So could I help her?  Could I sort it out?  Well, yes and no.  Obviously I always try to do everything in my power to help and protect my children.  But now they are officially adults with their own lives, jobs, money and bank accounts, it is up to them to control their own finances.  I am always on hand to give advice and lend a helping hand, but they have to earn their own money and make their own decisions about how to spend it, save it, and manage it.

As we all know, the UK Data Protection Act of 1998 precludes me from talking to my daughter’s bank about her account, and quite rightly so.  So it was obviously up to my daughter to contact the bank and sort things out herself.  Had she followed my advice and taken a note of the emergency contact number for the bank along with he?  Of course not.

Had she got herself organised with the safe and sensible option of a pre-paid FX card for the trip? No she had not.

Since she reliably fails to open any boring, official-looking correspondence, and just leaves them lying around on the hall table for ever, it was quite easy to track down one of her bank statements and find the appropriate emergency contact number, which we texted to her travelling companion’s phone.  She made the call, the missing debit card was cancelled, and the bank was able to confirm that no illegal withdrawals or purchases had been made from her account.  Phew.

A couple of hours later and BH received a call from her lost mobile phone: a kind person had found her bag (abandoned under a bar stool in a drinking den somewhere in Florence); found ‘Dad’ on the contact list & rang him to reassure us that the phone (and wallet and plastic) were in safe hands and would shortly be returned to their rightful owner.

So all’s well that ends well. Three days later and my errant daughter is continuing her merry romp around Italy. Next stop Venice. Nothing lost apart from a couple of hours sleep.  And what is the worst thing that could have happened? If a fraudster had got hold of the card, without a PIN, could they have used it?

The answer is yes, but only up to a point. The Chip & PIN system protects against fraud only for transactions made in person.  A determined crook can still use a stolen card for some online, telephone and postal purchases.   So between your card going missing and your phone call to the bank to report it, there is a window of opportunity for theft.

For cards from outside the UK and not protected by the Chip & PIN system, the potential for damage is much greater:  once a criminal gets hold of this type of card all they have to do to use it for fraudulent purchases is to copy the signature on the card at the point of sale.

The Way We Were - 20 Years Ago

Just a few more days and my dizzy daughter will be safely back home. But no matter where she is, how old she is, what she is doing, who she is with, I don’t suppose I will ever be able to stop worrying about her completely.