'Phantom' withdrawal case concludes in U.K. court

A Halifax bank defends chip-and-PIN, while the plaintiff argues his cash card could have been cloned
By Jeremy Kirk , IDG News Service , 04/30/2009

A one-day trial that raises questions about the security of cash cards used in the U.K. and Europe concluded Thursday, with a decision expected in about a month.

Alain Job sued U.K. bank Halifax in March 2007 over eight withdrawals made from his account in February 2006. Job maintains he did not withdraw a cumulative £2,100 ($3,100). He also maintains he did not authorize anyone else to withdraw the money.

Job decided to sue after the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), which mediates disputes between banks and customers, sided with Halifax.

Job is the first person to sue a U.K. bank over a phantom withdrawal and believes one possibility is that his card was cloned. Halifax maintains that it was his exact card that was used to perform the withdrawals and that either Jobs is knowingly trying to defraud the banks or was grossly negligent in handling his card and PIN (personal identification number).

Job admitted at one point during testimony to putting his cash card in his garden outside one night for some inexplicable reason, according to Alistair Kelman, an attorney who watched the proceedings in Nottingham County Court.

Stephen Mason, an attorney who specializes in the collection of digital evidence and has written about case law involving disputed cash-machine transactions is representing Job is "pro bono" i.e. "he's doing Job for Free"

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