Aldi shop turns into nightmare after pensioner’s purse stolen and bank refused to help

A pensioner whose purse was stolen in Aldi and lost £750 was left distraught after her bank refused to help.

The woman in her eighties reported the theft to the police and cancelled her debit card before even leaving the store in Milnrow, Rochdale.

However, the thieves worked quickly and withdrew the cash from a nearby ATM within the space of six minutes from the card being stolen to it being cancelled.

Halifax, the pensioner’s bank, refused to refund the stolen money citing certain exceptions to the Financial Conduct Authority’s rules on assisting victims of fraud and theft.

As the woman does not use internet banking, she did not notice the £750 shortfall until she received her next statement.

Halifax allegedly failed to mention these transactions when cancelling the card and refused to reimburse her.

The bank said the woman was guilty of “gross negligence”, as the withdrawals required the thieves to enter the woman’s pin, which they thought she must have given them.

Her son-in-law, who wrote into Helen Crane at This Is Money to share the story, said that the woman regularly enters the store to complete her shopping, so savvy crooks would have likely been able to monitor her to read her pin.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:

Aldi store blocked by court after bitter row with rival LidlPret A Manger imposes body cameras on staff after safety concernsTesco thieves steal bicycle belonging to young child from outside store in broad daylight

“I think Halifax has acted unfairly and should pay my mother-in-law back, as this wasn’t her fault. She was saving for a holiday and now can’t go,” he said.

Crane, a money-saving guru, expressed her sympathies and lamented that incidents like this are very common.

She said there has been a rise of these “cruel tactics” deployed against elderly people as of late, with thieves tracking older people to catch a glimpse of their pins before later pickpocketing them.

Crane disagreed with Halifax’s verdict that it was “gross negligence” on the elderly woman’s part, and reached out to the bank to reconsider.

Thankfully, the bank now has paid her back the money in total, plus given her £75 as a gesture in good will alongside £4 for lost interest on the money – a move which has left the pensioner “over the moon”.

A Halifax spokesman said: “We have a great deal of sympathy for your mother-in-law as the victim of a crime.

“We’ve spoken with her to let her know we’ve refunded all of the money that was taken.”