One

Something terrible happened to me while I was in Florence. I was robbed, or rather my bank account was. I wasn’t aware that someone had installed skimmers that copy card numbers and PINs at a cash machine in the area and that’s how they cleaned out my account. I was shocked because I had taken all the precautions, including inspecting the card reader and covering the keypad. Moreover, the cash machine was inside a bank, so I felt it was secure. After finding out what had happened, I went on social media and websites for travellers to warn everybody.

Two

While on holiday, my husband and I went to a supermarket. When my husband tried to use his card to pay, the checkout assistant said it had been declined. After she tried three times, I ran out to the car to get my card. When it was declined as well, the checkout assistant remarked that we probably had no money in our account. It made me feel so embarrassed, especially as there was a big queue behind us. People must have thought we were fraudsters. I was also afraid somebody had stolen all the money from our account! Fortunately, back at the hotel we learnt from the media that there had been a serious nationwide problem with our bank’s system.

Three

One day, after returning home, I realised I had lost my wallet. My debit card was inside, so I was worried that someone might be able to use it! I was about to call my bank to cancel the card when I saw a car pulling in. The driver got out and headed towards my door. To my surprise, it turned out he had my wallet and had come to return it. I was so overjoyed that I didn’t even thank him! So I posted a message on social media, hoping he might find it – after all, it’s a small world… Still, when the emotions had worn off, I called the bank to check my balance, and the transactions made on my account. Although everything was fine, I had my card blocked, just in case.

Four

I was just going to pay a museum admission fee when I realised that my card was missing. I immediately went to the local branch of my bank and had the card blocked. The clerk checked my account, and I discovered that a few unauthorised transactions had already been made with my card. The bank offered to print out a summary of the transactions so that I could take it to the police. Because the total amount that I’d lost was only 20 pounds, I decided not to bother. Then, all of a sudden, the bank transferred the money to my account. It was such an unexpected outcome.