If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.
Read the community guidelines before posting ✨
I did something foolish
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
looking for a spot of advice please as I'm really quite worried. I'm a total idiot (the username says it all really).
I came into the possession of some credit card details (I won't say how, but it wasn't by way of me stealing them). I sat with them for a while, but I ended up trying to use them to buy some stuff on the internet (total value >£2k). The transaction didn't go through - assuming card had been stopped by the time I tried to use the details.
Do you think it's probable that I'll get a knock at the door? What should I do? I no longer possess the card details, I shreaded them soon after the attempts failed. I've been worried sick since about what will happen. I've really messed up!
I came into the possession of some credit card details (I won't say how, but it wasn't by way of me stealing them). I sat with them for a while, but I ended up trying to use them to buy some stuff on the internet (total value >£2k). The transaction didn't go through - assuming card had been stopped by the time I tried to use the details.
Do you think it's probable that I'll get a knock at the door? What should I do? I no longer possess the card details, I shreaded them soon after the attempts failed. I've been worried sick since about what will happen. I've really messed up!
0
Comments
Always makes me laugh how people try and justify their actions, in your case by saying "I didn't steal the card details" and "the stuff was under 2k".
Not an expert but i think even by attempting to use the details you have committed a crime. If the card has in fact been reported lost/stolen then the credit card company will probably take an interest in who has attempted to use it so I would fully expect a knock on the door yes.
In that event speak to a solicitor as Big Gay says.
At some point the credit card company will contact the owner of the card and ask them if it was a legitimate purchase. When they say no, they'll trace you and pass your details onto the police.
However you got hold of the card is irrelevant, instead of handing it in or destroying it, you tried to use it. Thus, a crime has been committed especially as you tried to buy over £2000 worth of stuff (in maths >2000 means greater than).
I've got no sympathy for you, because for every lucky person like me who gets phoned before the transaction goes through, there is some poor sod who ends up with a bill for £2000 followed by weeks of worrying whilst the matter is investigated and the nagging question about how their details were found.
Again, no excuse, but there was a suggestion that some of the information wasn't correct (last digit of card number may have been wrong). If that were the case what would the position be (does anyone know)?
If that's the case then obviously you haven't inputted the number of a stolen card. It may also be that the procedure for declining a stolen card is disguised as the procedure for declining a card where you've put the wrong numbers in.
Hopefully the worry will have taught you a lesson not to do something that you would find horrible if you had it done to yourself.
tis what I'd do...
It seems like you have done something that you now regret and you are worried about the consequences.
I'm not sure of the exact answer to your question as I'm not sure how banks and the police deal with credit card fraud. You could try calling CrimeStoppers who have an anonymous helpline; 0800 555 111. I know it's not ideal to call them, but it could be worth a try.
You could also seek professional legal advice if you would like to. You can use the Legal Adviser Finder to find someone in your local area.
Whilst you are worried about the consequences and what will happen next, it is important to think about what you have learnt from this situation. Ask yourself and think about why you did this and what you will do next time you are in a similar situation.
Hopefully you can put this behind you soon and move on.
Only bother finding a solicitor if you get nicked.
However, and let me say this in massive letters, you are a complete cunt for even CONSIDERING doing this.
Ignore all the people who are judging you over this - nobody is perfect and I doubt none of them have never broken the law in their lives.
Yes you've done something stupid, you seem to be aware of this. Should this ever get to court (and in fairness I think it probably will however I'm no legal expert) the defense of "I gave in to temptation" isn't going to wash as it's what everyone says when they're convicted for any sort of fraud.
How you came in to possession of the details won't make much difference however if it was due to some sort of security lapse your best bet is to explain this to the police as early as possible should they get involved.
If you've got no previous convictions then you'll probably walk free from court with a suspended sentence or community service - you've broken the law and you must be punished for it.
If you can afford it get to a solicitor or speak to the CAB. Just the act of talking to someone about it face to face will probably make you feel a bit better.
Once again I stress I'm not a legal expert. You've f***ed up royally but life does go on. Try to stay positive and should it go to court, once it's all been dealt with put the whole sorry incident behind you and spend your time discouraging others from doing the things you did - it works wonders for the soul.
Good luck.
I can guarantee that I've never tried to steal £2000 of someone else's money before.
We're not talking about not handing in a £20 note you find on the floor, we're talking about deliberately attempting to defraud someone out of quite a lot of money. And not just the money but the time; it can take hours for the credit card holder to unravel something like this.
idiot isn't sorry he did it, he's sorry that he might get caught. That's very very different and, to be honest, very cuntish behaviour. I presume, probably rightly, that if the transactions had gone through he wouldn't be giving two shits now.
I didn't say you had.
its whether you regret it because you could get in trouble, or whether you regret it because you KNOW it was an awful thing to do that makes the diff. (imo)
However, going on about that instead of trying to offer help isn't going to do any good - this is intended as a help and advice site after all.
Leave the judgements outside. The OP deserves to be punished and regardless of any crime someone may have committed, everyone has the right to seek advice without judgement.
This is quite an odd post, because on the one hand you care enough to give the person advice, on the other hand, you clearly rate the OP as a low life for doing it. A true criminal law solicitor in the making
It's kind of a non-judgemental + super judgemental all rolled into one though, I can see you found it absolutely impossible to bite your tongue as it offends you so much. There's little to come back from when this happens, yet I do believe there's an alternative.
At a time when someone is feeling anxious, probably a bit sick in their stomach about an action and they come to a supportive environment to get some answers - calling someone a cunt just means you're closing down the options for having a constructive conversation.
So, instead of making an aggresive statement followed by a ton of assumptions that he isn't sorry, you could have simply asked - "I'm curious, are you sorry you did it or just sorry you got caught?" That way you open the potential to actually have an adult discussion on the matter rather than just raising defences - is the person somehow stuck in a rut, struggling with money, looking to fill a void? The options are endless...
This is an option rather than trying to force someone who probably already feels guilty to feel even more so.
Anyway, that's my rather rambling way of hoping you'll reconsider next time you lash out.
To the OP, It might be that there is no real underlying reason for you doing this, maybe you were just an opportunist (not for me to judge) either way I hope you've found the overall advice here helpful
I'll take that as the compliment I'm sure it was intended as
The second post was more in response to Glenn Quagmire saying that people were wrong for bringing moral judgements in to it, saying that most people have broken the law. They have, I know I have, but there's a difference between speeding or keeping a tenner and deliberately trying to nick over £2000.
I generally see things quite black and white, especially morally, and I will be honest: I don't much care why he did it. Even the most desperate people know that nicking that amount of money is wrong. However even I'm not quite callous enough to fail to point out that the police are highly unlikely to call round because banks don't care about sums of money like that, even if he had actually managed to use the card details and steal the money. I just hope he takes his guilt and learns his lesson, there's no real harm done (luckily for him), it's just a shame he wasn't paying attention in kindergarten when he was taught that stealing is wrong.
The guilt's the punishment this time and, hopefully, the guilt will be the penance too.
That it was! :d
See, I really like this latest post - think it holds waaaaay more weight than that Cunt word. Creativity with words will get you everywhere.
I'm just struggling now because I need a worser word to describe Nadine Dorries.
Not that there is near the same thing or level of seriousness but once I managed to hack into a guy I dislikes MSN and facebook simply through guessing the answer to his security question. After my powertrip of 1 minute I realised how wrong it was.. even if he was a prick, so I reactivated his fb and left everything in a way it could be retrieved because I genuinely felt guilty, in fact he didn't even know he was hacked. There was a slight paranoia of getting a knock at the door from the plods, but people never ever get prosecuted for that kind of thing, you'll know if you genuinely feel guilty or if you're just scared of getting caught by what crosses your mind more. It doesn't excuse it either way, though.