Piotr Lewandowski, a carpenter and stone mason from St Clement, was unaware that someone else had been using his card until he received several calls from his bank regarding unpaid bills totalling over £400.
The bank subsequently took the money from his debit account and, after checking his statement, Mr Lewandowski discovered that four flights – to Gatwick, Manchester and Lyon in eastern France – had been booked using his card. A hotel room reservation had also been made.
He said: ‘For some reason the bank sent my card to an old address which is very strange because they sent my pin number and statements to my correct address. I do not know why they did that.
‘The bank opened a credit account with a card for me when I opened my business account but I never intended on using it.
‘I only found out when the bank started chasing me for a payment quite recently, despite me never using the card.’
Mr Lewandowski said that he then visited a branch of his bank where staff asked him if he could have made the payments in error or if it could have been one of his family members.
However, he claims that it became clear who had bought the flights when he received a copy of his statement.
He said: ‘Because they booked their ticket online all the names of the people travelling showed up on my statement. It is quite funny.
‘I then took a photo of my statement and put it on Facebook.
‘Within about two or three hours the woman concerned contacted me and tried to explain herself saying that it was just a mistake.
‘How can you use someone’s card six times as a mistake? When you buy flights you need to put the cardholder’s full name in to pay.’
Mr Lewandowski added: ‘She said that she would send me a refund but the bank had already refunded me so I told her to send £400 to Jersey Hospice instead. The next morning she sent a screenshot of the payment being made,’ he said.
‘It is disappointing. I never thought that anyone could do this – we live in such a small Island and it was quite easy to find out who did it.’
A States police spokeswoman confirmed that the woman accused of using the card would be attending a parish hall inquiry.
