i've been scammed!! need help...

bargaindoctor

i got scammed for quite alot of money in a big con. I obviously wasn't the only person involved, so a few of us are trying to get this person. Thing is put together, we have quite a few details of this person and I believe he is still here in the UK.

I sent the money via a bank transfer, and we both use the same bank.

Anyway I would like to find a course of action from here. It would be useful to find more information on him first, because we suspect that it's a 2 person operation. We COULD contact the police, or an antifraud agency. No one has yet, because they wanted to give this guy a chance. We have enough info to at least have someone knock on his door. I would've done it myself but doubt it'd get anywhere, but if things come to worse, we COULD send 2 burly men over... I am DETERMINED to catch this !!!!!!.

I could contact the bank's fraud department (it took me half an hour on the phone yesterday before i managed to get a special number to a department). If the account is used for fraudulent activity and his account will be frozen/suspended and money will be returned, but of course no guarantees. Thing is I just want my money back, and we use the same bank, and you'd think they could help more, but seems like it's not going to happen...

hope to get some pointers on here...

wobbley

The key word is EVIDENCE - gather and collect as much as you can. You dont go into specific details but make sure this is a clear "con" or "scam" and the other person has in fact 'broken the law'. Are there any loopholes or smallprint that could make someone view this as just a dispute. If this is the case go straight to the Police. as you say they may drag their heels, in which case the sooner you contact them the better. Then again they may surprise you with understanding and swift action. Resist the aggresive approach, I know it's difficult if you are annoyed and upset but it VERY rarely helps. Find as much info as you can about the person quickly before they get chance to cover tracks. Internet searches, electoral registers, company regisrations etc. it's not too difficult these days

alanobrien

I would contact the police immediately and get an incident number.

Then contact the bank and see if they will freeze the account before they empty it.

I suspect Its the best chance you have of getting your cash back.

wigginsmum

Agree with alanobrien - it's rarely a good idea to try and handle this stuff yourself.

Jules

greenwich

alanobrien wrote:

Then contact the bank and see if they will freeze the account before they empty it.

Banks can't just freeze people's accounts because someone private individual asks them to. They either need a court order or a some reason to believe the account is being used for money laundering.

BTW, I would be careful in advising this OP. Just a while ago he was asking for some inside info about Vodafone without revealing why he wanted to know. We not know the full story. To the OP I'd say: if you're not doing anything illegal then why not tell us what's really happened?

Poppycat

Why give this person a chance? This low life scammed you I wouldnt hesistate but to get this person into trouble to the full extent of the law.

Go to the Police and report this low life.

wobbley

greenwich wrote:

Banks can't just freeze people's accounts because someone private individual asks them to. They either need a court order or a some reason to believe the account is being used for money laundering.
QUOTE]

Not actually true. I was in my bank some years ago and casually chatting with the cashier while doing business. I just happened to mention that I was getting divorced.
"Ah,,,well,,, sorry,,, but I'll have to freeze your account sir"
"Why?"
"Because you just told me you're getting divorced"
"You're winding me up,,, yeah?"
"No, there could be some financial dispute so we have to do this"
"But err,,, - I was only joking"
"Too late. - sorry ! "

Don't know if this has happened to anyone else but maybe the OP could call the bank and pretend to be the 'spouse' if this is a standard procedure.

But you should still call the Police too.

greenwich

wobbley wrote:

greenwich wrote:

Banks can't just freeze people's accounts because someone private individual asks them to. They either need a court order or a some reason to believe the account is being used for money laundering.
QUOTE]

Not actually true. I was in my bank some years ago and casually chatting with the cashier while doing business. I just happened to mention that I was getting divorced.
"Ah,,,well,,, sorry,,, but I'll have to freeze your account sir"
"Why?"
"Because you just told me you're getting divorced"
"You're winding me up,,, yeah?"
"No, there could be some financial dispute so we have to do this"
"But err,,, - I was only joking"
"Too late. - sorry ! "

Don't know if this has happened to anyone else but maybe the OP could call the bank and pretend to be the 'spouse' if this is a standard procedure.

:rotfl: It's not standard procedure. The cashier had obviously misunderstood something someone had told her (or was a friend of your ex ) Your relationship with your bank is governed by contract and by law. If you've kept to your side of the contract (e.g. not run up unauthorised overdrafts) then the only reason they can freeze the account is if the law tells them to, by means of a court order or the money laundering legislation. If they had persisted in denying you access to your account just because you were getting divorced, you could have sued them for breach of contract.

Mark7799

Going off topic but I wanted to comment on the previous post. It's some time since I was involved in work of this nature but a bank would freeze an account if it was a multiparty account that gave a mandate allowing withdrawals to be signed by less than all parties (e.g. a joint account with 'any one to sign' as standard instructions) received a revokation notice by any party to the account.

Payments away would only be allowed if authorised by ALL parties unless/until a new mandate was received, dated after the notice authorising the Bank to accept payments signed by less than ALL parties. A third person who is not a party to an account could not get an account frozen without a court order.