what to do?

Tulip

Thinking of you Violet,hope you get this sorted

*hugs*

Katie

gixxerchick_2

Hi, i had an email like this.
I had advertised a household item on Loot website and recieved an email from a guy interested in what we were selling and he wanted me to reply to him asap with the price- price is automatically included in the advert, he asked for picture of item to be emailed which we didn't do, the following day he sent another email saying thanks for the picture and the item looks great, he offered an extra £40 for me to remove the ad and consider the item sold to him.
He said that a client of his owed him £2500 and his client would write me a cheque for this amount to be paid into my account, he would wait while the cheque cleared, i was to then deduct my payment from the amount and then forward the rest on via internation money transfer while he cotacted someone to arrange shipping.

He never got a reply from us and we heard nothing from him. The second email from him had dodgy written all over it, also 'shipping arrangements' which he mentioned sounded to me as if he wasn't even in the uk, so if we had fallen for it, we would still have been stuck with our item and wouldv'e been paid for moving his money around for him, and wouldv'e probably been caught like violetmva.
Wishing you lots of luck and support and hope this gets sorted out soon.

redgemini

Violet - I know this sounds like a lot of hassle, but have you asked Halifax to freeze your account until you can get the original docs to them?
Also have the HO given you any idea how long they will have your docs?
If you are having problems getting through to the fraud department - try calling the Lost & Stolen number on your card? I think that it's 08457 20 30 99 they should be able to help you with an alternate contact number, or get you a call back - they are there 24x7 so you should be able to get hold of someone.
Alternatively - go into your local branch - stand there until the manager helps you! There is a branch locator on the Halifax.co.uk website

soolin

Unfortunately the delays may not be entirely on the part of Halifax, as the moment anyone is suspected of money laundering it has to be referred on to various fraud departments and the appropriate division of the police.

I'm not sure there is any quick way of getting round this, these type of procedures are notoriously slow especially if there is any suspicion at all that drug or arms money might be involved. Although it would appear to be on the surface a small scam operation the official bodies do have to make sure they follow procedures.

Personally I would keep in constant contact with the bank, hassle them to let you know where things are at all times. The fact that you approached them is a good thing, as you my well have allowed them to catch someone further up the chain.

Do keep us updated, and good luck.

Soo

violetmva

My account has been frozen, i got trough the phone but they won't accept copy of the passport. They want me to go to the local branch with the original, so they can make their own copy of it. HO says it may take between 18-24 months for my application to be considered. Seems i can't do anything unless i get my passport.

soolin

Just a thought that maybe someone else could clarify. Are halifax allowed to keep a persons passport, it seems a very strange thing for a bank to be allowed to do. I could fully understand if the police kept it in case you skip the country (well, they *might* be thinking that way!) but a bank?

Can you afford to get some legal advice on this, it sounds like you may need to get a clearer picture where you stand.

Soo

-=Mr-J=-

I took 'HO' as being the Home Office, rather than the Halifax Head Office.

I am sure violetmva will clarify this for everyone.

soolin

-=Mr-J=- wrote:

I took 'HO' as being the Home Office, rather than the Halifax Head Office.

I am sure violetmva will clarify this for everyone.

Sorry, you are probably right...I made an assumption and just didn't think it through.

It would make sense for the Home Office to retain the passport while a full investigation was done, so it does look like the OP is stuck in the middle of all the red tape.

Soo

Voyager2002

The Halifax ought to accept some other form of identification if you can't show them a passport. (After all, not everyone has a passport.) Don't you have a driving license? Certain documents from the Inland Revenue are also acceptable, such as a statement of the amount of child tax credit awarded, and perhaps a notice of coding.

Otherwise, can you not get the HO to return your passport without giving up your application?