Indentity theft from cahoot flexible loan

seeker02uk

Hi I need some help. I was a victim of fraud from someone I lived with last year. They accessed my online cahoot account, emptying my savings, current and flexible loan account by moving across to their own account. This happened in six weeks and i had no idea. Also all my credit cards had been used.

There was then a fire at my home I shared with this person whilst I was inside and I still didn't have any idea until this person was arrested the morning of the fire, and questioned about arson with intent (the police said I ought to go check out all my personal money details). They shortly after went into a mental hospital and I discovered I had everything emptied. the police suspected she had tried to get rid of all the evidence including me.

I obviously told the police and made a statement and discovered I had lost about 30k, 10k of this my personal savings.

The credit card companies were fantastic and told me not to worry and reversed all the fraudulent transactions. No problem here and Bank of Scotland were excellent and helpful.

I then got to the banks and I informed them of what happened and they put a hold on payments to a loan account that had had 8k taken from it. I was still waiting for the police to do something but they couldn't until this person was out of hospital.

Anyway one year later, she is out of hospital and I was finally interviewed fully about my losses. They hadn't bothered much until I got a solicitor friend to hassle them, then it was all systems go.

The bank (cahoot) then said the fraud department had dismissed my claim stating they had investigated it and said I was liable for the 8k loan. I complained about this (they never even froze the interest) and had a letter back saying I had breached my terms and conditions by allowing this person access to my pin numbers and my log in details. And to my knowledge I hadn't ever given anyone my details. I know that she could guess acouple of them as it was due to facts (such as mothers maiden name and favourite place.) And the main password, before the change, I had to type in the full password which the only was I can see was seen over my shoulder and I'm not the best typist (one finger job!).

The police have finally gathered all the evidence and are proceeding to charge her with fraud and arson with intent.

My point now is that I have asked the fraud department how they have come to their conclusions when the police have not finished investigating this. They haven't spoken to the CID officer involved, just to confirm it is being investigated.

I was basically told it was my tough luck and they phone me weekly asking for full and final settlement of, well its now gone up to 9.5k incurring interest etc.

I had to leave the area I worked in as I had no home and lost all my savings and personal effects in the fire, suffering from post traumatic stress and was off work until September last year. I now work self employed for myself at home, as my concentration is very limited as my head is full of what happened and how close it all was to my not survivng the ordeal. I suffer panicky days and I have no savings and get by, just about, with the help of my friends.

But my question is, is it right that the bank can just dismiss this as my fault, when noone knows exactly what happened until the suspect is reinterviewed?

Isn't it unreasonable for the banks to put pressure on me by ruining my credit history and threatening me weekly demanding full payment?

I think it's really unethical they expect me to pay for the proceeds of someones crime and there is no way I can pay this back. The stress is immense trying to sort out this mess and just need a helping hand as to what to do next. I am composing a letter to the FSA as I have complained to the Cahoot people and was told the same thing, I was careless for telling someone my log in details. (which tearing out my hair I didn't) I took 'resonable care'.

I had also lent this person 5k for her own business set up several years ago and she was paying it back for sometime direct but then stopped it and not told me. The money stolen from me, I discovered, was to pay off business debts and advertising fees. I am now just waiting for the police to tell me she has been rearrested and questioned by a top cop (because I ronically she was an ex police officer and a private detective) and let me know the outcome. (i found out she was booted out from the police for being a liar, she told me it was because she witnessed her best friend get killed by a speeding car)

Any ANY help out of this big mess would be appreciated! What rights do I have if any? All I get from the police is "the banks shouldn't be doing this".I bounce payments left right and centre trying to keep up payments I had when I was well paid in a good job with what I thought 20k in savings! Basically things could be better!! But my friends have been fantastic.

Is it possible for the bank to make me bankrupt on an unsecured loan? I would hate for them to do that as I have spent the last 6 months setting up a web shop and just tick ticking along slowly and would hate to ruin the basis for a good future.

I'll stop waffling now! Anyone who has been in this situation and has advice please get in touch

Jackie x

canny_yorkshireman_2

I am so sorry to read such a distressing post and it makes me so angry that there are organisations out there that can be so cruel with peoples lives and just look after their shareholders and not the customers interests. the big question here is what is reasonable care and as you say if you believe that you did act with reasonable care and diligence then you need to take proffessional advice from a lawer who specialises in banking law you may even get one that will act on a no win no fee basis i just hope that you get some satisfaction from this awfull mess and the very best of luck you deserve it
hth

jonesMUFCforever

Have you completed the bank's complaints procedure?
If not has it just gone as far as been rejected by the fraud section of the bank? If this is the case you need to invoke the complaint procedures NOW (Phone or get a leaflet telling you how to do this). You need to get as far as a Letter of Deadlock before the Banking Ombudsman will look at your case.
Banks have sophisicated systems in place these days to monitor transactions not in accordance with their usual spending habits especially with Internet banking.
If you are not up to do this yourself please ask the CAB for an interview and I'm sure that they wil help you.
It also helps your case that your credit card company have fully reimbursed you - have you told Cahoot about this?

seeker02uk

Thanks for that! It's not all bad, lots of good things have come out of it, like getting to know my family and friends again being back home!

They just keep spouting the s**t on the terms and conditions about not telling anyone my personal details which I didn't, she knew my date of birth and middle names etc etc I had lived with her for 4 years and i didn't have any reason not to trust her being a good ol copper at one time with bravery awards and all that. I didn't know however she had some kind of personality disorder where she told numerous lies and had a bloody photographic memory for numbers (just my luck!)

I will be going to a lawyer when I know the outcome of the rearrest and questioning because if there is a criminal prosecution (more than likely) just the police seem quite limited trying to get forensic evidence etc. The bank says I will have to go for a civil prosecution, but won't wait until I know what to do next. I surely cant do a civil prosecution until the criminal stuff is dealt with as I don't know what will cover what ( I have absolutly no idea how this is all going to turn out and if the criminal stuff will cover the civil stuff!)

I have got my life back together just about but I won't be able to move on having to rely on other people for me to get a house. I have come to terms with losing my savings, I can manage that, it's the bank hassle and missing all my other payments and the impending court case thats worrying me now.

I had put a notice on my credit report but I'm not sure if its still there. I dont know if its indefinate. I tried to sign up for the monthly report thing with experian but my credit history was too large to display online with the notice and they refunded me my money!!

The thing is mainly my history is excellent up until Jan 05, then it goes wrong with the things that I didnt do, but I carried on with all my commitments I had and thank god I have a friend who I had to sell half my house to ( i it on buy to let and shouldnt really be living here!) so I can clear my own debt sometime soon. But will be left with this 20k wondering what they can actually do if I refuse and am not able to pay it. All I can say is I rated cahoot as a good bank but now they way I have been treated they are nothing but a bunch of unethical *******!!

seeker02uk

I have gone two steps up the complaints ladder with cahoot, (like u said I had £250 max a day taken from my card daily for 4 weeks and I wasn't told) It is possible she took my calls and pretended to be me and I found stacks of my post hidden in her office after the fire, hoping i presume it all went up in smoke.
I found my wallet minus my credit cards and cash cards up there also. She even ran my cards through her own PDQ machine!!

I have told cahoot everything, I broke down several times trying to explain it and they just couldn't care less. I kept asking over and over how did they come to this conclusion when the police haven't even interviewed her about the fraud as they only interviewed and bailed her on the arson, then she scuttled off to the mental hospital to hide it out.
I have a solicitor frind who has taken over ringing the police and the banks and I have to keep signing forms to say shes allowed to discuss it. But they just said as there wasn't any wrong pin number entries or log ins then its got nothing to do with them!!!

ANd I quote " I am smpathetic to your issues you have raised but unfortuantly
do not feel that cahoot can be held responsible for any loss on this occasion." which all in all throughout my accounts is 16k.

I wonder if there is anything in my next letter to quote that I can use to stop them fobbing me off?

jonesMUFCforever

wonder if there is anything in my next letter to quote that I can use to stop them fobbing me off?

Yes Yes!! Ask them for a Letter of Deadlock (in writing by recorded delivery). Before they can issue one they will have to refer this to their highest complaints manager.
If they still refuse a refund contact the Ombudsman - but you have to have the deadlock letter before they will investigate.
I would keep the other poster's suggestion of going to the papers until you know for sure that they will not refund you.

seeker02uk

Thanks for that, the letter of deadlock is requested in my next letter to
Regulated and Final Stage Complaints at the address below:

The Manager
Regulated and Final Stage Complaints
Abbey National plc
PO Box 911
Central Milton Keynes
MK9 1AD

And I will not lay down for this, thank god for this forum a friend pointed me to because I was at my wits end and feeling pretty low about being phoned every friday requesting the loan paid back in full.

I am thinking of claiming back all my bank charges also and will kick and scream at them until they listen and if not go down the papers route.

Thanks for your help, the good people outnumber the bad (only just!)

grumbler

I am sorry to hear this and wish you good luck, but when I see that your 'friend' knew not only your online banking details, but also you cards' PINs :eek: I start thinking that Cahood do have reasons to blame you for your negligence ...

seeker02uk

Yes but as I said I found some of my post was hoarded in her office and I can't get anyone to tell me if any pins were issued between october and december 2004. It would have been easy to request a new pin with my online details from the website.

seeker02uk

I have another quick question about this problem. I spoke to the CID officer in charge of the case today and he said he had only spoken to Cahoot to ask for statements for exhibits he could use and was told this wasn't possible as Cahoot was an online bank and the statements had to come from the online site. Surely they have to keep records for six years? I can't even access my statements from this time now as its been over 12 months. I have a few copies of the statements but its not very good being run off my own computer for court!

I was also told I couldn't persue a Civil case until the statements have all been done for them to be released which will hopefully be in the next four weeks. So either way I'm stuffed for the time being.

Any advice on if online banks cannot provide paper statements would be appreciated.

grumbler

seeker02uk wrote:

Any advice on if online banks cannot provide paper statements would be appreciated.

See any questions? on their home page

You can print your statements directly from the website. If this is not suitable, you can request paper copies via the 'account manager' section of each account. You can do this for any type of cahoot account although there is a [url="javascript:redirectPage('http://www.cahoot.com/rates_fees/rates_fees.html')"]charge[/url] per statement you request. When ordering, please clearly state the date range for the statement from the drop down boxes.

The charge is £5.