How safe is my money in the bank?

wazza

This is behalf of a friend of mine.

She is a lone parent. Amongst other things her ex has greed for money. When he found out their son has a large amount of money in his bank account he has since been pestering him for money so he can invest etc. Their son is wise enough to know that once his father gets the money he can kiss it goodbye. Their son has just gone abroad on a long holiday. His father is threatening that he has a friend who is a solicitor who will draw up a legal document which will allow him to withdraw money from the account. I think she is refering to a power of attonery? Is this possible? He does not have the account number but knows its with Halifax. Also she feels he has their son's signature.

How safe is his money?

What can my friend do? I advised her to talk to customer service and see if they can put an alert flag on the account not to allow anybody apart from the account holder to withdraw money

moneyandmountains

wazza wrote:

This is behalf of a friend of mine.

His father is threatening that he has a friend who is a solicitor who will draw up a legal document which will allow him to withdraw money from the account.

Well, this sounds like an attempt to obtain money by deception, in other words fraud. Banks take a very dim view of this sort of activity and so should solicitors.

As suggested, best to talk to the bank about the concerns.

A warning to the father of the effect that such activity may result in legal action / police involvement may dampen his enthusiasm.

Cook_County

I would speak to the police now, this sounds like a serious attempt at theft; so if something happens in the future you want a police record now, even if they take no action.

cattie

If you can find out who this supposed solicitor is who is willing to colaborate in such a fraud, you can report him to the law society as well as the police.

The son should contact the Halifax with instructions that he believes a fraudulent power of attorney document may be presented to them.

Bossyboots

I would be willing to bet that the solicitor friend has said no such thing. I suspect that they have discussed how someone would access another's acount and come round to discussing power of attorney. The solicitor may also have said that he/she would be able to draw one up. I bet though that he/she had a discussion without knowing the intentions of the man and was speaking in general terms and the friend has decided to use a little bit of licence to stretch the story to make him sound big.

The donor of a power of attorney has to sign the document and produce evidence of their identity before they do. Even if a solicitor was prepared to help in this fraud (and I know they are not all honest), there would be recourse against the solicitor and his firm if any money goes missing but I think this is all just hot air.

titewad_2

What a piece of sh*t person this bloke is.How can any parent consider defrauding then squandering their childs money? My wife and I often go without so that our children can have things.Both have a couple of grand in savings and even in really tough times we have never considered touching it even though we have access to it.

steve_cov

Cook_County wrote:

this sounds like a serious attempt at theft

Or it's a serious attempt by your friend to turn everyone against her ex-partner.

And I clicked the thumbs-up instead of the Quote by accident, whoops.

wazza

steve_cov wrote:

Or it's a serious attempt by your friend to turn everyone against her ex-partner.

And I clicked the thumbs-up instead of the Quote by accident, whoops.

i know the both parties involved. we known each other since school. they fell in love and got married. i knew he flirts around and was not suprised he had girlfriends even after marriage. since divorcing my friend he has been married 4 times. his current wife is not that pretty compared to whom he goes out with but he admits the reason he married her is for the money. he got her to buy him a new car, a villa in spain. in the meanwhile he is time timing her. i am in touch with both parties and know she is not lying when she complains about him.

i feel helpless because i have to stay neutral.

guess what when he found out that his two boys have found jobs he had the cheek to suggest that they give him some money to live on etc. and he never had contact with them for 10 years. wow what a guy

Alfie_E

Bossyboots wrote:

The donor of a power of attorney has to sign the document and produce evidence of their identity before they do. Even if a solicitor was prepared to help in this fraud (and I know they are not all honest), there would be recourse against the solicitor and his firm if any money goes missing but I think this is all just hot air.

The signing also needs to be witnessed by a third party, i.e. not the solicitor drafting the document. To get power of attorney without the donor’s signature requires two independent medical opinions. I can’t believe that even the most crooked solicitor would produce a false document like that. If it were used, it would be noticed so quickly, and there’s no way to cover it up.

Sofa_Sogood

wazza wrote:

i know the both parties involved. we known each other since school. they fell in love and got married. i knew he flirts around and was not suprised he had girlfriends even after marriage. since divorcing my friend he has been married 4 times. his current wife is not that pretty compared to whom he goes out with but he admits the reason he married her is for the money. he got her to buy him a new car, a villa in spain. in the meanwhile he is time timing her. i am in touch with both parties and know she is not lying when she complains about him.

i feel helpless because i have to stay neutral.

guess what when he found out that his two boys have found jobs he had the cheek to suggest that they give him some money to live on etc. and he never had contact with them for 10 years. wow what a guy

And you're still friends?

Bossyboots

Alfie_E wrote:

The signing also needs to be witnessed by a third party, i.e. not the solicitor drafting the document.

Unfortunately, that bit is easier to get around. The solicitor can get a member of staff to do it and there is bound to be someone who won't question it as they would not imagine the solicitor was doing anything dodgy.