Urgent- please help (fraud)

Mel1983

I have just found out that my account has been tampered with and someone has withdrawn about £20000 into a betting site. I am with the Halifax- is there protection for this sort of activity?

Many thanks
Mel

Reaper

Yes. If you have not done so contact the Halifax immediately. I also suggest contacting the betting site and having the money frozen if it has not already been spent (you'd think the bank would do this but in my experience they are very slow to act).

If you have not been overly careless with your bank details and you inform them right away you should have no difficulty getting your money back, though it may take a month or two.

I'm surprised the Halifax did not spot it and block it. Banks try to look out for unusual spending patterns that might indicate theft and a sudden huge sum to a betting site ought to have set alarm bells off.

Consumerist

Mel1983 wrote: »

. . . is there protection for this sort of activity?

Yes.

The Payment Services Regulations 2009 - Regulation 61 says :-

Payment service provider’s liability for unauthorised payment transactions
61. Subject to regulations 59 and 60, where an executed payment transaction was not authorised in accordance with regulation 55, the payment service provider must immediately—
(a) refund the amount of the unauthorised payment transaction to the payer; and
(b) where applicable, restore the debited payment account to the state it would have been in had the unauthorised payment transaction not taken place.

Accordingly, unless you have acted fraudulently or negligently, your bank must immediately refund the unauthorised payment while they investigate the matter. The bank must prove that you have acted improperly - you do not have to prove that you have not.

If the bank fails to comply with PRS 2009 then you will have recourse to complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service. The FOS is a free service which can award you compensation for any loss you incur. You can find information about the FOS on this MSE page.

You must first follow the banks own formal complaints procedure before you can refer the matter to the FOS. To save time, call your bank, mention the above Regulation and ask them to refund you straight away.

Mel1983

Thank you for your posts- I have contacted the fraud department of the bank and they are investigating it over the weekend. They have also stopped the account from being used. I will wait and see what they come back with.

Thanks again

Reaper

Glad to hear you told the Halifax. There should be no problem getting a refund for the fraud but if you failed to tell them about it as soon as you discovered it and further fraudulent withdrawals were made then they may well have refused to compensate you for those.

Mel1983

They were asking a lot of questons, checking that I had let them know straight away. Fingers crossed they find out what has happened.

Mel1983

One more quick question- is there a register or something that I can put my name down for where if anyone was to use my details, the company would check it is me?

Thanks

turbobob

Mel1983 wrote: »

One more quick question- is there a register or something that I can put my name down for where if anyone was to use my details, the company would check it is me?

Thanks

Yes, CIFAS has a protective registration service. See here http://www.cifas.org.uk/default.asp?edit_id=808-85

If you sign up for this you will probably need to provide additional ID when applying for any financial product.

nico26

When my account was used for gambling I got on to the gambling company as well. Google the name and you will get details.They were very good. Wouldnt give me details but they stopped the account in my name. I was lucky it was only £500 . Silly b won £178 and it automatically went back in to my bank account.

chris_m

nico26 wrote: »

I was lucky it was only £500 . Silly b won £178 and it automatically went back in to my bank account.

That was a nice return - almost worth the hassle ;-)