Fraudulent banking transactions: Tell the FSA Consumer Panel your views

kw7551

Logged in to my Account (Santander) on 21st April and noticed that an unknown payee had been set up and three payments totalling £10,600+ had been transferred on the 16th, 19th and 21st. Another payment had been set up to transfer another £3550+ on the 24th which I immediately cancelled. Calling the bank (in the evening) resulted in a hold been placed on the Account and I was informed the fraud people would be in touch the following day. The sort code of the receiving account was different from my account but I do know it was another Santander account.

It is now three weeks since the incident and I am yet to recieve any calls from the bank. Whenever I call the response I get is that it normally takes 'n' days to action this type of fraud where 'n' started as 1 day, then 3, then 7, then 10 and the last one was 14 days.

After 15 days I sent a recorded delivery letter to the head office and I have received a reply saying they were sorry for my poor experience with them but somebody would be in touch giving me a progress report on the case At the time of writing (day 21) I have still not received a call from them so I have no idea what is happening.

It would nice to complain about thier phone system but it does seem pointless. I usually get passed between 3 and 6 different people each one asking me the same security questions and on at least two occassions I have been cut off just when I thought I was getting to the final contact. You then have to start again from scratch and you never get the same person you were talking to a couple of minutes previously.

I did have one other communication from them but that was just to rub salt into the would as it was a copy of my regular monthly statement which showed the three fraudulent transactions.

batvink

• Have you had someone take money from your bank account without your knowledge?
  
  Yes
  
• When was this?
  
  Last weekend, 8th & 9th May. 3 "test" transactions for $1 (x2), and 2.49 EUR.
  
• What was your bank's response when you raised this with them?
  
  I didn't need to, they texted me, which I ignored thinking the text itself was a scam. Then they phoned me
  
• Did your bank refund the money taken?
  
  They didn't take the money in the first place, until I could confirm it was legitimate.
  
• If you did get your money back how long did it take?
  
  n/a
  
• Was the bank helpful in its response?
  
  very helpful, I felt more secure after the conversation
  
• What could, or should it have done better?
  
  made the text clearer, a minor issue in an otherwise flawless protection of my account
  

OllyB

Have you had someone take money from your bank account without your knowledge?
Yes - From Abbey (as it was then). Two small value fraudulent uses of card

When was this?
Aug '09

What was your bank's response when you raised this with them?
Detection of the fraud and initial communication to myself was very good - recorded phone call to my mobile, with pass through to operator once transactions identified as fraudulent.

I asked for card to be stopped & replaced, and a new one came in the promised 7 days

Afterwards it all becomes a sorry tale of woe.

Internet Access to bank account was also stopped (not necessary as account wasn't compromised by internet activity/partner's card wasn't stopped). I wasn't informed of this, and it took a few days after the card arrived to re-enable access.

My "disputes" for the two fraudulent transactions weren't logged in the initial call (above), so after a period of inactivity I had to call their Customer (Dis)Services to see what had happened. No further contact for a while, so another call only to find out that the disputes were resolved as being invalid(?!).

Advised to contact their Visa Disputes team, only they only have postal access, couldn't speak to them directly.

Talked to retailers of the two transactions. One had an online process for disputes and refunded the transaction without any fuss (soooo much easier than dealing with (Sh)Abbey).

Second retailer confirmed that the transaction was fraudulent (an obviously fake address in the USA was given), but pointed me back at bank.

Much stress and frustration at trying to talk to Visa Disputes....

Eventually the refund for the second transaction went through, not sure what triggered it in the end. I had threatened Ombudsman or legal action in an email to their Complaints dept after the 8 weeks elapsing of my original complaint however....

Did your bank refund the money taken?
No for one transaction (refunded by retailer), Yes for the other transaction

If you did get your money back how long did it take?
A few days from speaking with the retailer for the first transaction; 6 months or so for the second(!) (cynical view - once the bank had got the equivalent back from me in profits from its 0845 customer service line(!); thanks to saynoto0870 this is not the case).

Was the bank helpful in its response?
Yes for early detection and communication of the fraud
An emphatic "NO" for the bank's subsequent handling, communication & resolution

What could, or should it have done better?
Just about everything. - Considerably improved communication with the customer, including sending written details about the disputes process, what gets stopped and timescales for reactivating etc.

Visa Disputes team should be contact-able by phone, allowing just postal communication is a delaying/put-off tactic

Ideally website (bank's own, Visa's, FSA's etc) so customer can view status of disputes, be notified (email, phone, secure msg) when input is required from them. Bank has set timescales to resolve this issue to customer's (not the bank's) satisfaction.

There should be a standardised and/or FSA regulated & audited process for reclaiming disputed transactions; available to General Public in A/C opening literature, websites etc

Records of the sale should be retrievable from the retailer as a standard and early part of the process (which may provide early and definite proof of the fraudulent transaction - eg correctness of the statement address)

John_Pierpoint

Which bank batvink?

goffers

Whilst on holiday recently someone managed to take about £3500 from my account apparently to spend on poker. They did manage one win of £500 which went back into my account. I was away from the 15th to 29th April and never use a foreign computer to check my bank account. Ichecked on return on 30th April and immediately reported it to the bank, Alliance & Leicester. A very helpful lad filled in the necessary forms with all the details over the phone and said he would pass it to the Fraud Dept. Within a week I had received £2000 back into my account and 4 days later received the balance, unfortunately they took into account the winnings. I think they treated me very well indeed and have no complaints at all.:beer:

jamming

October 2009 £16,000 taken from my account with Barclays. I have banked with Barclays fro 22 years, all my accounts are now closed as I no longer meet the criteria of Barlclays.

I have written to the CEO 1 response received I have made several calls no joy only to be told the the CEO's appointee letter will be in the post in 2 weeks. Nothing todate. Second letter sent 3 weeks ago, no response.

Barclays has not produced any evidence how the money was obtained. Each time I try to contact Barclays there is no body within reasons to speak with.:mad:

Any advice on what I can do? The attitude of the staff of Barclays is somewhat a training issue with drastic measures

Hiram

Q.Have you had someone take money from your bank account without your knowledge?
A.Yes. An out of date cheque. I'd already paid up for as the recipient told me it was lost in March 2009.
Q.When was this?
A.Paid cheque in March 2010
Q.What was your bank's response when you raised this with them?
A.They got a copy of the cheque, which proved the date had been altered and they said "tell the Police"
Q.Did your bank refund the money taken?
A. No
Q.If you did get your money back how long did it take?
A.Two weeks after contacting the fraudsters, who said they didn't know they'd done anything wrong!
Q.Was the bank helpful in its response?
A.No
Q.What could, or should it have done better?
A.Lloyds should have written to the fraudsters bankers, RBS, advising them to tell their customer that it is fraudulent to alter a cheque.
RBS were at fault too, for accepting the cheque over the counter when it was obviously altered.
Lloyds should have written and asked for the money back.
The alteration was so obvious, Lloyds shouldn't have paid the cheque.
I think they should have taken the initiative and sorted the problem for me.

Adrian_Golland

About 6 months ago, I noticed DD payments being made from my bank account (The Co-operative Bank) to TalkTalk after I had previously cancelled the DD and informed both TalkTalk and the bank - after TalkTalk had plundered my account for more than the agreement signed by me. I had not authorised this new DD nor had I been informed by TalkTalk that they were re-establishing the DD. When I raised this with the bank, they refused to refund the payments on the grounds that TalkTalk was a so-called "trusted" organisation who were allowed to set up DDs without having to submit customers' signed consents. That is still their position. So we have a fraudulent company being protected by a bank which does not honour the DD code. :mad:

John_Pierpoint

jamming wrote: »

October 2009 £16,000 taken from my account with Barclays. I have banked with Barclays fro 22 years, all my accounts are now closed as I no longer meet the criteria of Barlclays.

I have written to the CEO 1 response received I have made several calls no joy only to be told the the CEO's appointee letter will be in the post in 2 weeks. Nothing todate. Second letter sent 3 weeks ago, no response.

Barclays has not produced any evidence how the money was obtained. Each time I try to contact Barclays there is no body within reasons to speak with.:mad:

Any advice on what I can do? The attitude of the staff of Barclays is somewhat a training issue with drastic measures

You can find intelligent life at Barclays on the phone, but it is difficult.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....php?t=2204561

I would put the wheels in motion with the FSA.

mummyoftwins_3

I had a bank account with the Alliance and Leicester and on taking this out I was informed that my card could not be used abroad without first notifying them I was abroad and that if my card details were used abroad without telling them that I would receive a call to verify it was myself using this, however, in July 2009 I had 4 transactions taken out of my account on the same day in the USA totalling about £500.
I only knew this when I checked my online statement a few days later.
On ring A&L, they were very rude and abrupt and told me I had been to the USA or I had used internet shopping. When I explained I had done neither they were very offish with me and sent me a form to sign to state that I had not made the purchases and that the fraud investigation team would be in contact.
I heard nothing from anybody at A&L but found they had credited the money back to my account within 14 days of my telephone call.
A few days later whilst in the local A&L branch a couple in the queue told the cashier they were going to the USA for a holiday and the cashier replied to them that they had to notify the A&L of the dates they were going otherwise their cards would not be approved for any transactions when they tried to purchase anything!!
Needless to say, because of the attitude of the staff and their very lax attitude to other peoples money and account security I no longer bank with them.