Advice please: CC Insurance fraud investigation

walley77

My friends husband is currently under investigation for credit card insurance fraud. A decision is going to be made in a matter of days/weeks on whether or not he will have to repay a 5 figure sum.

I am very worried about my friend. She has told me that her husband has asked her if he can put his house in her name, and has now asked her to open a savings account in her name so he can move some of his money. I am very sure that this is just the tip of the iceberg and that he has involved her in moving assets and/or cash in an attempt to avoid having to make any repayments.

My question is, could someone with a bit more knowledge than me advise me on what repercussions this could have on my friend?
I am under the impression that this is a little bit dodgy to say the least. And that financial forensic people could easily trace money and assets should they need to.

And I am very worried about my friend, obviously.

Any advice appreciated

chattychappy

The correct advice would normally be, of course, for your friend to seek proper legal advice. For ethical and legal reasons many solicitors would be very careful about what they say or do. In some situations they can even be under an obligation to make a report to the authorities if they think a crime is about to be committed.

The simple answer is that your friend should have nothing to do with this. At this late stage it's unlikely to be effective. Worse, it could entail her incurring criminal liability as well as civil liability for any assets that she has dissipated.

She would be within her rights to protect her own assets from her husband. This would be an entirely different matter. Eg removing her share of funds from joint accounts. But this must be absolutely justifiable.

PNPSUKNET

Its called money laundering and is a criminal case

2sides2everystory

Hang on a minute.

What happened to "innocent until proven guilty"??

What's this about "moneylaundering"??

This thread seems to be about an investigation into a credit card insurance claim. The principal type of insurance associated with credit cards is PPI.

Last time I heard, PPI was quite difficult to get a successful claim paid. Hence all the PPI reclaiming threads on MSE.

So sounds like this unfortunate "sinking ship" of a husband that everyone is so anxious to distance themselves from may have successfully claimed some PPI over a significant period against unemployment or sickness or accident coverage.

Or did he fake his own death so someone could claim the PPI Death benefit?

But this guy is still innocent right?

If so, he can move his money where he likes (if it is his money). He surely doesn't have to leave assets exposed so that some over-keen insurance company can take a pot at them with sour grapeshot?

chattychappy

2sides2everystory wrote: »

What happened to "innocent until proven guilty"??

What's this about "moneylaundering"??

Is this what you say when you open an account somewhere and they ask for proof of ID? Things aren't what they used to be - you aren't innocent until proven guilty when it comes to what might be tainted money. And knowledge of "might" can be enough to stop free dealing.

But this is beside the point - if there is no problem with the husband, then it will be a waste of time for him to transfer his wealth to his wife. If he turns out "guilty", then transferring it to his wife will probably be ineffective (they can get it back) - and if she has spent it then she could be liable to restore the position. This is because she has notice that there might be a claim on the assets concerned.

My point is, either way I don't think it will help his situation, but to go ahead with the transfer could be perilous for the OP's friend.

"Tracing" is a complicated area in law - but the key thing here is that as the OP's friend is the guy's wife and is someone with knowledge of the investigation, she is not very well protected. It could be different if he sold his assets to an unconnected person. (The so-called "bona fide purchaser for value without notice" - google for more info.)

Yes indeed, you may ask what has happened to "innocent until proven guilty" - but the common law of constructive trusts, imputed knowledge and more recently Mareva injunctions, money laundering regs, Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and terrorist finance legislation have been chipping away at this for years.

walley77

Allow me to make things a little bit clearer.

The man put in an allegedly false claim that his card was stolen/lost and was used it to buy an expensive piece of equipment. This claim rang some kind of alarm bells at the CC company to a previous (allegedly false) claim worth 5 figures, which implied that someone stole/found the card and went on a massive spending spree.
So the investigation which is about to reach its conclusion could possibly result in a request that the cash from the first incident be paid back.

Therefore the husband is trying to shift money/assets in the belief that they will not be able to touch them.

UnderPressure

mmmmmmmmmm a tricky "moral" situation...........

Is the general consensus that this guy has indeed commited this fraud? If so I would have to say your friend needs to distance herself from this as much as she can, so "laundering" assets and cash really would not be a very bright thing for her to do.

If the CC company decide it is fraud and demand repayment, IF he is guilty then he would be wise to cough up quickly and hope that is an end to the matter.

If he tells the CC company where to go the chances are if they have absolute proof which I am sure they will have if they demand payment from him, then the chances are the next call they will make will be to the police, in which case through your firends husbands own stupidity he is opening a whole can of worms that for his own sake he needs to stay away from as much as possible.

If the police start poking around and see assets and cash have been moved around then I have no doubt your friend could find herself being charged as an accessory tell her to be veryyyyyyyyy careful what she does from here.

Fraud is the new big crime of the moment, it is wasy to commit and most of the times fraudster easily achieve the result they are after, make no mistake it is frowned upon and there will be consequences.

As said the best thing your friends hubby could do is if he has to pay it back then do so and quickly otherwise your friend mau be writing to him for a while whilst he is on "extended" leave..........................

HTH best of luck

jonesMUFCforever

IMO for a 5 figure sum the first thing OP will know about this will be a knock on his door by the police.
I don't think paying the money back is an option although a court may well order this on top of any sentence given.