Fraudsters emptied my bank accounts!

carolrhart

Yesterday the Alliance and Leicester called me to say that there had been suspicious activity on my account. I didn't believe them so quickly checked online, found it to be true then phoned them back. The fraudsters emptied my savings (leaving £1!) transferred it to my current account, then emptied the lot! The A & L are investigating, but it will take up to 5 days to contact me to confirm if fraud has taken place (even though it was them who phoned me!), and up to 30 days to get my money back. I couldn't install the Rapport security software, as it won't work on my very old Apple Mac, so I hope they won't accuse me of not taking enough security measures.
In the meantime I have no money to live on, as they have frozen my account (there's nothing left in there anyway). It's 11 days til pay day (when apparently I can visit my local branch with ID and withdraw cash).

Has anyone else had experience of this? I feel really violated that this has happened.:(

leveller2911

It took my sister 3 months to get her money back.I think that was Natwest .....no advice just wish you luck.

masonic

You don't know for sure the transfers were made using online banking. For example, telephone banking could have been used. To do what the fraudsters did using online banking not only requires the usual user ID, PIN, and memorable information required to log in, but also the two random characters from your secondary password in order to set up a new payee. Assuming you don't have the information stored on your computer somewhere, it's highly unlikely the details were compromised by a keylogger or trojan on your computer because a) the memorable information question is not asked on computers you have used before (unless you clear your cookies), and b) the secondary password is never asked for in full, and is only used when you are setting up payments to an account you have not paid before.

In the past I had a call from A&L regarding some transfers I did to a new account. No fraud in that case, but I got the impression that the transfer in question was held back until they had spoken to me, so it is odd that they didn't call you until after it was too late.

At the end of the day, if you have adequate antivirus protection on your PC and have taken all reasonable steps to keep your online banking credentials secret, then you should get your money back. They will probably not let you back into online banking until you have shown them you've installed Rapport (this is what they have insisted with others), so that might be a problem for you going forward.

pqrdef

Maybe you should remind the bank that it's their money that's been stolen, not yours.

Haider

I have received my Alliance and Leicester statement this morning when I get shocked to find out that some body transferred nearly £4500 out from my ISA account to my current account before transfer it again to his account, I have his name, account number and sort code, I have contacted Alliance and Leicester and they told me the same to wait one or two weeks for them to investigate the matter, also I have contacted the police to report this incident, it look like there is a mass attack on Alliance and Leicester customers.
I am really concerned about my money!!!:(
Any advice please?

masonic

Haider wrote: »

it look like there is a mass attack on Alliance and Leicester customers.

If it really is some sort of targeted attack, then that will act in your favour. The only thing that could potentially stop you getting refunded is A&L claiming you have acted negligently. If this is happening to a lot of people all of a sudden, it rather points the finger at them for lack of security.

[Deleted User]

carolrhart wrote: »

It's 11 days til pay day (when apparently I can visit my local branch with ID and withdraw cash).

Rather than struggling to get cash out of a frozen account, I'd be onto my work's payroll department to update them of some new bank account details with another bank until it's sorted.

Haider

The strange thing that I have not accessed this account online since a long time, but this morning when I received the statement I noticed these three transactions dated between 23rd of Aug and 1st of Sept, so is this counted as negligence??

consumer

One of my friend's account with A&L had fradulent transactions and it was last weekend...Looks like problem with A&L or their online banking

masonic

Haider wrote: »

The strange thing that I have not accessed this account online since a long time, but this morning when I received the statement I noticed these three transactions dated between 23rd of Aug and 1st of Sept, so is this counted as negligence??

No, it isn't negligent not to watch all of your bank accounts like a hawk. Most people aren't going to keep tabs on accounts where they don't believe there are any transactions going on. Presumably you contacted them as soon as you received that statement, which is all they can reasonably ask.

Dave101t

its not your responsibility to put rapport on.
if you didnt knowingly give your details, or write them down anywhere, your not liable.
you will get the money back.

my wife even reposnded to those fake email security updates, they emptied her account but she got the money back in a week, tho that was hsbc