please help have lost £3000

YorkshireBoy

Just a thought OP - it might be a good idea to send for your credit reports from Experian et al.

If someone has opened up a current account in your name (to cash the cheque), the chances are the account will be registered with one or more of the credit reference agencies.

Alternatively, if someone has opened up an ordinary savings account (with a building society for example), there will have been an ID verification search carried out. Whilst these searches only remain on your file for 12 months (you say the 'offence' took place in April 2005), it's possible that the credit reference agencies keep an archive going back further than this.

Best of luck.

homealone_2

Ian_W wrote:

The important thing here, IMO, is to established the Bank/BS and account number the cheque was paid into. The copy of the cheque isn't going to tell you anything you don't know, it'll by made out to you for £3K - end of story.

The "smoking gun" is the account it was cleared through, if it's one at the same BS as your investment was with and you've never had one there it could point to internal fraud. It's rare but it does happen.

Even if it's not with that BS it could still be internal but it's not that easy these days to open an account at any other Bank or BS without ID docs. I'm sorry to say this but you may also have to consider people close to you - if it isn't an internal job then someone with access to your post and able to get at your ID docs is really the only other real possibility I can think of.

It's not clear who you've dealt with at the BS up to now but I assume it's someone who administers these trackers. I would contact them again and ask to speak to their security/fraud dept, I'd do that before reporting it to the police but do the latter if you get no joy from them.

BoL.

sorry, should have been clearer, it is a copy of both back and front of the cheque i am waiting for, this will show bank and sort code of where it was cashed but no name. this should be here in approx four weeks time. i too first thought how would they get id to open an account to pay it into but then remembered from my days working at a bank that your id is recorded on the back of your application form, so mine had "passport no. xxxxxxx and elec bill ac no. xxxxxxxx" if my long shot is correct all they would need is to copy details onto a new app for another account to be opened. i know fraud is a long shot. but there is only me, my husband and 3 kids. none of them even knew account existed so inside job is unlikely. no doubt people will think an inside job is also unlikely but no other reasoning that ticks all the boxes of access to these details is possible. as i said in earlier post no longer use the headed paper or same signature, only used days after marriage when i sent loads out to various companies nationwide tracker being one of them, that i know is going to be impossible to prove, thanks for all your comments, felt better just being believed!! bank sound like they dont believe a word. the next four weeks is really going to drag. not much else i can do though at this stage

homealone_2

Scully's_Girl wrote:

homealone, please ensure you keep us up to date on what transpires. We want to stay with you through this

thanks, i certainly will. mind is all over the place. was even doubting myself last night and wondering what the hell i did with it if i had requested it. today feel bit stronger i know it has nothing to do with me. might be lot easier if it were though

squashy

What did the letter supposedly from you actually say? Did it ask for the cheque to be made payable to you and posted to your home address? Anything else?

Mikeyorks

The copy cheque you're waiting for will only confirm a cheque for £3000 has been processed, the payee (which should be you) and the audit trail on it??

But you will need to contact the Bank who own the account it's been processed through and find out how the account was set up and what ID was provided etc. Even if the account is in your name - they're not going to be helpful unless you have a Crime number!

You will find it easier to untangle this with the help of the police rather than a DIY venture? And it tends to help demonstrate fraud rather than complicity - and gives you an audit trail.

Hopefully it will untangle to your benefit. But the likelihood of internal fraud within the Bank is remote. More likely closer to home - or as 'simple' that mail has been intercepted (lots - not just yours) which has revealed (you wrote to them) details of the account. Been involved with a lot of cheque fraud - and most was initiated via mail intercepts.

But - get to the police, don't just sit back and await the copy cheque. That's only the start of the next phase - and you'll likely bump into confidentiality walls at that point, without their help

homealone_2

squashy wrote:

What did the letter supposedly from you actually say? Did it ask for the cheque to be made payable to you and posted to your home address? Anything else?

the letter said " i notice from my rcent statement that i had a balance of £4300. i would like to withdraw a cheue for £3000 and leaver the remaining amount in your care" i certainly would never say leave remaining in your care and i had no idea that a withdrawal could be made in this way. all i can do is wait for the cheue to arrive and take it from there. i am becoming more worried about the likelihood of it being fraud or an insider job but i dont know what else it could be. i am just going to have to try and be patient

Mikeyorks

homealone wrote:

all i can do is wait for the cheue to arrive and take it from there.

No .... you can report it to the Police and get a crime number. And if you light their blue touch paper - you will find it takes nothing like 4 weeks to get a copy of the cleared cheque. Get them involved - and they should move the basics along much more quickly.

Caixta

What a shock for you, homealone. Please follow the good advice of the above people and keep us posted.

ultranet

3000 Pounds? omg....
try gettin help from pro...

inmypocketnottheirs

Homealone, have you heard about the Nigerian 419 scams?

This is where you get an email offering you millions of pounds if you help the writer release some funds plundered from an illicit business deal or over priced contract.

The reason why I ask this question is because the terminology in the letter sent to your bank " i notice from my rcent statement that i had a balance of £4300. i would like to withdraw a cheue for £3000 and leaver the remaining amount in your care" is typical of the way a 419 fraudster would write.

Did you ever receive one of these emails, and correspond with the scammer?