please help have lost £3000

jonesMUFCforever

I work for a bank and this sounds as if a Nigerian 419 fraud has occurred on your account. What you say about leaving the balance in your care is a dead giveway.
Have you had a copy of your withdrawal request as there may be more clues here- such as the way they print your address and the building society!
It may be that the payee on the cheque will have been changed to the 'forger'.
Don't forget that when you get the money back to ask for the lost interest on your investment.

This is also why in most cases my investments are done in a way that I can see them online - I can keep an eye on any dodgy transactions.

homealone_2

homealone wrote:

i invested £1000 many moons ago in a tracker isa while working for a building society as seemed good idea at time, then set up £50 a month s/o to go into it monthly. it was originally intended as some money for my kids if i were to die. did not even get details about withdrawals/access etc as had no intention of touching it. after posting on here recently while contemplating about cashing it and few scattered shares to pay credit card bill i decided to ring them and check its value. must admit did not look that closely at six monthly investment statements. ANYWAY enough background so i rang to ask how much they were worth and was told £2125 i was bit disappointed as was sure had paid lots more than that in over the years and she said well yes it has gone down alot but bear in mind you did make a £3000 withdrawal in april 2005. horrified i screamed oh no i didnt. she said i definitely had and that the cheque was cashed a matter of days later! firstly i had no idea that i had anywhere near that amount in there and secondly had no knowledge of even being able to withdraw some whenever, as such. he persisted i had had the cheque and i persisted i hadnt,. he said he would organise a copy of the cheque to "refresh my memory" as it was put really sarcastically and it was suggested i contacted my bank to get them to look for that amount deposited into my account as the copy cheque would take at least six weeks and they were convinced once i had done this i would remember having received the money. i only have accounts at nationwide and never have that kind of money floating around in my bank accounts but by now i was even doubting myself, she sounded so sure. i rang my bank and they went back as far as jan 2005 and confirmed it hadnt been deposited. i got back to melon where tracker was and they repeated the same thing and after a long arguement they finally agreed to send me a copy of the letter i was supposed to have sent requesting this money. two weeks of waiting and now the story takes on a really scay theme the letter arrived this morning. and my god i cant believe it, the signature certainly looks like mine but the wording was not any i would have used. i called them and said even though the signatures looked similar i did not write the letter of request. still sounding like they didnt believe a word they said same thing i woud have to wait until copy of cheque arrives to see where it has gone....... i am absolutely terrified i have had this money stolen and wont be able to prove it. none of it makes sense how did they get my account number? how did they get my signature and how if the cheque was made payable to me was someone else able to cash it??? i cant see how it could have happened and have exhauseted every possible scenario. i cant blame them for not beleving me as the whole thing looks unbelieveable. it cant have been stolen intransit as how did whoever stole it arrange it to be drawn in first place. all day i have been going out of mind. the only thing strange is that the signature was that used when i first got married and loads of letters were sent out to companies to inform them of marriage on personally designed addressed paper like you can set up on word and that was what was used. the only thing that i can imagine is that someone in the bank scanned my self addressed letter with sig on as it was and then typed request on it, they then intercepted cheque and using my id on orriginal application were able to open an account somewhere to cash it. but i know that all sounds so elaboaret and over the top that they and anyone else will think i see too many detective stories. but nothing else fits. what if cheque arrives and somehow has me as payee. was so sure this letter would clear up mistake that they used wrong account number or soething but there it all is in black and white. am so so so sorry for rambling on but i cant sleep eat or think staight, all i know is that i did not write that letter or cash any cheque. what on earth is going to happen and will i have a breakdown before it gets resolved. as i will then need to prove whatever account it went into was not mine. banks dont have fraud go on to this elaborate state but if not where is my money????????

STILL waiting for copy of cheque but after todays news of nationwide it certainly makes you wonder, just how safe is your money with them?

K9cuddles

I work for a life assurance company and we had an internal course regarding Fraud Awarness.. they had sooooooo many cases of ID theft it was scary! I hope you weren't a victim! But I hope you get your money back too!

seven-day-weekend

How awful for you, I hope you get your money back.
xxx

Swipe

ejones999 wrote:

I work for a bank and this sounds as if a Nigerian 419 fraud has occurred on your account. What you say about leaving the balance in your care is a dead giveway.

Surely all banks should now look out for this particular phrase and contact the customer by phone to confirm their request for withdrawal of funds?

homealone_2

Swipe wrote:

Surely all banks should now look out for this particular phrase and contact the customer by phone to confirm their request for withdrawal of funds?

i would have thought so too, just wish i had heard something by now. am practically pouncing on postman. will keep you all posted though as soon as i hear anything

dizzy_lizzie

I've got my fingers crossed for you too! x

homealone_2

i have finally heard from nationwide about my missing money but am still no closer to getting my money back. apparently they have now received a copy of the cheque but unfortunately the details of the back of the cheque where it would show are all smudged and they cant read them. so they are now contacting their bank HSBC to see if the details are recorded anywhere else. i asked them to do this weeks ago as surely that is not the only way they can find out where the cheque was cashed. i am getting so frustrated with the whole thing. i just want my money back!!!!!!

jinkssick

First of all I give my heart to you. This is an incredible story but of course the only option (read through everything here) is that someone intercepted the mail. Opened the mail, plus on several different occassions (so he/she must have access in between the postal and you) , do you live in a block or home? He/she opened up a letter (the bank ones are easily recognisable), had it for a while comtemplating what to do. In the meanwhile intercepted another to get the signature.

probably sitting in front of the telly for an hour or 2 trying to forge the signature to perfection. Starts writing, I would presume on paper first, reading it to sound professional and accurate. Writes it on a computer. Posts it off.

So he got the cheque, cashes it. lets hope the !!!!!!! done it stupidly in his main accounts (one that he doesnt use too much) because if not, and he is smart enough to open a bank account with fake details then your screwed. But think of the logics, this person 90% put it in one of his not-used-accounts. cashed and took the money out, probably putting in his main account.


sorry if this sounded like CSI forensics but getting into him/her will help to get this person's.

£3,000 is a LOT OF MONEY dont get me wrong but if this is toooooo well done you maybe in for a rude awakening. Just make sure you understand this. At least your kids are safe and healthy because no £3,000 will bring them back from a serious illness.

Good, good luck.

homealone_2

Oh god, cant bare to think of losing it. i know what you said about my children is true of course it is. but that is alot of money to lose when i scrapped and saved for years as a single parent to put a bit away for my children should i die before they grow up. reason being i have no real close family and wanted to leave a bit to help them in any way possible. i have also took on board what you have said about them being able to open an account in my name too and cash cheque. if they have been this clever so far it seems unlikely they will screw up now and pay it into their own account. am dreading the possibility of having to try and prove an account that they have managed to open in my details is not mine. waiting all these weeks does not help either.all i can do now is pray