Fraud Victim - no help from Santander!

adamstein25

My bank account was blocked by Santander on 19th Jan, 3 weeks later and it is still blocked. The reason being, I received funds (£630) after being scammed online, whereby I sold a website for £400 and was asked to forward the change (£230) to the fake "web designer".

I have missed various direct debits and have no access to any money in my account, around £1500 not including the £630.

I have phoned them every day for the last 3 weeks, visited branches 2/3 times a week, logged complaints and the phone and wrote a letter to their complaints department. I have also faxed a statement of what has happened along with an email trail between me and this fake person, but all I get from Santander is that the case is "under investigation"!:mad:

I would be grateful for any advice and would also like to know whether it legal for the bank to fully block my account, rather than just withhold the £630?

Thanks

kit77

I would suggest the bank can not withhold any money apart from the fraud ammount but they can block your account while they make their investigation.

I would take Photo ID to the branch and withdraw the £1500 you say is yours.

Then I would then open another bank account elsewhere. I would suggest you do this ASAP as I am sure part of Santanders investigation will involve loading a CIFAS against you and this in turn will make it harder for you to get a bank account.

I am not trying to stress you out but I do have some knowledge of bank fraud investigation and sadly banks don't really care if you have been scammed or not in their eyes fraud is fraud.

ses6jwg

If you need money you can visit the branch with Photo ID and they'll give you cash.

It can take a couple of weeks for a fraud investigation to be completed.

coolesticeking

kit77 wrote: »

I would suggest the bank can not withhold any money apart from the fraud ammount but they can block your account while they make their investigation.

I would take Photo ID to the branch and withdraw the £1500 you say is yours.

Then I would then open another bank account elsewhere. I would suggest you do this ASAP as I am sure part of Santanders investigation will involve loading a CIFAS against you and this in turn will make it harder for you to get a bank account.

I am not trying to stress you out but I do have some knowledge of bank fraud investigation and sadly banks don't really care if you have been scammed or not in their eyes fraud is fraud.

Just a quick question really, if the person does open a new bank account before these fraud markers are placed on the account - they should be OK to do this but what happens each month once they can see fraud markers have been added via the monthly feed? Would they close the account because of this or would it only be if the new account was involved in fraud again in the future?

adamstein25

When I went to Nationwide I told the manager there about my problem. He said that once the case with Santander was closed and as long I could prove I was not in the wrong; I could apply to put a note on my credit report to inform credit companies that I was a victim rather than a criminal!

kit77

coolesticeking

That I am not sure, I'm afraid I only have knowledge of fraud investigation not the day to day running of accounts but you do ask a very good question and I am going to try and find this out and post back.

adamstein25

IF santander do load a CIFAS then I would certanly add a note of correction as well as keeping any emails or proof I had of the scam. I again am going to get some further information on the loading of CIFAS and will post back tomorrow.

coolesticeking

Fair play - Didn't think about the notice of correction route...

ffacoffipawb

adamstein25 wrote: »

My bank account was blocked by Santander on 19th Jan, 3 weeks later and it is still blocked. The reason being, I received funds (£630) after being scammed online, whereby I sold a website for £400 and was asked to forward the change (£230) to the fake "web designer".

I have missed various direct debits and have no access to any money in my account, around £1500 not including the £630.

I have phoned them every day for the last 3 weeks, visited branches 2/3 times a week, logged complaints and the phone and wrote a letter to their complaints department. I have also faxed a statement of what has happened along with an email trail between me and this fake person, but all I get from Santander is that the case is "under investigation"!:mad:

I would be grateful for any advice and would also like to know whether it legal for the bank to fully block my account, rather than just withhold the £630?

Thanks

meer53

But you haven't been a victim of fraud. The bank may be looking to see whether you're money laundering or not. I work in the fraud department of a bank and we wouldn't have blocked your account, just added security markers to it whilst we looked further into your account. Why would you agree to receive more money than you were selling for ? It's a well known scam. Santander are very poor when it comes to customer service but in this case, i think they're spot on ! This would only be treated as Fraud if you'd had no dealings at all with the other party.

adamstein25

I wasnt aware that it was a well know scam until after my account was blocked. After being passed around through Santander and getting nowhere, I contacted the CEO, someone is removing the block today!

adamstein25

4 weeks today and finally all sorted, got a bit of a tip for anyone with a santander complaint, will be posting a thread shortly