Was conned - need to clear £14,000 ASAP!!

file_wizzard

I will take the original post at face value;

There are two issues here;

Firstly that if the circumstance as described by the OP are true then the other party has committed theft and this should be reported to the police.

Secondly if the OP is able to trace the offender or the 3rd party who assisted him then a civil case would be perfectly feasible regardless of any written agreement / contract being available.

From a civil law perspective a claim could be issued and the defendant would either ignore the claim and be issued with an order in default, or attend the hearing and either admit the transaction had taken place, or lie and risk committing perjury.

(all of the above presuming you can actually trace him)

The transaction at the bank would of been vetted and recorded as any transactions over 5k are now logged for money laundering purposes, and this should give some lead to the account holder and perhaps in turn the OP’s “friend”

In terms of the more immediate issue of the debt then realistically your options are limited to;

1) Pay the debt for the sake of it
2) Stop paying the debt and be issued with a default / CCJ yourself

Sorry I cant be more positive, however not a lot you can do

Mrs_pbradley936

I hate to be the bearer of bad news here but let me be the Devil’s advocate for a bit. You are a grown up, you acted voluntarily (i.e. not under duress), you were not mentally incapable at the time, I really hope I am wrong but I cannot see a way out of this. You can try going to the police and saying you were conned, at least that will not cost you anything. Anyway please keep us informed and know that you are in the thoughts of lots of us.

jpwhittle

i think the op needs to be given a break here. i really feel for you. iv heard of this done before and sorry to say its a typical scam. im sorry but whats a few years out of that blokes life when hes going to get 14k at the end of it? he was probably doing the same to someone else as well get the bank to check any other large deposits to this mans cousins account. i hope you get your money back

cheets99

Go round to his house, he did have a house?

piggeh

I think this is theft by deception or something similar?

oscar52

[QUOTE=file_wizzard]

From a civil law perspective a claim could be issued and the defendant would either ignore the claim and be issued with an order in default, or attend the hearing and either admit the transaction had taken place, or lie and risk committing perjury.
[/QUOTE]

I think you will find perjury is a criminal offence and does not apply to a civil case given the fact that no oath of truth is sworn.

Xbigman

You should go straight to the police and report it as fraud. They may not be interested but you should insist it be investigated without getting abusive or shouting at them. You should ask the police to get on to Abbey to see if CCTV footage of the cousin and friend are available. If the police are not interested then contact abbey yourself or get a solicitor to do it.
You MUST get a solicitor involved. If your credit rating is poor then it does little to default on the loan payments as long as they are unsecured. I would tell whoever lent you the money that you were conned and the police are investigating (as long as they are) and a solicitor is involved. Use the money you would have paid the loan with to pay the solicitor.

Meanwhile. Do you know where the cousin lives? Does s/he rent or are they a home owner? I would think they could be held at least partially liable but I'm no expert.

Over the next week to ten days you should get a good idea of where this is going IE how interested the police are, whether your solicitor really can do anything and you bank / Abbeys reaction. Keep us posted on progress.
Regards



X

Bossyboots

I really can't see any criminal offence that has been committed here. The loan wasn't taken out under duress and the OP has admitted he gave the "friend" the money. There is consequently no theft and although there is some mileage in the deception possibility, it will have to be shown that the money was loaned and gifted and if proven it was a loan, that the friend never intended to pay it back.

People default on loans every day. This is a civil matter and to recover the money the OP is going to have to prove to a civil court that it was a loan and not a gift. It is going to come down to one word against the other although I rather suspect that the cousin whose account it cleared through will suddenly remember being party to the agreement that the OP was giving the money to the friend, not lending it.

MCBIRNIE25

Bossyboots,
it becomes a criminal matter if you disappear without trace avoiding payment on the way.
Personally, i would go to your bank and explain what happened. Banks have an investigations team set up to deal with issues like this.
Then I would speak to the police, they will advise you of your rights etc.
Next I would go to my local library. Why? Your local library keeps copies of the electoral register for your whole town, if he is using another address, it may show up on this. Alternatyively, go to yourr main city library and you can view the electoral records for your whole city.
Then, go and see a solicitor,i think you would qualify for legal aid anyway.
The first thing though is do something today. This needs to be stopped now.

file_wizzard

oscar52 wrote:

I think you will find perjury is a criminal offence and does not apply to a civil case given the fact that no oath of truth is sworn.

You do not have to be under oath to commit perjury, and a criminal prosecution for perjury arising from a civil case is by no means unheard of…….just ask “lord” archer or Jonathan Aitkin