More good news about your favourite bank - Santander!

Gingernutty

Check this out

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/article-2005309/TONY-HETHERINGTON-Why-mystery-cash-debits-Santanders.html

Yes, I know it's the Daily Mail.....:o

I'll get my coat......:embarasse

JuicyJesus

"J" in the story was held liable because his card had been used with his PIN number, indicating that he was either in on the whole thing or had been grossly negligent with his PIN (e.g. divulged it, left it in plain sight, kept a record of it in his wallet etc.) That the card was physically missing suggests that it had been stolen and he had kept his PIN written down either with or on it, and the FOS agreed that there was no reason he shouldn't be held liable, just about confirming this. While there are other possibilities, such as shoulder surfing, they are considerably more remote than the very common scenario of someone writing down their PIN or giving it to someone else to get money out for them (something that makes me cringe when I see it.)

As harsh as it may sound, these same principles are held all across the banking sector. The Banking Code stipulates that if someone has been negligent with their PIN then they can be held liable for any fraud losses. Santander is not alone in this; one would suggest that the reason the Mail are getting so many letters about them is because they have lots of customers.

Gingernutty

"Santander has a problem.

Three weeks ago Financial Mail published a letter from a young woman who found that someone had deposited a cheque for £8,550 in her account.

It took the bank five days to realise that the cheque was forged and in those five days someone went on a spending spree with her card, which she thought was still at her mother’s home while she was at college. Now Santander expects her to repay the £8,550.


Your 20-year-old son’s experience is similar, except that there was no forged cheque. Instead, someone transferred £10,000 to his account from a Santander account belonging to a Mr Bradley. It was months before Mr Bradley realised the money had gone. When he complained, Santander repaid him and now expects your son – I’ll call him J – to repay it.


Whoever was responsible was well organised. Thirteen minutes after the £10,000 hit J’s account, someone used a cash machine in Canning Town, east London, to check the balance.

Minutes later they drew more than £2,000 in foreign currency at a local post office.

After pausing for a burger at McDonald’s – paid for on your son’s card – they went to the Money Shop in Stratford, then Marks & Spencer in Ilford, and finally the nearby Kanoo Foreign Exchange bureau. In each place they drew thousands of pounds.

I know that J has complained to the Financial Ombudsman Service and that his complaint has been rejected. This is because Santander has proof that your son’s card and PIN were used, so it believes that if he did not draw the money then he conspired with whoever did draw it.

The big question, of course, is this: if J is a fraudster, or part of a criminal conspiracy, then why has he not been charged with any offence?

Santander says it did contact the police and helped with their enquiries, but this seems to have happened only after you yourself reported the fraud to the police and insisted the bank co-operate.

And there is a further mystery. Days after Santander told your son that it held him responsible for the missing money, you took a call on your mobile phone from a debt advice firm that knew all about J’s account, yet had your phone number, not his.

You have told me that only Santander would have linked the two as you had been dealing with the bank on your son’s behalf.

The bank says: ‘We did not instruct anyone to discuss or call J’s mother about the debt at the time she alleges, nor did we pass his details to anyone.’

Your son lives with you and is on a low income. Santander managed to grab about £1,000 that was in his account when it decided to hold him responsible for the £10,000. You have offered £2,000 to clear his name, but Santander has not accepted. The only way I think he can sidestep demands is to file for bankruptcy.

Now back to Santander’s problem. As well as your son’s nasty experience, and that of the student whose letter we published, I now have three more identical letters on my desk, all from people who say that the same thing has happened to them.

In every case the bank involved is…Santander.

Either it is very vulnerable to this fraud – yet strangely reluctant to prosecute even a single culprit – or someone, inside or outside the bank, has learnt how to manipulate its systems. We have not seen the last of this tale."

My highlights are in bold.

The bank has designated "J" as at fault (ie guilty), but have made no attempt to prosecute him and even the police aren't interested in him as a suspect.

Toe-Jam

It was months before Mr Bradley realised the money had gone.

Who doesn't notice £10k suddenly missing for "months" before alerting someone.

If there was £10 missing from my account i'd be on the phone straight away.