Please help, now in debt again (not my fault!)

taylor_r

This may be long but I would be SO greatful if you could read it all and answer the questions I really need answering not badgering me about it trying to blame it on me as they do in the credit cards and loans forums

I was made bankrupt in December 2009.
Discharged December 2010.
Got a basic bank account and started fresh in October 2010 though didn't use it until around Feb 2011.

During May this year I incurred charges totalling £2,100 on a betting site! Two transactions, one from £900 and one from £1200. These were completely fradulent and I am on benefits and haven't worked for over 2 years I would never bet such ridiculous amounts.

To cut a long story short I found out these had come out when I phoned up to ask for my available balance (you have to phone for available, internet banking doesn't say) I was totally furious because I had not done these and I know too well I would not get the money back so I find a way of transferring the money that was rightfully mine into a friend's bank account and now I have the money that was rightfully mine in cash BUT I'm £2,200 overdrawn, obviously!

The issue is, I am registered with the site and have used the site lots in the two weeks before these transactions (obviously for nowhere near these amounts!). (the BR was never due to gambling btw, this was first time and I was being responsible). Obviously I don't have a leg to stand on. It was done on my account, it shows up as legit as if I did etc but I definitely hadn't and it has got me so stressed! The terms and conditions state I'm repsonsible for my own account and all that rubbish even tho I live with my mum and I'm ALWAYS on my own and no1 ever knows any of my passwords and I've never been hacked in my 26 years of life get that!

Firstly, please do not harrass me to pay the money back. I understand this is a debt but the money I have (withdrew) is everything I owe, I live at home, I have no job, no assets, and this isn't all my money it's mine and my girlfriend's anyway, we share our money. The most important thing is, obviously, I'm not paying for what I haven't done, whether I "have to" or not!

It's every penny I have and it will never be going anywhere.

I'm receiving calls from collections and they want their money.
Same as before, going through the BR I know too well.
The dispute is still ongoing should find out in 2 weeks but it's common sense they aren't gonna pay out over 2 grand and I have no way of proving it was them (funny enough the same happened a while back, £900 that i won and WITHDREW got reversed and played on poker then refunded, so I had to withdraw it again, luckily i never lost anything then)

Anyway, so what's next?

I guess I just wait for a CCJ to pop through the door and because I'm on benefits the court will order me to pay something like £4 a week?

Thankyou so much for your help!

debtinfo

the question is who do you think has placed these bets? The company must be able to find out?

taylor_r

As far as I'm concerned, no-one. It must be a system error, the same thing that happened when my withdrawal of £900 went on Poker then was refunded to my account. (My argument was clear cut to be honest - I said if I would have 'won' on Poker it would have said "Transfer In - Bet Winnings" on my statement and it didn't. So the bet must have obviously lost, and had been refunded. You telling me if I lost you would repay me the money back, I said. They couldn't answer, referred me to the Poker department and confirmed it had been played on poker - lol!) But that time I wasn't at a loss and didn't lose any money. I've never played poker in my life. But proving this is a very different story. What evidence do I have? None. What evidence do they have that I supposedly did this transaction? Well it appears on my account in the 'statement' section and had been 'approved'.

To be honest, they could find out via IP address tracing etc if they really wanted to. But they won't. Same as they wouldn't trace mobile phone signals etc if someone had their phone stolen, only if it was a murder or something extremely serious as that.

So I am quite simply accepting defeat.
But, because I didn't do it, I'm not paying it!
I think someone would be a bit stupid to do so.

kepar

Sorry but I am having great difficulty following your thread. Every gambling site I have used or use, you transfer money to the site and then use that.
Are you trying to say that you ran up credit , and then they took that from your account.

Like I said it is difficult to follow. Can you please redo it, missing out all the non-essential bits about family etc. It might then be easier to read.

Thanks

taylor_r

No worries Kepar.

Basically, two deposits have appeared on my betting account authorised on my debit card for £2,100.

I have not done these & I doubt they will listen to me. They appear, they are there, as far as their T&Cs are concerned, it's final.

So, before my bank account was debited (even though they had been authorised but not yet appeared on my balance as it takes a few days as we all know) I transferred all my money out of the account and now the transactions have debited I am overdrawn by over £2,000.

I am not paying it back as I haven't done it, whether they believe me or not. Unless I have to by law, i.e. CCJ.

So I simply wanted to know what to do. I was discharged from BR in December 2010. So I've been through it all before. Though that was obviously my awful management of money and my own fault.

I guess I will just wait for them to send me a CCJ and then I will be ordered to pay so much out of my benefits for it?

I understand I'll have to pay it yes unless I go bankrupt which isn't really applicable here. But they can take a running jump if they think they are getting even the most smallest of sizeable sums off me.
I will pay what the courts order me to pay, when it goes down that road. Sound reasonable?

gillypkk

has the money transferred been lost in betting then? can you not just transfer it back?

kepar

Thanks.
So you owe the bank the money now(because you are overdrawn) and not the site.
To transfer money to a site you have to put your 3 numbers in off the back of your card. Has anyone got access to your card?
I also don't understand in that if you are the site regularly, is possible for another computer user to log on to that site at the same time? Can you find the times of the transfer and establish if you were on the site at that time?
Can you give some id of the site without naming it , to see if I also use that site.

kepar

Also you say £900 went on poker, so the rest must have been bet. Did all that get used?. Were you on the site at that time?

kepar

cut a long story short I found out these had come out when I phoned up to ask for my available balance (you have to phone for available, internet banking doesn't say) I was totally furious because I had not done these and I

Can I ask if you phoned up for your balance , surely that balance included the two withdrawals.

FraudBuster

Have you reported the issues to the police and the fraud departments of your bank and the gambling site?

WLITC

jesus, I'm confused. Am I missing something. Is the betting account thats over drawn or the bank? Were the two transactions just transfering credit to your betting account? Surely if thats the case then its your money and you can't just withdraw it and its the T&S state that you couldn't then surely you should have just reported it to the bank as a fraudalent transaction and they would have made them refund it. So how did you get the money back?

..and not to be too judgemental, but after being BR previously, was it really sensible to even set up a betting account?