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Mum being gullible

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Can any one help? Recently my father passed away and my mother inherited a tidy some of money. Mum has a very trusting and generous character and if she can help some one she will. I’ve recently discovered she is changing cheques via her bank for a local builder and his team circa £3000 every week so they don’t have to put the cheques through cash converters and pay the charges such companies demand (what!!! I hear you scream well that was my reply). Aside form the obvious “rip off” she faces should the builders take flight before the cheques clear is there any other dangers she faces e.g. tax burdens I need to make her aware of. I’ve yet to confront her over the above situation but as you can imagine I’m very worried for her and not to mention fuming she could be so gullible.:mad:

Many thanks

Lee
«13

Comments

  • aj3001
    aj3001 Posts: 730 Forumite
    Cheques can bounce up to six months after clearing, I would tell her to stop immediatly and get her to contact the police
  • And apart from the obvious risks to your mum it sounds to me like they are involved in some sort of tax dodge aswell......
    "Life may not always be the party you wish for, but whilst here you may aswell dance"!!!
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  • J_P_S
    J_P_S Posts: 148 Forumite
    i work with cheques, tell her to stop immediately, they are clearly dodgy otherwise they would pay them into their own bank account.
  • changkra
    changkra Posts: 635 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Combo Breaker
    It may be worth your while to go down to your local cop station and ask to speak to the duty inspector and see what he/she says, they may want to monitor the situation.
  • maninthestreet
    maninthestreet Posts: 16,127 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture
    The term 'Money Laudering' springs to mind....
    Reporting this to the police may lead to the arrest of your mother, as well
    as the builders.
    "You were only supposed to blow the bl**dy doors off!!"
  • Mark7799
    Mark7799 Posts: 4,806 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Unlikely to be money laundering if she is paying in cheques.

    Who are the cheques actually made payable to?

    A few possibilities

    1. A tax dodge exercise

    2. The builders trying to reduce their bank charges

    3. If your mother's bank get wind of what's happening they may ask her in to discuss the matter

    Try and get her to stop doing this asap
    Gwlad heb iaith, gwlad heb galon
  • hollydays
    hollydays Posts: 19,812 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Try this helpline-Action on Elder Abuse,includes financial abuse.
    0808 8088141
    https://www.elderabuse.org.uk

    or email them.
  • Mark7799 wrote:
    Unlikely to be money laundering if she is paying in cheques.

    Not necessarily so - £3000/per week = £150,000+ pa - this is a LOT of money passing through a personal bank account. The bank has a legal duty to investigate any activity they consider to be 'out of the ordinary' in terms of previous account usage - I'm surprised they havent already contacted the account holder questioning what these deposits are - even if it's only to determine whether or not a personal bank account is being used for business purposes.
    "You were only supposed to blow the bl**dy doors off!!"
  • thanks for the email address i'll drop them a line today
  • Not necessarily so - £3000/per week = £150,000+ pa - this is a LOT of money passing through a personal bank account. The bank has a legal duty to investigate any activity they consider to be 'out of the ordinary' in terms of previous account usage - I'm surprised they havent already contacted the account holder questioning what these deposits are - even if it's only to determine whether or not a personal bank account is being used for business purposes.


    :beer: cheers for this - i really need to make her aware of what she is letter her self in for. Can't really tell you what i want to do to the builder but if i did it would really upset mum and that’s the last thing i want to do. I'd rather put across the issues you guys have mentioned above and hopefully she will see sense
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