Stolen giro, 7 weeks for investigation?

cit_k

NASA wrote: »

There are different procedures around cases where someone applies for a replacement and the original giro has not been cashed and where it has been cashed. If the post office confirms that it hasnt been cashed then a replacement is usually authorised on the day and the investigation is done in the background (As far as the claimant is concerned).


Ok, first off they couldnt just send someone round to the post office, given the geographical areas involved and the amount of people who claim not to have received their giro this would take a ridiculous amount of staff to achieve.

The OP has not said when their giro was 'stolen' so you are making assumptions on timescales. The post office only retains the giro for a short period and then it is sent for reconciliation. If the claimant leaves a sufficient amount of time between cashing the original and applying for the replacement then the post office wont have the documentary proof to hand and that is why the investigation needs done.

As for CCTV, the CCTV would necessarily be wide angle in order to get everyone attending the various counters, so unless the post office have FBI/CIA/MI5 standard cameras then I think it is going to be pretty difficult to establish the exact transaction that took place.

Further to that, the DWP are not alledging that a crime has taken place, so involving the police would be wrong.

Seven weeks is an accurate amount of time given the (Still) huge amounts of giros that are issued.

Obviously, if the claimaint is stating the giro has been stolen, then they are stating a crime HAS taken place, so involving the police would not be wrong at all, in fact, Im suprised they dont do it as a matter of course.

CCTV footage will include entry/exit points, as well as other choke points, strategically designed to ensure close ups of people in the premises. They can be cross referenced to a view of who was at the counter at that time, and can rule out quite easily the claimaint being present at and around the time of the giro being cashed.
They know which post office it was cashed at, so there is no difficulty in identifying the post office involved.

You say they cant get the footage from the post office due to the number of people claimaing to have lost giros, and the geographical area involved, yet they can contact the post office to see if it was cashed? Yet, they cant at that time ask for the footage, footage of an alledge crime? Or the police cant?

Its just the DWP being incompetant yet again.

And perhaps, if there is a problem with false claims of giro's being stolen, if they followed decent procedures like this, less people would make false claims, if they knew it would be investigated properly.

cit_k

swanny65 wrote: »

Until the OP declares the giro not received by completing the relevant forms there is nothing to investigate.

If this is done tell me how, without the giro, anyone will be able to identify when, date and time, the giro was cashed. This assumes the giro hasn't been altered to be cashed at a different Post Office or the OP didn't ask someone else to cash the giro for them.

Get the evidence (the giro) first

Giros can only be cashed at the designated post office, how would someone be able to alter the giro, in a way that would not be noticed by trained staff at the post office?

The post office computer will have a record of when the giro was cashed surely? They log pretty much everything these days.

If they asked someone else to cash the giro for them, and they have NOT declared that, then that would come out later when the GIRO is returned for inspection, but in the meantime, CCTV footage would show they did not cash the giro themselves, a replacement giro could be issued, and if it turned out to be a case of more complex fraud with a accomplice involved, legal action could be taken at that point.

Ziggazee

But it's YOUR Giro.....you have to take some responsibility somewhere. It's hardly DWP's fault it was stolen......how many people do you think state their Giros has been stolen on a daily basis? They can't just simply replace it on your say so without following procedures.

"If your employer told you that you werent getting paid this month as they claim to already sent a cheque to you, would you just roll over and do anything they want when you only have their word for it?" Damn right I would......I'd do anything they asked to ensure it was sorted out and I received my money!!!!

NASA_2

cit_k wrote: »

Obviously, if the claimaint is stating the giro has been stolen, then they are stating a crime HAS taken place, so involving the police would not be wrong at all, in fact, Im suprised they dont do it as a matter of course.

CCTV footage will include entry/exit points, as well as other choke points, strategically designed to ensure close ups of people in the premises. They can be cross referenced to a view of who was at the counter at that time, and can rule out quite easily the claimaint being present at and around the time of the giro being cashed.
They know which post office it was cashed at, so there is no difficulty in identifying the post office involved.

You say they cant get the footage from the post office due to the number of people claimaing to have lost giros, and the geographical area involved, yet they can contact the post office to see if it was cashed? Yet, they cant at that time ask for the footage, footage of an alledge crime? Or the police cant?

Its just the DWP being incompetant yet again.

And perhaps, if there is a problem with false claims of giro's being stolen, if they followed decent procedures like this, less people would make false claims, if they knew it would be investigated properly.

In some sentences you seem to understand then make a contradictory statement.

The DWP are not alledging that a crime has taken place. The claimant is, the claimant can report it to the police if they want, basically they are stating that someone has stolen their property. More importantly, if the letter the giro was in wasnt opened first, then that is mail fraud. Quite serious offence.

So yes, the DWP will not contact the police because they are not making any accusations that a crime has taken place, but the claimant is free to.

As an aside, in northern Ireland they used to ask people to report the crime to the police as part of the process, the police (after a short while) kicked up !!!! because it was taking up too much of their time and they didnt want to have anything to do with it. So take that whatever way you will.

Your CCTV theory is nuts. The CCTV may be able to show the person in the office - it doesnt show what transaction they are carrying out. It's not practical. And I am pretty sure that there would be Data Protection issues as well.

The DWP are not incompetent in this respect. The scheming claimants are at fault. I dont expect you to agree with this because you are so anti-DWP that you rail against anything they do.

My opinion is that the OP probably cashed the original giro themself and were trying to obtain a duplicate. The DWP are protecting the public purse by ensuring that before a duplicate is issued that the original hasnt been cashed by the claimant.

mr2gti

If people on the Crisis Loans line got £1 for every call they took stating the "Giro had been stolen"... They would live in mansions!

What did the Police say regarding the Theft?