Bank Transfer Fraud - why?

lampard

Hi All

I have been the victim of internet banking fraud last week and Santander have said it is fine I will get the money back.

But the issue I cannot figure out is why fraudsters would transfer money to another account. Surely they can be found very easily. It was a direct bank transfer from mine to their account logged in as me.

Am I missing some loophole or some trick the fraudster will have up their sleeve? It seems very silly to leave such a blatant paper trail.

opinions4u

Open an account fraudulently.

Transfer the money in to it.

And then out of it.

And then never be seen again.

Faster Payments is a fraudsters dream!

lampard

opinions4u wrote: »

Open an account fraudulently.

Transfer the money in to it.

And then out of it.

And then never be seen again.

Faster Payments is a fraudsters dream!

Thanks for that answer

Gromitt

lampard wrote: »

Am I missing some loophole or some trick the fraudster will have up their sleeve? It seems very silly to leave such a blatant paper trail.

Cost of forged documents compared to what you can get via transferring money from peoples accounts = worth the while!

Walk into a bank with a forged passport and driving license and you can setup an account there and then. Login to someones account that afternoon and transfer £1,000. Go to cashier and withdraw that cash (as its credited instantly). Never use the account again.

People don't notice the cash is gone for days, sometimes weeks. They can have 1K before you get home from work.

All the bank have is an account number pointing to a fake name and address and maybe some blurry security camera footage.

James

Gromitt wrote: »

Walk into a bank with a forged passport and driving license and you can setup an account there and then. Login to someones account that afternoon and transfer £1,000. Go to cashier and withdraw that cash (as its credited instantly). Never use the account again.

People don't notice the cash is gone for days, sometimes weeks. They can have 1K before you get home from work.

All the bank have is an account number pointing to a fake name and address and maybe some blurry security camera footage.

This has never happened to those using the Free ID Protection System/

You can give anyone stealing you personal info for the above purposes the fright of their life.

If they dare to use your details. You can easily prove your innocence and they will be leaving forensic evidence at the scene.

Click here for more info:

RetiredInThailand

Here in Thailand I get a text message on my phone whenever there is any activity on my account. This service is free and instant.

Pretty amazing that banks can provide such a useful service here but cant seem to manage it in the UK. Even an automated email would be better than nothing.

opinions4u

RetiredInThailand wrote: »

Here in Thailand I get a text message on my phone whenever there is any activity on my account. This service is free and instant.

Pretty amazing that banks can provide such a useful service here but cant seem to manage it in the UK. Even an automated email would be better than nothing.

Get lots of update text messages from Halifax these days.

So I assume Lloyds TSB and BoS do the same. I doubt they're alone.

ChiefGrasscutter

RetiredInThailand wrote: »

Here in Thailand I get a text message on my phone whenever there is any activity on my account. This service is free and instant.

Pretty amazing that banks can provide such a useful service here but cant seem to manage it in the UK. Even an automated email would be better than nothing.

I've suggested this before on MSE.....re banks & credit card transactions - and all I've got is the moaners saying they would be getting texts every 5minutes...yeah.
There is of course a problem over liability. What happens if the bank sends you an automated text re a dodgy transaction and you fail to either read it or contact the bank......... and then the fraudsters empty the rest of the £10000's in your account. Who is liable for all the transactions after the text was sent - you?

You can see why consumers might be rather wary of a formalised text notification system!

tagq2

RetiredInThailand wrote: »

Pretty amazing that banks can provide such a useful service here but cant seem to manage it in the UK. Even an automated email would be better than nothing.

I'd rather a bank do its job of keeping my money safe rather than find an excuse to blame me for being negligent when I am not being negligent. Also, distractions.

But it is trivial to write some locally executed (i.e. on customer's desktop) software to regularly and automatically log in to an online banking service, scrape information on latest transactions and send an e-mail if any significant change. I do this sort of thing for various web sites for my own purposes. Has no-one produced a solution for some of the bigger banks good enough for distribution?

martceltic

Hi Lampard

Something similar happened with my wife and I's joint account. Someone was able to withdraw all our money and over £1,000 extra (we don't have an overdraft to my knowledge).

phoned them last night and they have said they'll get the money back by 72 hours. just wondering if you got sorted?

Thanks

Martin