Large Bank Fraud - Help Please

ratherurgent

Hi

Could someone please give me some advice. Basically Im having a huge problem with Barclays and fraud at the momet. I apologise in advance for the long post but need to get my point across.

I left an ex partner in October. I changed my bank address via their download change of address form. I get statements every 6 months so 3 months back I rang the bank asking where my statement was and they told me it had been sent but to the old address, my address hadnt been changed. Went into the bank and changed address manually, whilst there asked for copies of statements to be sent. They sent all statements to me and £3,500 had been taken from my bank fraudulently. It varied from household bill payments such as water, electricity and Virgin Media to Littlewoods, Ann Summers and River Island.

Informed the bank and the process started. They refunded me £999.05 within a week and sent me a letter saying they had investigated and it was fraud and the case was now closed. Thy sent other letters saying as some bills were paid to household companies over the phone using my card they were speaking to the merchants involvded and would contact me by 19th September to let me know the outcome of their investigation.

Today they have sent me 10 letters stating that those 10 transactions totaling £2,200 were too long ago to be investigated and I have to contact Citizens Advice for further help or contact the merchants personally. I have tried to contact some of the merchants direct today e.g. Virgin but was told I couldnt be told anything or refunded as it isnt my account. I know it isnt my account, so why take payments off my card for it for the past 6 months!!

Basically I know that I should have checked bank sooner but I didnt and thats my fault but even still, I know who has done this fraud, the bank have already refunded me £1000 worth of transactions so surely its easy to see that the payments are not me.

I just wondered if anybody had any advice before I fork out for solicitor and courts. The bank told me they would inform the police and would I object, I said no, but im unaware as to whether they ever did inform the police as Ive never heard anything about it. I just want to know how to get my money back.

Thanks for any advice.

pmduk

I'd make a formal complaint. Use the fact that if they had actioned the change of address form when appropriate, the fraudulent transactions would have been noticed earlier and as such they have contributed to the delay. If necessary escalate it to the FOS.

xylophone

I know who has done this fraud,

Have you contacted the police?
http://www.fsa.gov.uk/consumerinformation/product_news/banking/know_your_rights/solving

realaledrinker

Can't quite follow what's going on here. Am I right in thinking you had a joint account with an Ex, assumed you had been taken off the account and now find you are still linked to the account and your Ex has paid for a number of items that you are still joint and severally liable for?

meer53

realaledrinker wrote: »

Can't quite follow what's going on here. Am I right in thinking you had a joint account with an Ex, assumed you had been taken off the account and now find you are still linked to the account and your Ex has paid for a number of items that you are still joint and severally liable for?

I'm confused too. Changing your address wouldn't remove you or your ex partner from the account, it would just mean you live at different addresses.

As realaledrinker says, if this is the case you're both still liable for the balance on the account.

ratherurgent

Hi

Sorry, never made it clear. This isnt a joint account, this is my own personal account, nothing to do with anyone else. I moved out, changed address, for whatever reason the bank did not complete this.

Ive had £3,500 fraudulently taken from account, bank have already refunded £1000 of it as they say that was within the time limits that they have, the other £2,500 is not being refunded as they say it is too late and falls outside their time limits.

Xylophone - thank you for that link. The bank have not followed any of these guidelines whatsoever so I will speak with them again before going to the ombundsman.

alanq

I have little sympathy for those who come onto the forum bemoaning the fact that they have sums taken out of their accounts over a few years and have not bothered to check their statements. In this case only several months have elapsed and the reason you did not check your statements was that they did not reach you.

The FSA says "Your bank must refund an unauthorised transaction." "However, your bank does not have to refund you if you do not tell it about the payment until 13 months or more after the date it left your account.". So even if a bank foul-up was not involved it seems that you should not be out of time for a refund FROM BARCLAYS.
http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/consumer_info/know_your_rights_guide.pdf

ratherurgent

alanq wrote: »

I have little sympathy for those who come onto the forum bemoaning the fact that they have sums taken out of their accounts over a few years and have not bothered to check their statements. In this case only several months have elapsed and the reason you did not check your statements was that they did not reach you.

The FSA says "Your bank must refund an unauthorised transaction." "However, your bank does not have to refund you if you do not tell it about the payment until 13 months or more after the date it left your account.". So even if a bank foul-up was not involved it seems that you should not be out of time for a refund FROM BARCLAYS.


I havent asked for your sympathy.

I state in the first post that yes I should have checked the bank previously, I wish I had noticed this happening when the first £20 left the account fraudulently but unfortunatly I didnt and I have learnt a lesson to check the bank daily.

When the bank tell you they will refund £1000 but not the other £2500 as its out of their strict timelines I just thought I would ask if anybody knew the facts as I dont and do not particularly trust the banks at the moment and luckily some people did know the facts so I thank you for that.

xylophone

I havent asked for your sympathy.

Hang on - read the post again!

I have little sympathy for those who come onto the forum bemoaning the fact that they have sums taken out of their accounts over a few years and have not bothered to check their statements. In this case only several months have elapsed and the reason you did not check your statements was that they did not reach you.

So even if a bank foul-up was not involved it seems that you should not be out of time for a refund FROM BARCLAYS.

ratherurgent

Alanq, massive apologies, misread your post and went off on a tangent. Sorry

Thanks everyone for your help, I shall contact Barclays and the police fraud department tommorow, failing that I shall speak to the FSA.

Massive help from everyone, much appreciated

ratherurgent

Spoke to the bank today and they are standing by the decision they made, they won't refund as they say they will only look into cases 120 days or less. I explained I have been told it's supposed to be 13 months and then they changed it to the fact that they won't be refunding as I hadn't noticed the fraud earlier and "it seems strange" to them. They also say that as I deal with some of the companies involved, which when they include companies such as Virgin Media and Southern Electric, it's no great suprise. This means they won't refund. So now I've spoken to the ombudsman and they will write to Barclays today and inform them they will be involved unless this is solved within 8 weeks.

I've also informed the police today and arranged to see my solicitor on Friday afternoon