Son`s account been fraudulently used

antonette254

My 15year old Sons Barclay's account was fraudulently used in June. The transaction was for £50 & petrol was bought in Nottingham. We disputed this amount & Barclay's sent me an indemnity which we completed & sent back. End of story or so i thought.
Imagine my horror when we received his new bank statement yesterday & there have been approx another 10 fraudulent transactions on there! We again called Barclay's who took us through the procedure again, but advised me that the 1st £50 transaction had been re-debited back by them, as after their investigations they believe that the card was used correctly & no fraud has occurred???
I of course asked them to look at this again, as well as all the new fraudulent transactions. This is so frustrating as my son has obviously not used the account to commit this fraud. The account is rarely used by him so it is only when we received a statement that we discover what has happened. One of the transactions is actually a Wonga loan being paid into the account, others include Sainsbury's shopping. If Barclay's don't accept my appeal where do i go from here?:mad:

pmduk

You'd go through the Bank's complaints procedure. Should that not work escalate the matter to the Financial Ombudsman. You can only do this when the bank issues it's final decision or 8 weeks after the date of the formal complaint, whichever comes first

innovate

Some parallels with this thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4036943

First question to ask/answer is how the alleged fraudsters came to know the son's details. Does he still have his card? If not, when did he report his card as lost or stolen?

magpiecottage

FSA rule BCOBS 5.1.11R(1) says

"Where a banking customer denies having authorised a payment, it is for the firm to prove that the payment was authorised."

It is hard to see how they can prove that a fifteen year old purchased petrol when it is illegal to sell it to somebody under the age of sixteen and illegal for them to drive a motor vehicle.

Similarly, Wonga seem unlikely to accept a loan application from somebody under 18 as it would not be enforcible.


BCOBS 5.1.11R(2) says "Where a payment from a banking customer's account was not authorised by the banking customer, a firm must, within a reasonable period, refund the amount of the unauthorised payment to the banking customer and, where applicable, restore the banking customer's account to the state it would have been in had the unauthorised payment not taken place."

So I agree - tell Barclays to refer the decision that the first transaction was not fraudulent to its complaints procedure and do the same with the others.

jplip1207

Can I suggest something you might want to consider but please don't take offense....

Have you sat with your son and made sure he was not responsible for any of these transactions? Generalising a bit I know but 15 year old boys may not be the most forthcoming if they have been caught by their mothers spending/obtaining money they shouldn't be. Just a thought. You don't want to go through a lot of chest beating with the bank to be made to look silly.

If that is ruled out then as mentioned above, pursue it further as they will have to prove the account holder has authorised these payments.

magpiecottage

jplip1207 wrote: »

Have you sat with your son and made sure he was not responsible for any of these transactions?

That did occur to me as well - but a fifteen year old cannot lawfully purchase petrol and if they borrowed money from Wonga the debt would not be enforcible.

dalesrider

antonette254 wrote: »

. One of the transactions is actually a Wonga loan being paid into the account, others include Sainsbury's shopping. If Barclay's don't accept my appeal where do i go from here?:mad:

Never seen a fraudster pay money into a account.

I suggest that you contact wonga about that, as they should be able to confirm details of who has taken out the loan. If they kick off about DPA remind them that the account holder is only 15 and as such they will be deep in the mire with the FSA for failure to check details before providing credit to a minor.

If the transactions are for petrol, then odds on the are chip & pin.

The account is rarely used by him so it is only when we received a statement that we discover what has happened.

Someone is clearly using the card.
Joint or sole account?
Does you son still have the card?
Is there anyone else in the household who could have used the card, in error.
Do you know where he was at the time of the transactions?

You really need to sit down with your son and talk this out with him. If he is lending the card out. Either willingly or under duress. He needs to come clean as claiming fraud when it is not is serious and if Barclays involve the police. He could be looking at wasting police time.
TBH. I am surprised that Barclays have not asked your sone to report this as fraud.

Macca83_2

At 15 i was buying fags and alcohol... Hardly legal either... Just a thought

innovate

dalesrider wrote: »

Never seen a fraudster pay money into a account.

You (and I) may not have seen it, but fraudsters do it, to cover up their tracks.

In the case in question, it is not inconceivable that the lad has been bullied into letting the fraudster(s) deposit a Wonga loan into his account (are Wonga verifying that the bank account belongs to the person taking the loan?). Then the lad gets further bullied into letting the fraudster(s) use his card for spending. This would also explain why Barclays don't think the card was used fraudulently - because the lad hasn't reported it lost or stolen.

That's just one potential scenario. Of course I am not saying this is what really happened here.

magpiecottage

dalesrider wrote: »

I suggest that you contact wonga about that, as they should be able to confirm details of who has taken out the loan. If they kick off about DPA remind them that the account holder is only 15 and as such they will be deep in the mire with the FSA for failure to check details before providing credit to a minor.

Wrong - Wonga is not regulated by the FSA and the child does not need to know whose name the loan is in order to defend his legal rights in respect of money that has gone in to his account.

If the transactions are for petrol, then odds on the are chip & pin.

Possibly - but it could also be cloned.

He needs to come clean as claiming fraud when it is not is serious and if Barclays involve the police. He could be looking at wasting police time.

I believe the principle of innocent until proven guilty still applies in this country.

I am surprised that Barclays have not asked your sone to report this as fraud.

It is because banks will do it themselves if they choose to.

antonette254

Thanks all for your responses.....am sure the transactions were not done by him. The petrol was bought in Nottingham when he would have been at school in London?? I will try & contact wonga & see if i can get any information? Strangely enough there is a cash deposit made at a branch?? so i am not sure if the accounts have been mixed up somehow with some1 elses account.
I am just baffled really & quite frustrated that this has gone on:mad: