Fraudulent money transfer removed from my account

Lostsoul_2

Please can someone help me

please can you help! A company representative whose credentials were ligitimate: ie ligitimate VAT number and registration number bought a number of high value goods from my business and paid by BAnk to Bank transfer.....I only released the goods once having checked with my bank that the funds were clear and available for immediate use in my account. Despite having spoken to my Barclays bank manager and explaining to him that i was about to release the goods, the funds were withdrawn without informing me since the transfer was considered to be fraudulent. If my bank had informed me that the funds were being withdrawn, i would have stopped the delivery but they told me 24hrs later. ....Now I have no money and no goods. I carried out the transaction in good faith, how do i get the bank to cover my loss?

I also can't believe how the HSBC allowed the money to be released from the source business account without having made any manual checks.....with the genuine account holder.... Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Ben8282

Lostsoul wrote: »

how do i get the bank to cover my loss?

You don't. You contact the company which purchased the goods and, if necessary, take legal action against them to obtain payment for the goods.

jonesMUFCforever

'A company representative' - what rights did he have to place the order?
Did you carry out and trade checks on this company/individual?
How was the funds deposited in your account? If by cheque 2-4-6 does not apply to cheque clearing if it is found to be fraudulent (even if the funds appear cleared on their systems as cheques are returned by post)

By all means start a complaint against the bank but you will have to prove that they told you that the funds were cleared to get anywhere. This might be difficult.

You have been had; so inform the police and ask them to investigate.

How were the goods sent - by courier? - Have you asked them whether it is possible at all to stop delivery?

Lostsoul_2

The company representative was the director of a public limited company, he showed us his drivers licence and gave us his company's Registration number and and VAT number which checked out to be completely genuine. He paid by bank transfer and his name appeared on the tranaction log report which he emailed to us with the transaction number, date and time as proof of payment for the goods. I still checked with the bank to ensure that the funds were clear and since Barclays record ALL phone conversations they should have a record of what was said. I also have an itemised bill showing the phone calls that I made to my bank manager prior to releasing the goods. Unfortunately by the time we spoke to the courier it was 24 hours after the funds had been withdrawn, the delivery had already been made.....we've reported the incident to the police and they have traced the address where the goods were delivered but there is no trace of the person in question. In the meantime no one at the bank is willing to talk to us or give us any information.

jonesMUFCforever

Do you know how to spot a fake driving licence?
Was the delivery address the same as the company address?

I could show you my driving licence and get any PLC registration number (from companies house) and VAT number off any company logo paper or website but does this make me eligible to make an order with you on behalf of the company?

What checks would you normally do for a new customer??

You have been turned over - I don't see the bank giving you the money back.

Lostsoul_2

i see what u mean, should have rang the company directly, ok point taken, there are times when orders are taken over the phone or online and all you have is credit details and a phone number........but that doesn't change the fact that the bank also made the same mistake and released and cleared funds into my bank account. but i honestly thought i was dealing with a genuine buyer, seems like someone at the bank fell for the same drivers licence and transferred the money into my account, since it was a bank to bank transfer. not a cheque or an online transfer. Maybe some calls needed to be made by them too but my point is that had my bank called me

Lostsoul_2

to say that the funds had been withdrawn, i would have stopped the goods. they failed to take care of my business interests, despite knowing that i was worried about this transaction.

innovate

Lostsoul wrote: »

.....since it was a bank to bank transfer. not a cheque or an online transfer.....

Understand that you know it wasn't a cheque, since you would physically have received a cheque and you didn't. However, how do you know it was a "bank to bank" transfer? What is a "bank to bank transfer"? Surely a bank would not make any transfer to another bank from a personal or business account unless they had been asked by the account holder? Are you saying the fraudster had no bank account, but paid the bank (HSBC) cash, and the bank then transferred the money to you? Not something I have heard of before, but then I haven't heard everything yet.....Or are you saying the fraudster asked his bank (in person or otherwise) for a payment to be made to your account?

In any case, how do you know how the alleged fraudster initiated the payment? And what does it matter, anyway?

You are not likely to be able to hold your bank responsible for the fact that you have fallen victim to a fraudster. You'd need to prove that they have confirmed to you that the funds were cleared irrevocably.

You also are unlikely to be able to hold the fraudster's bank responsible. At the time the money was paid into your account, everything could have been alright. This wouldn't stop them from reversing a payment if they subsequently become aware of criminal activity.

You could cry foul over the fact that your bank didn't call you when the payment into your account got reversed. However, this wouldn't have made a blind bit of difference to the fact that the funds did get reversed. You'd just have known earlier that you got scammed. I doubt there is anything in the T&Cs that commit your bank to call you about certain transactions.

As hard as it sounds, the most likely outcome, based on what you have posted here, is that you have been the unfortunate victim of a fraudster. You may be able to get what is rightfully yours if you go to Court - but any payments would be from the fraudsters, not from the banks.

meer53

Sounds as though the person who ordered the goods could have hacked into someone elses account and used this account to transfer the funds electronically. Once the person whose account had been hacked reported this to their bank, the transaction will have been refunded to them and the OP's account debited. Hence the delay.

jonesMUFCforever

OP you say was paid into your account - what was the description on your statement - the 'company' name or the individual?

You also say that your company takes orders over the telephone and the internet with just a card - this is true but there are procedures for card payments - such as getting an authorisation code and a check is made against the card and the registered address.

What were the goods ordered and the value? Do you have insurance to cover against such losses?

Lostsoul_2

The description on my account has the company name on it and audit trail that i have finally obtained has the company name and the name of the buyer ( the directors name on it) This is far more complicated than it appears....The buyer in question went into HSBC himself as the director of the company and authorised the transfer of payment from his company's business account into our business account. Then he obtained the goods and has disappeared.......yes we have insurance but i'm not sure if we are covered for this kind of crime. Fraud agency are involved, i'm not sure if the money has been returned to the original account or is being held and investigated. Seems like the director was defrauding his own company. Thus need to get my money back from the company in question. Will file a complaint to both banks aswell