Fake Money in my deposit !!Update pg5!!

alanobrien

This all sounds very very dodgy. Its suspicious they would not accept a cheque for such a (relatively) small amount, they could have even requested a bank or BS cheque rather than personnal.
As if EA's didnt have a bad enough rep as it is !

If the envelope was and remained sealed and you had no contact with the notes then the police should be able to prove you didn't handle it. What happens after that is anyones guess given the need for "burden of proof".

The chain of who handled the cash will be key as will any prints on it.
With luck someone in the EA's office may have some "previous" and if they have they must be pretty stupid to think they can get away with this without the victim fighting it all the way.

Good luck with this and let us know how its resolved in the end.

Bargain_Rzl

prudryden wrote: »

Very unusual for a reputable estate agency to request cash only. Do they have a money laundering business on the side? Might be interesting to casually mention that.

The OP only stated that they didn't accept cheques, not that they requested cash only. This part of the equation isn't necessarily dodgy - I've had to pay tenancy deposits with a banker's draft in the past - no cheques accepted.

jswaminathanuk

I was replying to post but was lost in between

Did you printed the notes on your own ? No then why worry? see you take notes from 1 person (bank or shop) and pass it to another. so you don't have to worry

I think you have an upper hand here

I think u shud

1) Chase Police on regular basis
2) may be on ir own give a statement to police (as suggested by fellow MSE) and mention that Ea was insisting on cash only not cheque
3)Visit CAB ASAP discuss with them the experienced lawyer there will give you advice on what you should do and what are your rights
4) Keep your reciept safe
5) I think you should write a letter to EA telling that as far as you are concern you have given them the money. Regarding the fake notes case is with police and whatever the outcome you both will stick. In unfortunate event of decision against you you will pay him the money with interest. However if they don't give you keys on time you will make a claim losses against them.
I may sound stupid however
VISIT CAB ASAP
Cheers
Swami

Tiger_greeneyes

I suppose the OP could put the EA's on the spot. Visit them with his father as the guarantor.

Ask the EA exactly what happened with the money - and ask who has it now. If they stick to their story of it being the bank having the money, then suggest you accompany the EA to the bank to discuss it. If the EA tries to wriggle out of it then stay put and tell them you're calling the police.

If the EA decides the bank doesn't have it, then demand it back as 'evidence' so you can 'take it up with your bank'. If they don't return it, then stay put and tell them you're calling the police.

Put the ball in the EA's court - tell them you're not budging until it's sorted out.

I have to say, if it was me in that situation, I'd be going down this route as I'd be too livid not to!

prudryden

thesaint wrote: »

I am a private landlord, but I would've thought that the same applies to letting agencies.
I always insist on the 1st payment in cash, because if the cheque bounces after the tenant is in situ, I would have to go through a lengthy process to get the tenant removed.

I could get caught out by forged notes, but I think that this is a rareity.

If I were the OP, I would sit tight.

Saint, surely the LA did employment, bank and credit checks. If they were not confident about the potential tenant, they would not have rented to him. If the tenant was going to falsely present a check, with the criminal intent of bouncing the check in order to obtain goods under deception, then you would be able to issue a two week notice under the fast track system and also have criminal charges brought against the tenants.

OP: The letting agency needs to take the notes to the police. The police will give them a receipt for the notes. The police will then send the notes to the Bank of England for confirmation that they are counterfeit. The letting agency will then be reimbursed by the Bank of England once confirmed. Source: Bank of England website.

The letting agency will probably try to pass this on to you by returning the notes to you because they do not want to wait for however long it takes to get refunded. It is now their responsibility to report this to the police as they accepted the payment.

prudryden

Bargain_Rzl wrote: »

The OP only stated that they didn't accept cheques, not that they requested cash only. This part of the equation isn't necessarily dodgy - I've had to pay tenancy deposits with a banker's draft in the past - no cheques accepted.

Guilty as charged. Good point.

jswaminathanuk

OP,
further to my post above I was thinking on my way back and guess u dont have anything in written from EA
I have a feeling that EA is trying to put u off
You should send Ea a letter through email or fax or recorded delivery statin g the event and ask him teh status from EA (like what he did and if he did notified police and if he has got any reference number and name of the bank / branch he was dealing with.
this will force him to reply your mail. and that will be a proof that he actually saying he recieved fake notes from you.
reason I am saying is that I feel EA trying to put u off from the deal by putting blame on you. once you have things in writing you can force him harder to stick to agreement
Hope it helps
Swami

peterbaker

I smell a rat ... this is almost certainly an outrageous but simple scam based on many people's gullibility in 2007... if I was the OP I would name the letting agency here and now. And if they were part of an apparently reputable group I would have had the Chief Executive's ears smarting before he went home tonight.

But I'm not the OP thank goodness, and prudryden's advice sounds like it contains the foundations of the best basis to proceed:

prudryden wrote:

OP: The letting agency needs to take the notes to the police. The police will give them a receipt for the notes. The police will then send the notes to the Bank of England for confirmation that they are counterfeit. The letting agency will then be reimbursed by the Bank of England once confirmed.

The letting agency will probably try to pass this on to you by returning the notes to you because they do not want to wait for however long it takes to get refunded. It is now their responsibility to report this to the police as they accepted the payment.

If the letting agency will not co-operate with this idea then tell the police the letting agency are illogically withholding evidence of a crime and that you therefore conclude that they might be the criminals.

Then sit tight and report any funny business (threats) to the police.

epz_2

as far as i would be concerned you have paid the deposit and someone at their preises has stolen the cash, it up to the agent to sort it out so pay them your monthly rent as normal and tell them to jump if they ask you for any more cash.

as i understand it takes more than a couple mmounths to evict someone and as i assume you were given a recipt so you can rightly go to court tell them you paid a deposit and have a recipt+bank records to prove it, if someone in their organisation knicked it then it isnt your problem.

also make sure you tell them any attempt to put anything on your credit rating etc and youll lanch legal action for damages against them

EvilDes

Hello again, I managed to get on the internet at my mothers house.

First off, thanks to all who replied, there's a lot of reassuring replies, information and advice, and I thank everyone for their input.

Just to clear a few things up though. The bank were in possession of the money from the off apparantly (which conflicts with his story that he or his accountant found the notes to be fake - did he then knowingly try to pay the money in to the bank, fully aware they were fake? Surely a crime in itself?) He has sent us a photocopy of the receipt of fake notes, which has only one serial number on for the whole £500. Im unsure as to whether these notes all had the same serial number.

The estate agents refused the cheque, saying they only accept cash or bankers draft. The only reason we didn't pay by bankers draft was because it would've cost about £15 for the full amount of deposit £795), rent (£595) and setting up fee (£65), so the full amount was £1455. We thought cash would just be easier aswell, being as we were handing it straight over.

The woman who took the money off us, said she had only worked for the estate agents for 3 weeks, but had worked at other estate agents, so was not a novice. She was however, probably the most professional, friendly and helpful person I had contact with from the whole of the estate agents. The other people were, rude, ignorant, and never (not once) phoned us to inform us of progress during the credit checks and paperwork check. We had to phone everytime.

We never touched the money at all. I don't think I've ever even had a fake note in my life, let alone a wad of it.

The estate agents is a chain, not a single letting agency. There are a few branches of them around Birmingham/West Midlands.

The police are actually pretty angry with the manager of the estate agents, as someone said, he should've phoned the police straight away, but for some reason he phoned us first, after having paid it into the bank. So the bank have sent the fake money to Scotland for analysis, which the police now have to seize from them for forensic tests, but this makes their job even harder (more paperwork, more prints etc). Surely if you had such an amount of fake money, you would call the police immediately so they can come and get it.

I hope this clears up a few points, if there is anymore queries on the situation, I'll try and clear them up. But I feel more relaxed about the whole situation now, having read some of your comments, for which I thank you!

But rest assured, there is no way I will let them get off with this if anything is found to be amiss with them. I have never been so stressed in my whole life.

Many thanks,

Des