cheque fraud

gov

Please feel free to move this post if it is in the wrong place.
Today my mother received her toisas statement from abbey and was shocked to see £620 pounds withdrawn by cheque on the 1st of march. The thing is she never has had a cheque book for this account. Just been to the police station to get a crime ref no. Then I've got to go to the bank with her what a waste of time sorting out this mess. How can a bank issue a bank cheque without some sort of I.D. does anyone know?

BenL

You only need a signature for postal requests for a cheque to be drawn.

Ben

doelani

A withdrawal from a toisa with abbey can be made in 3 ways, a transfer to another account, a cash withdrawal at a branch or a cheque withdrawal, this would be sent to the registered address or given to the customer in the customer in the branch.

To order a cheque the process is , write in and request it, order by phone as long as you know your password and pass security or order in branch with appropriate ID.

Seems weird that this Cheque was withdrawn the day the interest was pais to teh account, have you phoned the ISA dept or the Savings dept in Abbey and asked about this including where and how the cheque was ordered. If this has been taken from teh account due to fraud you will be refunded.

BenL

Just re-reading the post, I don't know a lot about the TOISA product but I'll look in the manual tomorrow.

Can TOISAs have interest added to the account or does it have to go elsewhere?

£620 seems a lot of interest to me but you haven't said how much was in the account.

If the cheque was for this reason it may have just been lost in the post.

Everything to do with the transaction will be stored either on paper, scanned into the image and workflow software or written as notes into the customer contact programs.

Ben

Paul_Varjak

Was it exactly £620 or £620.XXp?

Does the statement show a credit into the account for interest of the same amount on March 1st? That is the date Abbey pay interest on TOISAs.

Interest can be repaid into a TOISA but, perhaps, when TOISA was opened, it was elected that any interest should be paid by cheque rather than re-invested and the cheque got lost in the post.

£620 would seem about right for a year's interest on a TOISA.

gov

Thanks you to all who have shed light on this matter.
I will try and answer some of the questions.
abbey fraud dept kept saying get a crime ref no, go to the branch, the person could not answer the question put to them. I asked if the bank issued the cheque could not answer said there will investigate when i report it to the branch.
the TOISAs on this account has interest added to the account. Have £1454.00 pounds never touched the money or put more in. Just looked at the statement it does show the interest added on the 1st of march as well as the cheque withdrawal of £620. Hope that helps. Will let you know how I get with this matter. I now have £893.44 left in the account. Gross interest of £58.46. interest is added straight into the account. What I am saying is that abbey has issued someone with a cheque of £620 pounds from this account of which i have no knowledge of. This account has been running for 3 years with interest paid into the account.

Paul_Varjak

So, is this the first year that interest has been paid out by cheque, or have previous year(s) interest also been paid by cheque?

Abbey may have not answered your questions because you are not the account holder.

You have 893.44 in the account? Do you mean 8993.44? Presumably, when TOISA was opened, £9,000 went in?!

Paul_Varjak

Unfortunately, like me, you modified your post. It does look like you have £893.44p in the account given the interest of £58.46p. So the £620 cheque withdrawal was not withdrawal of interest and if your mother did not request the cheque it would appear it may be a fraudulent withdrawal.

However £620 does appear to be the right amount for a withdrawal of interest is someone put in £9,000 into their TOISA a few years and had accumulated interest until this year

So, I wonder if the Abbey have confused your mum's account with someone else? It is just odd that the withdrawal should be on the day that Abbey pay interest on TOISAs!

davidcampbell

any withdrawal made on an abbey toisa will be listed as "cheque". it may not necessarily be an actual cheque in the normal sense. could be any withdrawal request.

is there a reference number along the description line of the cheque?

DC

doelani

Get you mum to phone Abbey Savings today 08456090014, this dept deals with savings and can talk to you also about TOISA. If you mum feels more comfortable after she does security you can speak to the advisor on her behalf.

Ask....
which dept issued the cheque? Bradford or a Branch
If any notes on the system to say who the payee was?
Has the cheque been cashed?

You do not need to speak to fraud to get this info. If there has been fraud on the accout this will be paid back if this has been Abbeys fault, eg them not following correct procedures.

One other possibility is it has been an error and the cheque has been withdrawn by from the wrong account, once Abbey have investigated they can identify if this is the case.

I have seen fraudulant transactions on a lot of accounts and they usually take the lot not an amount like this and a cheque will be traceable , all cheques are account payee and with a copy of the cheque the account it has been cashed through will be detailed on the back.

Give them a ring this morning, get this info from savings dept.

gov

DC there is no reference number along the description line of the cheque,
Doelani the problem is that my mother can't speak english so me and my wife are sorting this out. Went to the bank late afternoon, was told it would take a few hours to find the cheque to come back wednesday morning told them I have better things to do like going to work to earn a living. Then told someone will ring me sometime so I can take my mother to the bank to fill in some froms.