BACS PAYMENT - Scammed and desperately need help!

mulronie

This is a textbook scam and your money is gone. You've had an expensive but important lesson - just be thankful it was £200 and not £20k.

Cash Plus is a pre-paid card provider. It uses a Co-Op sortcode, and an 8 digit account number, but is totally separate to the Co-Op.

You could get a court order (~£100) to force them to reveal the name and address of the account holder, but it's a dead end because I can tell you now that the name on the account is fake. The address may well be correct (at least, the scammer lived there or had access to the mail in the last year or so), but with a fake name is entirely useless.

Unfortunately pre-paid cards are easy to come by, and most providers simply check the electoral roll before issuing them. The electoral roll, however, is incredibly easy to abuse simply by submitting fake entries. I could say "Kelly Moss" lives in my house, open a few pre-paid cards in "her" name, wait six months and do exactly this scam. In the rare event the Police took interest, they would never be able to pin it on me beyond reasonable doubt. "Kelly was my lodger, she left 3 months ago without saying goodbye, never heard from her since".

anotheruser

dzug1 wrote: »

You seem to have found out who the recipient is - take them to court yourself?

As others have said, it surprises me the bank let this detail out...

I know you're just letting out frustration, but openly suggesting a bank transfer is stupid. One rule is to allow BACS in but never out :P

You know Gumtree is owned by ebay right?

System

Had you banked with First Direct and done the same thing, you'd still have the same problem and would be moving elsewhere.

You've been the scammed by a 3rd party, the bank tried to help you fix your mistake and couldn't. Move on with your life.

It was for concert tickets so hardly a desperate situation as nice as Beyonc! is.

JSPENCER wrote: »

If you'd actually taken the time to read my post's, you'd realise I'm not having a hissy fit. you'd see that:
A) I'm passionate about good customer service, and RBS have not given this to me. Nothing to do with the process or what has happened. Changing accounts is no hassle at all, I have 4 direct debits to switch, and the new bank say they'll do this (even if they don't I'll happily call the companies to advise).

And The bank I've signed up with are giving me £125.

Thank you for your contribution to the thread, however.



The problem is, Co-Op Cash Plus have told me the account has been inactive for over 2 years, so there is a chance I'd be taking someone to court who stopped using a bank account over 2 years ago, and probably has no idea this is going on!