DD fraud - any way of finding out who?

kazzah60

Hi
I wasn't sure where to post so please feel free to move if I'm in the wrong place.
I volunteer for a Registered Charity and we are coming to our year end and formalising the accounts
we have found two Direct debit Instructions totalling £250 payable to the RAC which have been set up fraudulently.

The RAC have been MOST unhelpful, insisting I claim back from the bank ( who have been great) but also they won't tell me who took the direct debit out - now i understand the principals of Data protection etc - but this person has enjoyed TWO years free RAC cover at the expense of our charity and I would like to ensure it's not a volunteer who works within the charity who has set the DD up.

How can it be that OUR money ( and £250 is a lot to us) can be taken from the account but that RAC won't divulge who set the DD up?

They claim that FCA rules don't permit them to disclose the name of the person - I have looked at the FCA website and can't find this information anywhere - I have requested copies of the DD from the bank- but if it was set up Electronically- will I ever be able to find out?

sorry for the essay - I am just so worried and frustrated

whitewing

They won't divulge in case you go around and beat up the person. It's standard not to be told.

Report it to the police.

I have to ask why it took so long to be noticed?

forgotmyname

I would have phoned the RAC and been sneaky. Played the dumb act, We seem to have RAC cover but dont remember receiving the cards or membership paperwork.

What are we covered for.. etc etc..

Bit late if you have already contacted them though.

Hominu

forgotmyname wrote: »

I would have phoned the RAC and been sneaky. Played the dumb act, We seem to have RAC cover but dont remember receiving the cards or membership paperwork.

That won't work, they ask for your name and address to lookup your record on their systems and if you had that information there would be no need to phone them!

Just inform the bank and they'll refund the DDs, then RAC will contact the 'owner' and ask them to pay via another method. They will not get it for free. It could have simply been a mistyped digit and they now think they are getting it for free as they've never been charged, rather than fraud.

pinkdalek

Firstly - have some faith in your employees.

Secondly - what grounds have you to claim fraud here? A true fraudster would have wiped your account out long time ago. Personally feel this is an administration error made by RAC. Surprised it has taken you two years to notice.

Thirdly - you've got your money back, stop taking the law in your own hands and move on.

BMN

kazzah60 wrote: »

Hi
I wasn't sure where to post so please feel free to move if I'm in the wrong place.
I volunteer for a Registered Charity and we are coming to our year end and formalising the accounts
we have found two Direct debit Instructions totalling £250 payable to the RAC which have been set up fraudulently.

The RAC have been MOST unhelpful, insisting I claim back from the bank ( who have been great) but also they won't tell me who took the direct debit out - now i understand the principals of Data protection etc - but this person has enjoyed TWO years free RAC cover at the expense of our charity and I would like to ensure it's not a volunteer who works within the charity who has set the DD up.

How can it be that OUR money ( and £250 is a lot to us) can be taken from the account but that RAC won't divulge who set the DD up?

They claim that FCA rules don't permit them to disclose the name of the person - I have looked at the FCA website and can't find this information anywhere - I have requested copies of the DD from the bank- but if it was set up Electronically- will I ever be able to find out?

sorry for the essay - I am just so worried and frustrated

The data protection act is the law. Unfortunately the RAC and your bank cannot make an exception for you.

Money has been taken fraudulently from the bank account which you maintain. It is a matter for your bank to deal with.

Oli.s

The RAC will disclose the information to the police so if you suspect fraud report it and let them investigate.

kazzah60

pinkdalek wrote: »

Firstly - have some faith in your employees.

I can't "afford" to have faith in my employees - it's not my money- it has all be donated by our group members and therefore as a charity trustee I have a duty of care towards those who donated it

Secondly - what grounds have you to claim fraud here? A true fraudster would have wiped your account out long time ago. Personally feel this is an administration error made by RAC. Surprised it has taken you two years to notice.

[B]The money has not been authorised to be debited by anyone in the charity that i know of- therefore it has been fraudulently taken out of our account - it hasn't actually taken two full years one debit was at the start of our accounting year and one towards the middle of the accounting year - and I will be taking it up with the accountant as well - who should have picked it up - but with a lot of transactions going through the account it is not always easy to spot one off payments as these were - had it been a regular debit we would have picked it up earlier

Thirdly - you've got your money back, stop taking the law in your own hands and move on.

I haven't taken the law into my own hands - I simply hoped to ascertain if the person setting up the debit was known to us - but I will have to wait for the information from the bank

thanks for your insightful comments - much appreciated

kazzah60

whitewing wrote: »

They won't divulge in case you go around and beat up the person. It's standard not to be told.

Report it to the police.

I have to ask why it took so long to be noticed?

Because they were one off DD;'s in a busy account one just as our financial year started ( 1st August 2012) and the second one in June 2013 - the accountant should have picked them up but because they were "one off" payments I think they have fallen through the net
I will be asking the accountant though!

kazzah60

BMN wrote: »

The data protection act is the law. Unfortunately the RAC and your bank cannot make an exception for you.

Money has been taken fraudulently from the bank account which you maintain. It is a matter for your bank to deal with.

Actually the Direct Debit website ( https://www.directdebit.co.uk) states that the organisation claiming the funds have a duty of care to ensure that the account details/name/address/etc are correct before collecting the money

I have asked the bank for the information about the DD and any paperwork and they will be sending it to me in 5 working days
if it is a fraudulent act- then we have no alternative other than involving the police

However the attitude I was subjected to from the staff at RAC was completely uncaring - from their attitude I believe they may have made a mistake when entering the bank account details - but i suspect they wouldn't admit that either

Hominu

kazzah60 wrote: »

I have asked the bank for the information about the DD and any paperwork and they will be sending it to me in 5 working days

Just remember that what you are likely to get is the date/time of the DD setup, the originators reference (RAC), the amount and the frequency of payment. You are not going to get the address or even the name of the person who gave RAC your account number. Therefore its typically easier to just cancel the DD and search through your transactions for where that DD has paid out.

The 'Duty of care' can not be easily adhered to: Companies such as RAC have no way of knowing if the user has entered their own account number or someone else's.

If it's fraud, the bank will involve the police directly (after refunding you), no need for you to do it.