HMRC cheque bank fraud?

cheated?

I got a cheque from HMRC with tax return to be paid to Account payee only which means it should be paid to my account. I used my bank giro form from chequebook (with printed my name, sort code and account number of my bank) and have written the amount of money from the HMRC cheque by hand. Then I passed it all to my trustworthy friend because could not come up to the bank myself. He used the bank envelope and left it in the bank maschine giving me the bit of envelope with the number on it. After 2 weeks the cheque was not paid to my account. HMRC tells me to contact the bank. I make written complaint to the bank and wait for their reply. Can anyone tell me is it possible to clear the HMRC cheque not using the payee account but any other account or clear it and take the cash directly? If yes why they ignored my name when there is a note on the cheque to be paid ,to payee account only'.

bengal-stripe

If you pay-in a cheque using an ATM, you log into your account with your card, click on 'pay-in cheque' enter the amount, then you put the cheque into the appropriate envelope which gets sucked into the machine. Then the ATM issues you a receipt.

Unless you have given your friend your debit card and PIN, he cannot have deposited the cheque through an ATM.

Maybe he put it into the bank's letterbox.

grumbler

bengal-stripe wrote: »

Unless you have given your friend your debit card and PIN, he cannot have deposited the cheque through an ATM.

What about depositing to some other account?
I think this is the fraud that the OP is concerned about, although the friend might have done this without any intention of defrauding the OP.

I am no expert, but I think a 'payee only' check is what it says on the tin, i.e. mustn't be accepted for depositing to any other account.

~Beanie~

Have HMRC confirmed that the cheque has actually been cashed? It could simply have been lost.

noh

bengal-stripe wrote: »

If you pay-in a cheque using an ATM, you log into your account with your card, click on 'pay-in cheque' enter the amount, then you put the cheque into the appropriate envelope which gets sucked into the machine. Then the ATM issues you a receipt.

Unless you have given your friend your debit card and PIN, he cannot have deposited the cheque through an ATM.

Maybe he put it into the bank's letterbox.

The OP did not say it was deposited in an ATM.
It was most likely put in an envelope with the giro credit slip and put in the cheque deposit box inside the branch.

gb12345

noh wrote: »

The OP did not say it was deposited in an ATM.

He said his friend "left it in the bank maschine".

JuicyJesus

You may have a complaint against the bank who accepted the cheque, but the first thing to establish is whether the cheque has been cashed or not - only HMRC can tell you this. If not then ask HMRC to stop the cheque and issue a new one. If it has, things get trickier but you could complain to the bank the cheque was paid in at if HMRC will tell you where this was.

It could well be that the cheque is just lost somewhere, which is rare but does happen. In that case chances are asking HMRC to stop the cheque and reissue is, while a pain, relatively easy to do.

http://financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/disputed-transactions.htm#5

What does your friend have to say about all this?

cheated?

noh wrote: »

The OP did not say it was deposited in an ATM.
It was most likely put in an envelope with the giro credit slip and put in the cheque deposit box inside the branch.

That's what it was done. It is Barclays bank.
I spoke to HMRC. They only thing they could tell on the phone was that the cheque was the last one they issued to my address. They have not canceled it. They were not able to say on the phone if it was cleared but told me to contact the bank which would certainly give me the answer. Bank replied after 4 days and told to come up with the payment proof which is the part from the Barclays envelope with their serial number on it. My college who brought the cheque did it again now and I I am still waiting for bank reply. Still don't know what happened whether was cleared or not.
I am worried that it could be overtaken by someone else. Recently I read about selling cheques. Could this be possible with cheques paid to payee account only?
Sorry I kept you waiting for my reply. I haven't used that forum before. This is fantastic reaction from forum users. Really helpful. I am waiting for further suggestions.

cheated?

Cheques are not safe way of payment at all. If stolen they can be cashed in Money Shops with a fee paid to the Money Shop. I am checking money shops websites and they all say that to cash the cheque they need also ID and proof of address. Bank says it has not found my cheque so it looks like either my ,friend' or bank could have stolen it. They could get any letter with my name and address. Where did they take my ID from? If this a case why the money shops ignore the note 'to account payee only'? They must have license for cashing cheques and follow the rules.
Ombudsman deals with my request now.

gb12345

cheated? wrote: »

Bank says it has not found my cheque so it looks like either my ,friend' or bank could have stolen it.

The bank would not have stolen your cheque (lost it maybe, but not stolen). It has either been lost within the bank or stolen by your friend.

You should be telling HMRC that the cheque has been lost and asking them to cancel and reissue it. If they come back and say that it has been cashed then your friend has some explaining to do.

Hominu

cheated? wrote: »

If this a case why the money shops ignore the note 'to account payee only'? They must have license for cashing cheques and follow the rules.

They have an agreement with their bank to cash third party cheques, so the bank doesn't care what your cheque says. They are supposed to request proof of id before accepting the cheque though otherwise they could lose their license. They would also be asking for proof of address, just in case the cheque bounces.