HMRC cheque bank fraud?

JuicyJesus

cheated? wrote: »

Ombudsman deals with my request now.

You need to raise a formal complaint with the bank and let them deal with it before you can get the Ombudsman involved.

ERICS_MUM

If HMRC say the cheque has been cleared, they should ask their bank to check where the money went - the info will be available through their cheque clearing centre. If it has been credited to the wrong account, it's a matter between HMRC's bankers and the other bank to sort it out.

All this can be sorted very easily, it's just whether anyone at HMRC or the banks can be bothered (sorry, harsh but in general I think a fair comment).

cheated?

Hominu wrote: »

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.

This is a lesson for me. I would never give the cheque to anyone if I knew that any money shop or any other financial institution may ignore the cheque bank issuer note staying on the cheque 'to account payee only'.
This is the answer to what happaned to my cheque. It is not possible that my friend got my ID because I was abroad when he cleared the cheque. If the money shop authorised and cashed the cheque without my ID to any other man account or just paying him a cash this is a crime difficult to prove to anyone apart from the money shop. I don't blame bank any more saying they have not found the cheque. Ombudsman may have problems with finding where the payment has gone if the money shop ignored the ID proof procedure and if it was paid in cash immediately. All to be explained yet. I need good Sherlock Holems to resolve it:).

gb12345

cheated? wrote: »

I was abroad when he cleared the cheque.

So have HMRC now confirmed that the cheque has been cashed?

If so then your next step is the police to report your "friend" for theft.

cheated?

The HMRC could not confirm on the phone weather the cheque has been cleared so there is little hope. They told me to ask bank. Bank said they were not able to find the cheque yet. I obviously made legal complaints, the third one published on Barclays' facebook website(it is still there) was effective. They gave me a call and told me it has not been found yet. They also sent me a letter that they still look at this issue. In the meantime I reported it to Action Fraud (Police). They told me to report it to Ombudsman Services. I did and I am waiting. What I read on Ombudsman Services website is that they deal with lost and stolen cheques paid to wrong accounts. I am not sure what they do if they cheque was paid in cash in any money shop. Shall I report it to Police again or maybe go straight to the court against my pseudo-friend when Ombudsman will not help me? I don't know yet. Catch 22? :)I always used online banking until came to UK. It looks like cheques are just money notes sometimes of value of couple of thousands.

grumbler

I think HMRC are fobbing you off. They have to stop the cheque if it wasn't cleared yet and to send you a new one. This is a pretty standard procedure for the lost cheques.
I think you have to complain to HMRC, not to police or ombudsman. After all the only 'proof' you have is some "bit of envelope". What is it and what number is written on it? Written by whom?

gb12345

grumbler wrote: »

I think HMRC are fobbing you off. They have to stop the cheque if it wasn't cleared yet and to send you a new one. This is a pretty standard procedure for the lost cheques.
I think you have to complain to HMRC, not to police or ombudsman. After all the only 'proof' you have is some "bit of envelope". What is it and what number is written on it? Written by whom?

+1

You re wasting your time with the police, bank and ombudsman until you know what happened to the cheque. You currently have no idea whether it has simply been lost within Barclays (in which case HMRC cancel and reissue it) or whether your conspiracy theory about it being cashed by your "friend" is correct (in which case you involve the police).

ERICS_MUM

even if the cheque has been "cashed" and paid out to your friend or anyone else by a money shop, they would still have to pay the cheque into their bank account to get their money. SO you need to find out if the cheque has been paid into a bank and cleared, the account it was paid into can be traced as part of the clearing process.

As I said earlier, this is easy to resolve. If the cheque has been cleared, it can be traced all the way through the process to discover which account it was paid into. If it hasn't been cleared, it should be "stopped" and a new one issued.

Your problem is finding someone within HMRC who can be bothered to kick this research off for you.

cheated?

grumbler wrote: »

I think HMRC are fobbing you off. They have to stop the cheque if it wasn't cleared yet and to send you a new one. This is a pretty standard procedure for the lost cheques.
I think you have to complain to HMRC, not to police or ombudsman. After all the only 'proof' you have is some "bit of envelope". What is it and what number is written on it? Written by whom?

HMRC call centre operators certainly have not access to the HMRC account to say if HMRC account was cleared or not to anyone calling them. I must do formal written complaint and send it by post because HMRC has no email address for complaining customers. This may take another couple of weeks until they answer. I tried to act as quick as possible. Ombudsman is supposed to follow the whole way the cheque and money went trough since it left HMRC account. They are the only institution who is able to do it. It doesn't matter me or Ombudsman lets it to HMRC. Anyway it would be good to have a formal letter from HMRC saying what happened to cheque and money.
The number on the envelope is the printed serial number of the Barclays standard printed envelopes which can be put in the box in their branch (146854836). Barclays call operator said after browsing thousands of envelopes in a couple of days that they have not found it yet. How can I trust friend who said that brought the cheque to the bank and and then sent a scanned copy of the bit of envelope with a number on it? Ombudsman also deals with lost cheques in the bank.
Asking HMRC seems to be a step back. Anyway I am going to do it to be absolutely certain and have a formal evidence.

gb12345

cheated? wrote: »

The number on the envelope is the printed serial number of the Barclays standard printed envelopes which can be put in the box in their branch (146854836). Barclays call operator said after browsing thousands of envelopes in a couple of days that they have not found it yet. How can I trust friend who said that brought the cheque to the bank and and then sent a scanned copy of the bit of envelope with a number on it?

If that is the only proof that your friend is offering that they paid the cheque in then it is worthless. Anyone could go into a branch and pick up an unused envelope and take it away with them.