Proof of ID and address (Tesco Bank)

TCA

I have some sympathy where a bank won't accept proof of address because a utility bill is addressed to A.Jones and not Alan Jones. Are there such devious fraudsters about who would set up a savings account using a similarly initialled relative's electricity bill?

bowlhead99

TCA wrote: »

I have some sympathy where a bank won't accept proof of address because a utility bill is addressed to A.Jones and not Alan Jones. Are there such devious fraudsters about who would set up a savings account using a similarly initialled relative's electricity bill?

Money laundering is about hiding a trail, distraction and obfuscation. If I were John Potential Badguy Smith, a documented diamond smuggler based out of Florida and Lagos ... it might serve my purposes to nick a copy of the utility bill of a JPB Smith from Surrey. Mr James Perfectly Brilliant Smith does not know I've done this.

The bank accepts me, because hey, there are lots of John Potential Badguy Smith's in the world and the only one that actually appears on a sanctions list is someone in Nigeria, "so this probably isn't him". But I had duped them, led them astray with one of the 10,000 JPB Smiths' documents or maybe one of 200,000 J Smiths' documents apparently tying me to an address 4000 miles from where I operate, in a country that's seen as much lower risk of money laundering than Nigeria and I just get waved through and the account opened.

In 5 years time when enough Suspicious Activity Reports have been filed, there's an investigation. At 1 Main Street, Surrey it's a dead end, because it's James that lives there, nobody in the family is John. Then they look up all 50 John Potential Badguy Smith's in London but they're not the guy either.

The real JPB Smith was sitting in Lagos and occasionally Miami shuttling money all round the world and never went anywhere near South East UK. He just paid some kid to watch a mailbox of someone with his initials that he found in a phonebook, and ended with online banking credentials which he would not have been granted with a water bill from his Nigerian apartment.

talexuser wrote: »

Bowlhead, playing devil's advocate, makes it sound like

Etc

... irrespective of the arguments of any case.

I generally agree, if a bank wants to put itself out there operating a certain model, they have to take the bad with the good and might not end up as successful as it had hoped.

Similarly of course, an individual may have a strategy to push every opportunity to grab free cash and then move on, like a swarm of locusts pillage a field of tasty crops -trying to maximise value. Sometimes it will work out great, other times less so. When all he wants is the free stuff to which he feels he's entitled, and doesn't care for a long term mutually beneficial relationship - he is going to get relatively more frustrated when he comes across any roadblock that makes the relationship take longer to establish.

Personally I don't bother with lots of little cash grabs here and there, because I'm inherently more lazy than some, and the sums involved are not always big enough to improve my life substantially, and I don't want to end up having to invest even more time and effort if one of them ends up being even more hassle than it appeared on paper rather than being dispatched quickly and cleanly.

But perhaps by not bothering to participate as much as i could, it lets me sit back dispassionately and take a devil's advocate position rather than falling in line with the standard consumer crusade. Playing devil's advocate is always more interesting than toeing the standard line.

TCA

bowlhead99 wrote: »

Money laundering is about hiding a trail, distraction and obfuscation. If I were John Potential Badguy Smith, a documented diamond smuggler based out of Florida and Lagos ... it might serve my purposes to nick a copy of the utility bill of a JPB Smith from Surrey. Mr James Perfectly Brilliant Smith does not know I've done this.

As Mr John Potential Badguy Smith, you'd also need to nick a second document to prove your false address (2 items from list B please sir), so with any luck Mr James Perfectly Brilliant Smith has another document with only his initials on.

That done, you'd also need to provide some photo i.d., 1 item from list A please sir, a passport being the usual choice. Don't know how you get round that one but I'm sure there are ways.

So being devil's advocate to your devil's advocate, I contest that if I supply my passport in the name of Alan Jones, a bank statement in the name of Alan Jones but get knocked back because my electricity bills state my name as A.Jones, then that's a nonsense.

masonic

bowlhead99 wrote: »

The real JPB Smith was sitting in Lagos and occasionally Miami shuttling money all round the world and never went anywhere near South East UK. He just paid some kid to watch a mailbox of someone with his initials that he found in a phonebook, and ended with online banking credentials which he would not have been granted with a water bill from his Nigerian apartment.

The trouble is, full names aren't all unique and people can change their names anyway (so a potential money-launderer could choose something nice and common). Accepting documents with initials and last name will lead to more uncertainty for sure, but even with a full name on the document there can be no certainty that the document belongs to the individual applying for the account unless the name is very unusual.

In the end it comes down to striking the right balance. The majority of organisations do not send people documents addressed with their full names. Demanding such documents from customers will therefore be futile in many cases and the end result is that these people will be denied the bank account they applied for because a tiny minority of them might be opening the accounts to launder money. Perhaps it is the responsibility of those demanding stricter and stricter controls to show some innovation and come up with a system that doesn't rely on utility bills? (for those who fail electronic verification)

adindas

It seems to me it depends on the person who is dealing with your application. I applied Tesco current AC over the phone, they could not make decision immediately so need to wait. One day later I got a phone call informing me that my application was approved.

I previously have Instants access and Online saver with them, I do not need to send any further ID proof apart from to return the signature form.

junkmail42

bowlhead99 wrote: »

Meanwhile people who discover that they got away with abusing the T&Cs to have 3+ current accounts and collected the promo interest on all 3 accounts, may be reluctant to post it here because if it becomes too well known the bank might act to stop that specific loophole or just can the deal altogether.

How is it "abusing the T&Cs"? If the banks allow you to have >1 Current Account, it will be in the T&Cs that they will expect you to comply with rigorously. Don't see how it's a "loophole".

Despite all the Devils advocate nonsense being spouted on this board, I too think this is out of order by Tesco. I've already got 2 accounts with them, but they still want all this extra documentation. Pathetic.

colsten

junkmail42 wrote: »

I've already got 2 accounts with them, but they still want all this extra documentation. Pathetic.

You know what to do with 'pathetic' banks - just go somewhere else. They won't miss you, and you will be so much happier. Win - win.