Commercial Banking Compensation for Bank Cashier Negligence

theskunk100

Hi

In last 12 months my company bank account has been the victim of a sort of Cheque Kiting Fraud whereby the following happens;

01) Fraudster banks some stolen cheques via cashier in Random bank A

The fraudsters then wait for the cheques to show up as a balance on my account - the receiving bank does not know they are stolen so at this point the funds can be withdrawn

02) Fraudster uses insider knowledge or confidence trick to withdraw £1000's in cash from the cashier over the counter

The receiving bank (my bank) then finds out the cheques are stolen or from old bank accounts and the money bounces back out of my account

The result of this is the fraudster extracts cash from my account.

This has happend 3 times in the last 12 months to the tunes of maybe £6000. Me getting my money back relies on diligence on the bank reconciliation.

The most recent time it happened was on a Thursday. I reported it to my Bank the same day and it was escalated to the Fraud team. I asked them to close the account to ANY withdrawal - via a flag on the account to alert the cashiers. They failed to do this and on the Tuesday maybe another £2000 was taken.

Obviously this is annoying, stressfull and negligent. It effects my health and my ability to operate my business.

The bank have offered be a routine £250 compensation. I want to ask anyone with an opinion on this what I could expect to be reasonable compensation. Should I accept the £250? I pay a fortune in bank charges over multiple accounts.. I can't even look at the bank without them dipping their hand in my pocket.

Any thoughts welcome

NR

zerog

The first thing you should do is to open another business bank account at a different bank.

grumbler

theskunk100 wrote: »

...
The fraudsters then wait for the cheques to show up as a balance on my account - the receiving bank does not know they are stolen so at this point the funds can be withdrawn

02) Fraudster uses insider knowledge or confidence trick to withdraw £1000's in cash from the cashier over the counter...

Firstly, how can the fraudster see what is going on with your account?
Secondly, how can the fraudster withdraw money from your account?

I don't understand why the fraudster even needs to deposit fake cheques for this.

If this really happens on a regular basis and isn't your fault, then it's really worth demanding a higher compensation and then voting with your feet.

meer53

theskunk100 wrote: »

Hi

In last 12 months my company bank account has been the victim of a sort of Cheque Kiting Fraud whereby the following happens;

01) Fraudster banks some stolen cheques via cashier in Random bank A

The fraudsters then wait for the cheques to show up as a balance on my account - the receiving bank does not know they are stolen so at this point the funds can be withdrawn

02) Fraudster uses insider knowledge or confidence trick to withdraw £1000's in cash from the cashier over the counter

The receiving bank (my bank) then finds out the cheques are stolen or from old bank accounts and the money bounces back out of my account

The result of this is the fraudster extracts cash from my account.

This has happend 3 times in the last 12 months to the tunes of maybe £6000. Me getting my money back relies on diligence on the bank reconciliation.

The most recent time it happened was on a Thursday. I reported it to my Bank the same day and it was escalated to the Fraud team. I asked them to close the account to ANY withdrawal - via a flag on the account to alert the cashiers. They failed to do this and on the Tuesday maybe another £2000 was taken.

Obviously this is annoying, stressfull and negligent. It effects my health and my ability to operate my business.

The bank have offered be a routine £250 compensation. I want to ask anyone with an opinion on this what I could expect to be reasonable compensation. Should I accept the £250? I pay a fortune in bank charges over multiple accounts.. I can't even look at the bank without them dipping their hand in my pocket.

Any thoughts welcome

NR

Don't believe this at all. With the anti money laundering regulations currently in place, this wouldn't happen as the OP says it did. It would be helpful if you told us the full story. Saying "maybe" £2000 was taken is a very strange comment to make. Insider knowledge or confidence trick ? What is meant by that comment ?

agrinnall

You say that the receiving bank does not know that the cheques are stolen at the time of deposit. This is true, but irrelevant. The fact is that the cheques have to go through the clearing process before funds are available for withdrawal, and because they will be marked as stolen during clearing those funds will never be cleared in your account, so should not be withdrawn. If what you say is happening really is then there is a significant failure in your bank's procedures, but I have my doubts about your story.

Archi_Bald

theskunk100 wrote: »

Any thoughts welcome

I don't believe it.

chambta

Highly implausible as presented.

Armorica

If it's true, talk to the fraud team again

colsten

theskunk100 wrote: »

This has happend 3 times in the last 12 months to the tunes of maybe £6000.

...........................

on the Tuesday maybe another £2000 was taken.

Do you know how much exactly was withdrawn? Could it maybe have been yourself who withdrew the money? Or maybe someone who lives/works with you? The bank will have CCTV footage of the withdrawals if indeed they did take place.

Crystallady

I agree this doesn't make sense. Apart from what the other posters have pointed out how does the fraudster manage to get the money out without either a card, a cheque drawn on your account and/or ID and where do they draw the funds using "insider knowledge or a confidence trick" - at your bank or some other bank?

theskunk100

The reason they pay the cheques in is because they know that the bankbalance will show the funds EVEN if they have not cleared. The bank haveadmitted that their tellers did not follow the correct proceedure RE ID. However I found it quite shocking that I can be a victim of this 3 times. When I speak to the bank they say, if I need more advice about how to protect myselffrom fraud I can visit the action fraud website. When I try and press them to tell me exactly how and why it has happened they tell me they cannot since it would infringe the police investigation. I have told them many times that this accountis for the receipt of funds and internal transfer only. It is shocking that inthis day and age the bank can be so negligent. Please excuse bad text formatting in this post.. had trouble with the bank statement part.

MY relationship manager had this to say

<snip>
Thislooks like fraud, I am sorry to say.
Everythingthat was paid in has been unpaid on 13th and 14th March. I'm guessing they usedthe chq's that was paid in to gain the tellers trust.
Canyou please call the fraud team on 08453003983 and they will help.
</snip>

HERE YOU CAN SEE THE CHEQUES BEING PAID IN FOLLOWED BY 2 WITHDRAWALS -THEN ON A LATER DATE YOU SEE ALL THE CHEQUES BOUNCE.
11 Mar 2014
C/R
524129

1,510.00


-


£13,962.94

11 Mar 2014
C/R
558128

1,917.83


-


£15,880.77

11 Mar 2014
C/R
558128

6,800.00


-


£22,680.77

11 Mar 2014
C/R
600747

2,310.00


-


£24,990.77

HERE WE SEE THE WITHDRAWAL - LEAVING ME £1700 DOWN

11 Mar 2014
-
524129 11MAR 1514

-


1,000.00


£24,442.57

11 Mar 2014
-
558128 11MAR 1322

-


700.00


£23,742.57

HERE WE SEE THE CHEQUES BOUNCE

13 Mar 2014
TFR
UNPAIDCHEQUE011568, 03263313

-


5,200.00


£19,107.75

13 Mar 2014
TFR
UNPAIDCHEQUE000239, 41941960

-


1,510.00


£17,597.75

13 Mar 2014
TFR
UNPAIDCHEQUE011562, 03263313

-


2,310.00


£15,287.75

14 Mar 2014
-
UNPD CHQ 100002274, L C M FUTURES LTD

-


610.00


£14,998.15

14 Mar 2014
-
UNPD CHQ 100005513, FANATIC CANTEEN

-


1,307.83


£13,690.32

14 Mar 2014
-
UNPD CHQ 100005501, FANATIC CANTEEN

-


1,600.00


£12,090.32