Blamed for bank fraud - HELP !

TrustyOven

Hi Archi Bald,

I'm in a pedantic mood; hope you don't mind.

Archi_Bald wrote: »

IPs can be spoofed very easily, and even if they don't get spoofed, they are often quite meaningless.

Yes IP addresses can be spoofed very easily. Two-way communication (eg. TCP, which is what HTTP uses, which is what the webserver uses) depends on the addresses not being spoofed, because both the receiver and sender need to talk to each other.

So, IP addresses are very meaningful.

There are methods to spoof IP addresses and redirect traffic, but that requires complex and directed attacks, and in my understanding, cuts off the original/spoofed machine off from accessing the original peer (ie. bank website). So the OP would probably not see the bank website while the attack is in progress.

Archi_Bald wrote: »

For example, I am currently apparently using a Manchester IP address from BT but I am somewhere in the South East.

IP addresses are fundamentally non-geographic. However there may be some addresses added in databases with known locations. Using Traceroute and "Naming conventions of ISPs and back-bones" may help to narrow down the connection, such as in your example.

I don't know specifically how Google maps etc locate your position with the IP address.

Anyway, just mentioning this in case anyone found it fascinating / interesting.

Catcherupper14

I had a problem with a deceased relative's account as the money in it went missing between one statement and the next.


When I went into the bank the person I spoke to said that one of the family must have withdrawn it. I knew this could not have happened so I told them I was going straight to the police.


The bank traced the missing funds within ten minutes - they had moved them to a dormancy account and didn't bother to check.


If the bank says a fraud has been committed, insist they call in the police. Fraud is a criminal offence and they are accusing you of a criminal offence.


If they won't and you are adamant that this is not an error on your part then contact the police yourself. I would also go to the local press and MP.


Banks do not like any suggestion that their systems are unsafe.

planteria

Catcherupper14 wrote: »

If the bank says a fraud has been committed, insist they call in the police. Fraud is a criminal offence and they are accusing you of a criminal offence.
If they won't and you are adamant that this is not an error on your part then contact the police yourself. I would also go to the local press and MP.

this sounds right to me. in these circumstances: very direct.

Cyberman60

I wonder if the bank did something stupid here such as issuing the same account number to two different people.

Do banks still issue temporary cheque books with stamped numbers rather than only computer readable ones ?

gunsandbanjos

I would be very concerned about the CIFAS marker particularly given your intended career.

If the bank believe you were attempting to launder money they will place a category 06 marker which is for first party fraud.

No other bank will touch you with a barge pole with a cat 06 on your record.

Sofail

Catcherupper14 wrote: »

If the bank says a fraud has been committed, insist they call in the police. Fraud is a criminal offence and they are accusing you of a criminal offence.

If they won't and you are adamant that this is not an error on your part then contact the police yourself. I would also go to the local press and MP.


Banks do not like any suggestion that their systems are unsafe.

I did in fact ask at the time of being told my accounts would be closed what the reference number was for the police investigation and to my astonishment I was told they were not going to notify them of this - I then asked why if I am committing fraud would they not notify this to the police; to which I was given a standard fob off answer which had a lot of words but very little meaning (these do exist!).

I think the fact they are not shows that they don't actually know whats happened to the account and have opted for the easiest answer which would be to blame me and move along.

I will contact the police about this matter and luckily my local MSP is Nicola Sturgeon so I will arrange to meet with her to discus the issue also.

Thank you for your input catcherupper14

Armorica

Yeah; the banks don't have to notify individual cases to the police. They can report stats to the home office.

The suggestion about re-issued account number is a good one (but I'm not sure BoS are big enough for them to have needed to do it)

agrinnall

Armorica wrote: »

The suggestion about re-issued account number is a good one (but I'm not sure BoS are big enough for them to have needed to do it)

If it had been payments to a single account then this might have been an explanation, but the chances of payments going to two reissued account numbers by mistake, both owned by the OP, are so small that I'd have taken the money out and bought lottery tickets with it, as you'd be far more likely to win that.

Sofail

Looking at post 24 and the bank tech link it does seem that it is possible that someone has got a hold of many different online accounts and has tried to move money from account to account in order to make it harder to trace the end destination of the stolen monies.

To me this type of scenario would seem near impossible to prove - Seems like the fraudsters are smarter than the banks we trust.

Silverstarlight

Banks routinely record calls from customers so if you phoned their call centre to query the payment into your account there should be a record of it at their end.

Personally, I would also complain to the police and tell the bank you are doing so. Agree with all the other comments about making written complaints.