Aftermath of a con

Boring_old

Hi a member of my family has been stung badly by an internet scam from the wonderful place of Nigeria, aided and abetted by what appears to be 3 individuals using uk mobiles and an apparent solicitor from Leeds. Upshot is a cheque for £4500 was issued, the bank cleared and allowed to draw all of it over a period of a few days, then 11 days later pull the cheque. Consequence £9000 of instant whip. Said bank then advise the individual on how to pay this money back in double quick time not considering income and expenditure and by having multiple accounts with so many transactions that even the chairman of the Bank of England would cry at trying to work out what is happening. Consequence of this action is Bank are creaming in charges at a rate even superman could not out fly. Family member talks to me from behind threatened repossession about what has gone on. First point of call invest large sums of personal cash to bale out nearly homeless relative, second point of call open internet banking so as to try to trace banks movements, third point of call challenge bank on behaviour and charges. After being officially appointed as 3rd party representative (took 4 weeks) start to get control and minimise charges negotiate payment strategies etc then bank switch of internet access claiming 3rd party not allowed to help. After the weekend attempt by phone to pay bills set up via internet get told not enough money charges have been applied. End of conversation. My thoughts Banks are Only responsible for their charges all other things are beyond their control and therefore dont attempt to complain because complaints procedures are also out of their control. Any body else come up against this????????

davetrousers

Try using paragraphs, I lost interest about a third of the way through. But it sounded like a 'Nigerian' Con.

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Boring_old

Sorry five weeks of 2 to 3 hours a day trying to sort things out tend to get to ones better punctuation and composition.

Tirian

Excuse me if I am being slow here, but if your relative has been conned out of several thousand pounds, then why have you not got the police involved?

Fonz_2

Unfortunately the nigerian cheque cons are the oldest in the book but people still fall for them.

From what I understand of previous cases, the money is gone and the bank will feel no obligation to reimburse due to the way the money was given away rather than stolen etc.

I've lost count of how many badly worded e-mails drop into my inbox each day promising me wealth for just a small investment.

cattie

Nigerian scams are notorious. Had your relative never heard to never fall for anything connected with Nigeria, & never ever respond to emails that promise you a way to make some money by helping somebody out?

As mentioned by davestrousers, your post is difficult to read, with no paragraphing, so couldn't actually read the whole thing. And echo him saying if something sounds too good to be true. It generally always is, but there are still people being taken in alas.

ManAtHome

Sols not this lot by any chance? http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/columnists/article.html?in_page_id=19&in_article_id=421173&in_author_id=5

Edit/Find Leeds

Could be worth chasing with the FSA etc even if not. (unless your lot weren't really in the game).

iwannabe

Are the scammers involved Nigerian by nationality, or have you used the word to classify what sort of scam it was?

If the former is correct, being Nigerian myself, let me just say that most Nigerians are hardworking people. However, majority of Nigerians are enraged by these sort of actions and we are now actively looking for a way to remove the shame which these criminals have mucked our country up with.

There is an Independent body set up in Nigeria, to which you can report crimes of this nature. They are called the EFCC and they actively investigate these cases and have restored a lot of funds to their rightful owners. Why this fact is not as wide-spread as the crimes themselves, I don't know. Here is the EFCC website : www.efccnigeria.org. Contact details are on the site.

Good luck, and I'm sorry about your loss.

Boring_old

Hi thanks to all.
The scam started with a real person and at some point early in the game that person was replaced by the scammers. It indeed employed the tear jerking request for help, pictures of car wrecks, images that could represent the original person but due to clarity are sketchy.
Mobile phone texts from UK mobile numbers being used in Nigeria. Texts from UK based mobiles in use in the UK, instructions from Solicitors in USA, then apparently backed up by a solicitor from Leeds. As all communication is via email and mobile phones the police appear to be uninterested. The most interesting part is a cheque from a NI bank account sent via courier allegedly from an American solicitor in the Bahamas.

jpwhittle

you really need to report this to the police.

i was scammed by someone on ebay a few months ago wich has left us now struggling and that was only to the tune of £250. still not nice though. this person was from scotland selling a container load of stuff and i won. nothing came and he said he needed more money to post it as hed done his sums wrong. i said no and rung the police.
the police wanted him to refund the cheque but he still hasnt and i really dont think im going to see my money again. more fool me.

One piece of positive advise i got was that if you get a crime number you may be able to claim of house insurance for some reason. Im stilling waiting for my number but definatly ring the police that way the banks may be forced into acknowledging whats happened and sort it. otherwise they have to suspect you are trying to con them as well

trying-very-trying

ManAtHome wrote: »

Could be worth chasing with the FSA etc even if not. (unless your lot weren't really in the game).

Sorry to hijack this thread, but who or what is the FSA?? I'm thinking they may be able to help me, with my timeshare rip off.