Phantom Natwest Account - Please Help

Archi_Bald

There's still nothing that anyone has said that would put me off switching the account, based on what the OP has told us. Never mind.

G_M

Drugs money is deposited into the account. OP switches, and the drugs money moves to the OP's new (legitimate) account Op is now in possession of drugs money, in an account opened by the OP specifically for that purpose.........

Just an example, but do not touch this account.

Contact the Natwest fraud dept and/or go into a branch (with ID) and/or contact http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

jonesMUFCforever

Archi_Bald wrote: »

There's still nothing that anyone has said that would put me off switching the account, based on what the OP has told us. Never mind.

You are an experienced poster - I can't fathom out your reasoning about this - if it goes t--s up OP could be held as an accessory - don't forget credits could be redirected for at least 13 months - he could lose his genuine account - a CIFAS report would mean no bank would touch him - all for a hundred quid or so.

Madness pure madness.:eek:

jamesd

Phone NatWest's fraud line at any time of day or night, tell them that you didn't open the account and ask them to prevent the account from being used. They will presumably make a suspicious activity account report about the account that may lead to it quickly being linked to any other accounts that are being used to send it money that is illegally gained.

You must not use account switching because if payments have been set up to go to this account they will be rerouted to your new account and you will have received the tainted money.

You providing prompt notice to NatWest is how you avoid getting into any trouble yourself. You may still have lots of identity fraud related trouble but that's nothing to being accused of yourself opening an account to receive criminal money.

NatWest may well say that they want photo ID and proof of address presented at a branch to help them to know that it really is the person in whose name the account has been opened who is reporting the problem to them, not a malicious stranger. But the simple fact of having reported it initially is what protects you from the possibility of criminal charges if the account does receive stolen money.

Royal Mail has a contact phone number that you can use to check whether there has been an attempt to set up redirection of your mail. Using it to check is a good idea and they may be able to block attempts to redirect for a while to protect you.

TheBanker

I will just echo what others have said - don't use this account under any circumstances.

And check your credit file as you may find other problems.

Have you noticed any mail go missing recently? Are all your important documents safe and still where they are supposed to be?

EarthBoy

If the account has been opened by a fraudster, wouldn't switching it to a different account foil any such attempt?

If unexpected money arrived in my account, I would leave it there, untouched, until I was contacted to ask for it back. I would deal with it then, to find out why it had been sent in the first place.

TheBanker

EarthBoy wrote: »

If the account has been opened by a fraudster, wouldn't switching it to a different account foil any such attempt?

It depends on what the Fraudster is trying to do. If they are using the account to deposit stolen funds, then the funds will be forwarded to the new account.

It may well not be the bank who come asking for the money back, but the Police.

By reporting the "unknown" account to the bank, you are protecting yourself against future problems. By using the account (and this includes switching it) you are acknowledging that it's legitimate and therefore could have difficult questions to answer if/when it all goes bad. It would be a difficult case to argue that you knew nothing about the application/funds in the account if you went on to move the account elsewhere.

If the OP really needs another current account, they should apply for one and accept the bank's terms and conditions.

In addition the OP needs to ensure Natwest remove the credit search from their file, which would be difficult to do if you are accepting the account as legitimate.

Ballard

EarthBoy wrote: »

If the account has been opened by a fraudster, wouldn't switching it to a different account foil any such attempt?

If unexpected money arrived in my account, I would leave it there, untouched, until I was contacted to ask for it back. I would deal with it then, to find out why it had been sent in the first place.

You don't think that it might arouse suspicions of the police if you've had money (potentially a large amount) sitting in your account which you're unable to explain?

EarthBoy

Ballard wrote: »

You don't think that it might arouse suspicions of the police if you've had money (potentially a large amount) sitting in your account which you're unable to explain?

I'd just explain that I knew it wasn't mine, which is why I hadn't spent/moved the money, and I was waiting for the sender to realise their "mistake" and take the money back.

TheBanker

EarthBoy wrote: »

I'd just explain that I knew it wasn't mine, which is why I hadn't spent/moved the money, and I was waiting for the sender to realise their "mistake" and take the money back.

Each to their own but I find it hard to believe that a police officer investigating a crime would believe this, if the money had been paid into an account which had been opened by the criminal but then moved by you.