Advice on Misuse of Post Office Account

achiles87

Hi


An elderly relative gets their weekly pension paid into the Post Office Card account but recently has been housebound and unable to go to the Post Office. When he was out and about he was accompanied to the local post office by a female friend and as a result of this she became known to the Post office staff.


As he has been house bound we have discovered that he has been giving his card and Pin to this friend to get money from the Post office counter and when the 6 monthly statement came in it transpires that £4000 has been taken out.


We are still not sure how much of this money our uncle knew about and has been a "gift" to the friend but it has averaged a £1000 a month since he has been housebound.


Its a delicate situation but my question is on the Post office staff and do they have any duty if someone who is obviously not the cardholder is taking all this money out regardless of the fact that they "know" her.


Any advise is appreciated, I understand the fact that he gave the card and pin to someone put this in a grey area as she was going to the post office under his instruction.


Thanks

neilmcl

Has anyone actually spoken to this "elderly relative" about this. Might be worth confirming the facts before accusing anyone of misusing someone's account. If it transpires that the money is being stolen then the Police are your first port of call.

Billy_Bullocks

Why are you asking about the post office staff?

You're not going to get a refund from the post office. Report the matter to the police, your relative if party to the fraud at the post office. They will however investigate the theft of the cash.

achiles87

My question is more on the safeguards that the Post office have. I am asking about post office staff procedures, my information is only the card holder can get money, which obviously isn't the case here.


I am not looking for a refund just advice


Its more the point about someone who is not the card holder has been in and taken money.


He gets a tad confused and need to tread carefully as this is an old friend. From what we understand there have been a few stories about the friend having money stolen, house broken into and then having to move out their house for a while which has resulted in our relative giving them some money to help out, so the other party could I expect say that it was a gift or with their blessing.


My question is more on the safeguards that the Post office have.

agrinnall

Why do you think that the money has been withdrawn over the counter? If the friend has the card and PIN then they can, and probably would, withdraw it from any ATM. Even if it was done over the counter I doubt if the Post Office have done anything wrong here: the fault was in handing over the PIN in the first place.

achiles87

Hi


Its been used over the counter as the local post office doesn't have an ATM that accepts the Post office card, and also the statement gives the branch where the withdrawals have been made.


I trend to agree with you, as the card has been handed over then its no-ones fault apart from his, I was just interested to see if it could have been caught or stopped sooner by it being obvious that the card holder wasn't taking the money, especially as it was over the counter.

Pollycat

agrinnall wrote: »

Why do you think that the money has been withdrawn over the counter? If the friend has the card and PIN then they can, and probably would, withdraw it from any ATM. Even if it was done over the counter I doubt if the Post Office have done anything wrong here: the fault was in handing over the PIN in the first place.

I agree with this.

It's no different to giving someone your bank debit card and the pin number.
You are told not to do it.

hollydays

achiles87 wrote: »

My question is more on the safeguards that the Post office have. I am asking about post office staff procedures, my information is only the card holder can get money, which obviously isn't the case here.


I am not looking for a refund just advice


Its more the point about someone who is not the card holder has been in and taken money.


He gets a tad confused and need to tread carefully as this is an old friend. From what we understand there have been a few stories about the friend having money stolen, house broken into and then having to move out their house for a while which has resulted in our relative giving them some money to help out, so the other party could I expect say that it was a gift or with their blessing.


My question is more on the safeguards that the Post office have.

As someone already asked, have you spoken to him?

Lomast

As far as i know when withdrawing over the counter at the PO these days you put your card and pin in to the Chip and pin Machine on the counter, i have not seen anyone actually hand the card to the Post office staff for several years

sheramber

Our PO has pin machines on the counter and you put your card in, enter the pin and the assistant gives you the money.

I don't think they get details of the account holder, any more than the cashier in the supermarket gets that information.

bris

Giving the card and pin to the friend is giving them permission to get the funds out. The PO staff are not to blame, you need to speak to the relative.


If they are overstepping the mark the police will be the ones to speak to.


If you think you can blame the PO you are in for a disappointment.