Fraudulent activity on deceased person's sole bank account

jem16

It's quite a long story so will not go into total details.

Basically 2 weeks after my brother-in-law died there has been fraudulent activity on his bank account using his card. ATMs were also used so presumably PIN has been got somehow too. Around £2k has been spent.

Some of the transactions were before and after the bank were notified of his death but obviously all transactions happened after death.

HSBC has now been informed of this fraudulent activity by the Council who registered his death and notified the bank in the first instance.

As he died intestate, my sons will be the beneficiaries of his estate. Police are telling us that it's the bank who are the victims, not us and the bank should investigate first.

Trying to get information out of HSBC is apparently like getting blood out of a stone. Where do we stand on this?

xylophone

The deceased was a widower without children?

Why did the council register the death and contact his bank rather than his next of kin/PR doing the necessary?

Who is the deceased's PR? Has that person been in contact with the bank?

If the bank had been advised of the death, why were ATM etc transactions permitted after the death? The PR needs to clarify.

If the bank was at fault then presumably it will need to reimburse the estate - to that extent it is the bank's loss.

Has the account now been frozen?

jem16

xylophone wrote: »

The deceased was a widower without children?

He had never married.

Why did the council register the death and contact his bank rather than his next of kin/PR doing the necessary?

My brother-in-law had mental health issues. He was being supported by a charity organisation and due to a bad mistake on their part his records were not updated after I contacted them in March about his mother's death. Apparently Council was brought in as it appeared that he had no immediate family. I wasn't contacted till 3 weeks after his death when the Council started to investigate.

Who is the deceased's PR? Has that person been in contact with the bank?

There is no PR. If it's anyone it's now me or my sons. We have not been in touch with the bank as up till today I had no bank details, nor do I have a death certificate. The Council has all of that so they have been in touch with the bank. We live over 250 miles away and not had much contact due to his problems.

If the bank had been advised of the death, why were ATM etc transactions permitted after the death? The PR needs to clarify.

That is a very good question and one which I want answered. Bank were written to on the 4th October and transactions took place on the 9th and 11th by which time I would have expected the bank to be aware. Most transactions were made before the bank would have been informed.

If the bank was at fault then presumably it will need to reimburse the estate - to that extent it is the bank's loss.

They may be considered to be at fault for the transactions after they were informed but I am not sure about the bulk of the transactions after his death but before they were informed.

Has the account now been frozen?

I would hope so and it's now around £700 overdrawn. Many of the transactions, including ATM withdrawals, were also made when the account was overdrawn.