BACS Scam - Advice/Experiences wanted :)

newcountrylife

Hope this is the right place for this, so sorry in advance if it isn't! I'm posting on behalf of my partner, he has been a victim of a gumtree scam (you do not need to lecture me on this matter, I would never have let him do what he did had he have mentioned it to me at the time as he was REALLY silly and I'm happy to say it's not a mistake I would have made. He has learned an extremely harsh lesson). Someone many miles from home listed a computer part on gumtree and my partner unwittingly transferred them a significant sum via BACS to 'purchase' it, he thought BACS payments were protected and I have since spent hours teaching him about different banking payments when I found out what he'd done. My partner is considered a 'vulnerable adult' at present so again I ask you please spare any lecturing comments.

The lad who conned him gave my partner his address, name and bank details so he could make the payment. We've traced the sort-code of the account and it ties in with the address, I am not naive and realise these could be fake details but it would seem they are a real person and were young and foolish enough to give their real details after I performed a facebook and 192 search. The person of course blocked my partner on whatsapp, text and deleted the listing once the money was in his account. My partner phoned his bank that day and they gave a vague answer and then sent a letter to him confirming the money was definitely in the other persons account as their bank had confirmed it in writing (which rubbed salt in the wound). I phoned them and reported the transaction a second time and told them it was fraud, they told me I had to wait 15 days to see if the goods arrive (which I questioned multiple times as it was clearly a scam, not a company and a BACS payment). I phoned action fraud and got a crime number and they are now investigating but nothing will come of it I should imagine. I phoned back the bank today to give them the crime number and report the transaction for the third time, they said I didn't need to wait the 15 days and they're 'sorry' as it may now impact our ability to recoup the funds as it's been so long. They said my partner's bank will contact their bank and ask them to investigate, whatever the hell that means.

Has anyone ever had success recouping funds like this? I didn't think it was possible for our bank to get the money back. My partner has replaced the money he lost by selling his beloved PC but if we can have his money back that a scam artist took from him we would obviously like to get it back. If we cannot recoup it via my partner's bank we will attempt the money claim route but given we can't guarantee we have legitimate details I'm hesitant to go down that road as then we pay the submission fee with no guarantee anything will come from it. Do you also think there are grounds for complaint given the multiple events of misinformation from my partner's bank and the length of time they've made us wait? They confirmed they'd made several errors when I spoke to the fraud team today.

jonesMUFCforever

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but 100% the money will have gone.
How much are we talking about here moneywise?

Even if you go down the court route there is no guarantee that you will receive any money - if they are crooks they won't intimidated by court papers (if the address is genuine) and you have to pay the court fee upfront.

IMO you don't have a case against the bank - what errors did they make when you spoke to them?
Sorry to be brutal he has been had - I don't see that the bank will reimburse him.

One last thing - I don't think this is a BACS scam at all - I think your partner made the transfer through his bank account so is likely to be a faster payment - this would have been in the receiving account almost immediately.

newcountrylife

Gumtree scam would have been a better title, I was in a rush to post. I am aware of the court stuff, I get the impression this is not a seasoned scammer, it very much comes across like my partner has just done something stupid and they’ve chanced it, they appear to only be 20 years old and as I say we’ve searched them and they live where they told my partner they live thanks to an electoral registry type search.

The bank told us twice we had to wait 15 days to report the transaction as a scam but today they said we didn’t have to wait and that by dealing with it immediately we likely would have received the funds back. It was not a faster payment, it was BACS and I’ve confirmed that with the bank. The person blocked my partner when the money was credited to them.

BoGoF

How can an individual sent a payment via BACS?

Is this a business account?

newcountrylife

(Their letter says it was a BACS payment, but this definitely appears to be a faster payment as you say..... HOW my partner managed to set that up is beyond me and he no longer manages his own finances after voluntarily passing them over to me after this fiasco!)

newcountrylife

Sorry for the shorter replies I was using my mobile and it’s playing up if my replies go to a certain length! Okay, their letter says BACS payment but I think that is an error as this was a faster payment! They even said BACS on the phone but this is the personal account not the business account. In terms of monetary value it was less than £500 but more than he should have been spending. I’m at peace with the money being gone but he wants to try and pursue the matter, as the general logistics co-ordinator I thought I’d see if anyone had success with something like this.

agrinnall

No grounds for complaint that I can see. But if you are convinced that this is a real person and that the address given is correct then court action might be worth considering. It'll cost £35 to start it through Moneyclaim Online, then £77 to get a warrant of control if needed for bailiffs to try to recover goods or money to pay the debt.



https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money


See HM Courts & Tribunals Service documents EX321 (and others referenced in that document) and EX50 for more information.

Voyager2002

Since the bank have admitted that their 15-day delay nonsense did not help and was unnecessary, I think you should make a formal complaint (using their complaints process). They might make some kind of payment, although probably not the full amount.


The police are very slow to investigate, but again they might take action.

newcountrylife

Thanks for all the advice, you’ve all pretty much confirmed what I thought but I’ve never been in this scenario so just wanted to check I was getting it all straight in my head. If only I could turn back time and stop him from doing it!

colsten

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Since the bank have admitted that their 15-day delay nonsense did not help and was unnecessary, I think you should make a formal complaint (using their complaints process). They might make some kind of payment, although probably not the full amount.

I agree with that but would add that it doesn't help resolving the matter that there is a third party, acting for a 'vulnerable adult' [sic]. Unless the OP has got a POA or similar arrangement, the bank cannot act on instructions from the OP.

ian1246

Report it to the Police - action fraud only deal with fraud where there is not an identified suspect. When there is an identified suspect it falls on the Police to take positive action. You have bank details which any force can conduct an economic check on via the banks, which would provide full details of the account holder and therefore the suspect.