Online Fraud, Halifax no help

BBJB1972ish

Hi All

My 72 year old friend has had her Halifax account fraudulently used. large amounts of money used for Hotels in Manchester, Parking Services, Online shopping even an online shopping delivery (Tesco). She contacted Halifax who froze her account, then completely closed it, reissuing new cards, account etc and returning her money. Not long after it started again, Halifax were blaming her or a family member although she lives in North East and has no family in Manchester or London. after contacting Halifax the person she spoke too was quite snotty, saying someone has been given her bank details by her and its her own fault so no help was offered by Halifax. She contacted Police who came out and spoke to her, confirmed it was fraud and gave her a crime number, even speaking to someone at Halifax who were still unhelpful.
A few days later she received a phone call, caller ID stated HALIFAX BANKING, person on other end said they had money to return to her account, after a long discussion about Internet Security the handler asked for her to confirm her bank details (I know!) she did, the handler said she will see 3 amounts being deposited into her account, as you can imagine my 72 year old friend was over the moon and gave the details requested .... then over a £1000 was withdrawn from her account, she immediately phoned bank who said it was her own fault giving out her details and would not help. As you can imagine she is now distraught and this is effecting her health, both physically and mentally.
Where does she go from here? Ombudsman?

Rainbowgirl84

She really needs to stop giving out her bank details to anyone who asks for them. Exhaust the banks complaints procedure and then take it to the FOS if necessary.

18cc

from 28 may she should be refunded so ask halifax to refund - if they wont then complain as above...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/money/beatthescammers/article-7077761/amp/Fightback-against-bank-transfer-scams-steps-launch-new-code.html

soulsaver

Beat the scammers? It's an invitation for more to join them.
Easier than a switch reward IMHO..

Terry_Towelling

How awful for your 72 year old friend - can I ask for a bit more information?

What's the London connection you mentioned?

Can you confirm what method the crooks used to withdraw money for the first set of 'frauds'?

What evidence did the police uncover to confirm that this was indeed a fraud? I'm not saying it wasn't, I'm just interested to know how the police could know with complete certainty that this was a fraud and not some voluntary money movement by your 72 year old friend. Simply telling the police that you didn't do it would not lead them to confirm it was a fraud.

Precisely what banking details did your 72 year old friend give away for the second fraud to take place?

Thank you.

Ben8282

Simply knowing a persons bank details would not allow them to do what has been alleged. Are you saying that the hotel bill, the parking, the online shopping and the Tesco delivery order were paid for by a transfer from her bank account? Highly improbable even if somehow the culprit had full access to her internet banking and was able to set up new payees. I assume that Halifax use the same security system for mew payees as Lloyds which would also have necessitated answering her phone and providing the correct verification code at the same time as the new payee was being set up.

BBJB1972ish

Hi
Thanks for replies

1. Manchester was Hotel
2. London was parking
3. Not sure how or where Tesco was delivered too - Tesco informed
4. Some of the online orders included .prettylittlething. co m, they have been informed
5. Officers, after listening to my friend, and seeing transactions believed her and contacted Halifax on her behalf confirming who they were and their belief she had been scammed and passed on the crime number
6. She repeated and confirmed her entire sort code, acc no, 16 digit number and the number on the rear, she said after 20 minutes discussing internet security he was very convincing.

She is a regular contributor to charities, its my belief she originally gave her info to someone like that but we are at a loss how they still managed to access her account after Halifax closed her account and set up a new account with cards etc.

Ergates

BBJB1972ish wrote: »

Hi All

My 72 year old friend has had her Halifax account fraudulently used. large amounts of money used for Hotels in Manchester, Parking Services, Online shopping even an online shopping delivery (Tesco). She contacted Halifax who froze her account, then completely closed it, reissuing new cards, account etc and returning her money. Not long after it started again, Halifax were blaming her or a family member although she lives in North East and has no family in Manchester or London. after contacting Halifax the person she spoke too was quite snotty, saying someone has been given her bank details by her and its her own fault so no help was offered by Halifax. She contacted Police who came out and spoke to her, confirmed it was fraud and gave her a crime number, even speaking to someone at Halifax who were still unhelpful.
A few days later she received a phone call, caller ID stated HALIFAX BANKING, person on other end said they had money to return to her account, after a long discussion about Internet Security the handler asked for her to confirm her bank details (I know!) she did, the handler said she will see 3 amounts being deposited into her account, as you can imagine my 72 year old friend was over the moon and gave the details requested .... then over a £1000 was withdrawn from her account, she immediately phoned bank who said it was her own fault giving out her details and would not help. As you can imagine she is now distraught and this is effecting her health, both physically and mentally.
Where does she go from here? Ombudsman?

She's given out her bank details to fraudsters 3 times now. Can you not see why the bank might be saying she's responsible?

Ben8282

BBJB1972ish wrote: »

Hi
Thanks for replies

1. Manchester was Hotel
2. London was parking
3. Not sure how or where Tesco was delivered too - Tesco informed
4. Some of the online orders included .prettylittlething. co m, they have been informed
5. Officers, after listening to my friend, and seeing transactions believed her and contacted Halifax on her behalf confirming who they were and their belief she had been scammed and passed on the crime number
6. She repeated and confirmed her entire sort code, acc no, 16 digit number and the number on the rear, she said after 20 minutes discussing internet security he was very convincing.

She is a regular contributor to charities, its my belief she originally gave her info to someone like that but we are at a loss how they still managed to access her account after Halifax closed her account and set up a new account with cards etc.

Yes but by what method were the payments made? Bank transfer or ???

Terry_Towelling

BBJB1972ish wrote: »

Hi
Thanks for replies

1. Manchester was Hotel
2. London was parking
3. Not sure how or where Tesco was delivered too - Tesco informed
4. Some of the online orders included .prettylittlething. co m, they have been informed
5. Officers, after listening to my friend, and seeing transactions believed her and contacted Halifax on her behalf confirming who they were and their belief she had been scammed and passed on the crime number
6. She repeated and confirmed her entire sort code, acc no, 16 digit number and the number on the rear, she said after 20 minutes discussing internet security he was very convincing.

She is a regular contributor to charities, its my belief she originally gave her info to someone like that but we are at a loss how they still managed to access her account after Halifax closed her account and set up a new account with cards etc.

In your own words, can you just confirm what method was used to take money from her account in the first fraud? - as requested earlier.

I need you to tell me exactly what evidence the police had for believing your friend was scammed..

Are you quite certain that police officers spoke with Halifax? I believe Halifax would not enter into any conversations with someone claiming to be a police officer (could be a scammer) except through the correct, secure channels. Can you give us the crime reference number please.

You say she 'repeated' her new account details to the so-called scammer - so the scammer already new them. As suggested by others, just having that information doesn't enable the withdrawal of £1000 by bank transfer. What about the second stage of account-holder authentication (you know the type of thing) - did she give that information out too?

So, the scammer managed to set up a payee and transfer out £1000. This means the payee will be showing in your friends online banking. Please confirm.

As also suggested by others, you do realise that Halifax requires the account user to answer either their landline or mobile phone and enter a code in order to set up a payee. Do you believe the scammer had access to your friend's phones?

d123

Ben8282 wrote: »

I assume that Halifax use the same security system for mew payees as Lloyds which would also have necessitated answering her phone and providing the correct verification code at the same time as the new payee was being set up.

You assume correctly, Halifax uses the same security procedures.