CIFAS warning - cannot open bank accounts

Ben8282

There is a glaring irregularity here.
The cheque book was ordered to pay DVLA but never arrived.
2018 was last year not decades ago. Of course DVLA accepted other means of payment.
Also the cheque would have to have been sent off with the licence application, so I am confused as to how the licence was applied for prior to receipt of the cheque book. Furthermore, if you never received the cheque book how could you have written the cheque?
Your OP clearly states 'both never arrived'.
You don't give details of this 'cheque fraud'. involving a driving licence and a cheque book which never arrived but you wrote a cheque from, but clearly the bank believed you to be complicit.

8bits

There is no "glaring irregularity", but since you do not seem to believe me, here is what happened:

- I decide to exchange my EU DL to a UK one
- I get the DVLA form by post, which ask to pay the fees by CHEQUE to be SEND by POST along with my EU DL. You *CANNOT* pay online or by phone according to the form.
- I order a cheque book from my bank especially for this, but never gets it
- I contact my bank and order a second cheque book from my bank which tells me that it must have been lost -- crazy how banks send cheque book without recorded delivery
- I get my cheque book and finally send the cheque to DVLA
- For weeks I am waiting for my DL but it never arrives -- again, crazy how DVLA send ID documents without recorded delivery
- One day my bank account is debited of ~£10k via a cheque transaction
- I call my bank to tell them I haven't made any cheque of this amount
- They revert it
- I contact DVLA about the fact I never received my DL
- They send me a second UK DL a few weeks later

End of the story.

FYI I live in a building where mail theft has happened to many residents.


Banks do not "believe I am complicit", they just work with CIFAS and know my name is in the database, because the fraud was reported both to the police and action fraud, so they need to double check stuff.

mwarby

You might find it easier to open an account in branch rather than online, as they can see the ID documents. I was rejected by Bank of Scotland online as they couldn't verify my address electronically (I had not long moved) no issue in branch as they had proof of address

8bits

mwarby wrote: »

You might find it easier to open an account in branch rather than online, as they can see the ID documents. I was rejected by Bank of Scotland online as they couldn't verify my address electronically (I had not long moved) no issue in branch as they had proof of address

Yes, this is exactly what BankA and BankB suggested. I need to go physically with multiple proof of ID/address.

pcman1985

As you sent of the SAR for CIFAS nearly a month ago, you should have received it by now.

What does it say on the SAR?

MovingForwards

If a cheque book is lost, the banks put a stop on all the cheques in that cheque book and so they would not be able to be cashed.

What does your your SAR say?

How long have your been in the UK? Do you have any bank account still? Do you have a credit card? A mobile phone on SIM only or contract (not pay as you go)? Any utility bills in your name? Are you on the electoral roll? If so, have you tried to check your credit history reports with Clearscore, MSE credit club and Credit karma to see if there is a victim of fraud CIFAS registered? (They don't show CIFAS if you did the fraud and I'm not saying you were involved!)

8bits

pcman1985 wrote: »

As you sent of the SAR for CIFAS nearly a month ago, you should have received it by now.

What does it say on the SAR?

I couldn't do it online so I filled the form but have not sent it yet. CIFAS will send the results by post, which I don't want for obvious reasons. Also CIFAS says:

If you are looking to check whether you have been registered with us as a victim of fraud, you should check your credit report rather than make a Data Subject Access Request. Get in touch with any of the main credit reference agencies; your report will show Cifas 'victim markers' as well as lots of other useful information that will help you to spot if a fraudster is attempting to use your identity.

I still haven't got time to go physically to the banks I've tried to open an account with but will do in the future and will keep this thread update.

MovingForwards wrote: »

If a cheque book is lost, the banks put a stop on all the cheques in that cheque book and so they would not be able to be cashed.

What does your your SAR say?

How long have your been in the UK? Do you have any bank account still? Do you have a credit card? A mobile phone on SIM only or contract (not pay as you go)? Any utility bills in your name? Are you on the electoral roll? If so, have you tried to check your credit history reports with Clearscore, MSE credit club and Credit karma to see if there is a victim of fraud CIFAS registered? (They don't show CIFAS if you did the fraud and I'm not saying you were involved!)

Yes, of course I have cancelled the "lost" cheque book.

5+ years, yes I have bank accounts, phone, bills in my name etc. Never had a credit card and not planning to have one. Please see posts above, the CIFAS warnings appeared in my credit report, that's how I know someone tried to open bank accounts using my details.

MovingForwards

8bits wrote: »

I still haven't got time to go physically to the banks I've tried to open an account with but will do in the future and will keep this thread update.

5+ years, yes I have bank accounts, phone, bills in my name etc. Never had a credit card and not planning to have one. Please see posts above, the CIFAS warnings appeared in my credit report, that's how I know someone tried to open bank accounts using my details.

If CIFAS is showing on your credit reports then it is down as you being a victim of fraud, that means you cannot automatically pass any credit checks and they have to be manually approved or rejected, part of that process will involve providing ID in person.

So, the options are make time or wait until it falls off in a year or two as protective CIFAS are not on your file for 6 years.

Ben8282

Something else not adding up here.
A thief stole a cheque book and immediately wrote a cheque for £10,000.
How was this cheque presented?
Did he walk into a branch with the drivers licnce as ID and attempt to cash it?
Did he pay it into his own/some unfortunate mule's bank account?
Did he attempt to make a purchase with it in the hope that they would be foolish enough to hand over the goods prior to the cheque being cleared?
However, the important poiunt here is the VALUE of the cheque.
If somebody stole my chequebook and wrote a cheque for £10,000 it would bounce.
I assume this would be the case in the majority of cases.
Why then did the thief realise that the cheque would not bounce and how did he know the OP had sufficient funds in his account to cover ir?

8bits

It looks like you think the thief made a cheque to himself for his own account. That would have been pretty stupid. Do you realise the thief had both a cheque book in my name and my DL at some point? Then it is easy to do any scam to buy things, pretending you are a cousin of mine, doing things online and/or with not very cautious people, etc.


Of course I have no idea what he did exactly and the bank did not want to reveal who the cheque was made for (that way I could have been in touch with the other victim). At the end, this is the person who dealt with the thief and accepted the cheque that lost a lot of money.

I did not have 10K in this account, still my account was debited, and it went negative, that's actually how I knew something was wrong since my bank texted me. Have you heard of overdraft?

The fact the bank reverted the cheque immediately and didn't ask much more after that probably means they did not do every checks they were supposed to do.


Finally, the real amount was a bit less than 10K, so that it was less suspicious.


Now, this thread is not about the scam I have been a victim of, but the CIFAS in my credit report so I won't reply on this matter anymore.