Urgent Help - Bank Account Frozen

Flobberchops

zerog wrote: »

The "buyer" has stolen someone else's bank account and paid you from it.

The actual owner has reported money missing from his account, and the bank believes that you are the thief as money was transferred to you. This is why your accounts are now frozen.

That's a plausible explanation, but an even simpler explanation is that the buyer went to their bank and reported OP as a scammer. The receiving bank in this case has a responsibility to freeze the funds while they investigate.

MattSt89

It does happen quick, I had a situation where I had sent the item and also had receipt and tracking that showed a signature. I believe the person in question was trying to keep the goods and get money back.

Until I provided this my account was frozen and was told access to my money was over the counter only.

jonnygee2

I agree. Timeframe too short and contrary to what is written repeatedly on these 'my bank account has been blocked' thread the banks do not just block accounts on the word of a third party to their bank over the weekend without any investigation.

They can, actually. Generally suspicious accounts are frozen pre-emptively. Criminals tend to move funds out of them as quickly as possible, so in response banks often freeze first, fully investigate later. If they didn't do this, and the transaction turned out to be fraud and was subsequently transferred out of the bank account, they may end up liable fro not acting quickly enough.

When they got the call, they may have considered other factors when assessing whether to freeze the account - perhaps something else made the account look like it was a risk. It could also just be a poor decision from an overly jumpy bank rep - often, esp. over the weekend, the person freezing the account is not a specialist, so is just making a cautious decision until a specialist comes along.

The account should really be unblocked on Monday latest. @OP I would make as much noise as possible, start an official complaint and contact them as much as possible through as many channels as possible until you get someone to review the decision and unfreeze.

The flipside is - if you sucessfully provide evidence it was legitimate, and it turns out the buyer has lied in order to get your account frozen, the buyer could well end up with a CIFAS marker for first party fraud.