Campaign to improve the reporting of account fraud to banks and building societies 1 May at 8:30AM edited 2 May at 11:19AM in Campaigns Corner 4 replies 134 views

craggybuk

As part of my research into romance scams, I was given six bank accounts by scammers which they wanted me to deposit funds into. I immediately tried to report these accounts to the banks in question. What I found was that the majority of these banks didn't have appropriate mechanisms in place to support this type of request. On the back of this, I've launched a change.org petition to get banks and building societies to take this seriously. Please take a read and sign and share if you agree with what I say in my petition text. Feel free to read more about these scams at my site, {Text removed by Forum Team}
Thank you for your help

Highland76

craggybuk said:

 I was given six bank accounts by scammers which they wanted me to deposit funds into. 

Can you expand on this please?

Shakin_Steve

Highland76 said:

craggybuk said:

 I was given six bank accounts by scammers which they wanted me to deposit funds into. 

Can you expand on this please?

Probably means six account numbers and sort codes.

Highland76

I meant how did the OP find 6 scammers who were gave him/her their bank account details? 

eddddy

craggybuk said:

As part of my research into romance scams, I was given six bank accounts by scammers which they wanted me to deposit funds into. I immediately tried to report these accounts to the banks in question. What I found was that the majority of these banks didn't have appropriate mechanisms in place to support this type of request. 

I guess a few things to consider: 

• Those bank accounts won't belong to scammers - they'll almost certainly belong to 'money mules'. Typically, naive young people, who might think they're doing legitimate 'part-time work from home', and don't realise they're aiding money laundering and fraud.
• See: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/09/18/cash-strapped-students-targeted-money-mules/

• However, the banks are all implementing 'Confirmation of Payee', which should greatly reduce the scope for this type of fraud.  
• That means that going forward, if you send a £10,000 payment to an account and you specify a payee name of "Roxy D'Azure", but the account really belongs to "Terry Smith", the payment will get rejected.
• See: https://www.barclays.co.uk/help/confirmation-of-payee/what-confirmation-of-payee-is/

• When you report 'dodgy' bank account details, the banks don't really know who you are, or what your motives are. For example, you might have a grievance against somebody (e.g. an Ex), and you're maliciously trying to get their account shut down by reporting it as used for fraud. So the banks need to be careful.

• The banks might well be taking careful note of what you say, and taking action. But they won't tell you, because they don't want to disclose their fraud monitoring procedures (and again they don't know if you are a 'goody' or a 'baddy').