Facebook Messenger Scam/Monzo Bank

Davidnotmark

Hello everyone, 

I’m wondering if anyone has some advice or help with what has happened to me over the last week. 

Last Tuesday I received a message from my niece on Facebook messenger, saying that she had a direct debit that was due the next day that she had forgotten about, and could I please send her some cash to cover it until payday.  As I regularly communicate with her on facebook messenger, and because I have sent her cash before I didn’t really think anything of it – I’m quite close with my niece, so it didn’t seem that unusual. As a result I sent her two payments – one for £285 and another for £225 for a total of £510.

 

After I had sent it I wanted to check she had received it and check she was ok so I tried calling her – she later told me she wouldn’t have picked up as I called from a withheld number (I am a teacher and during lockdown used my personal phone to call parents so had to change it to withheld). When I did get through, it became clear she hadn’t asked me for some money and that her account had been hacked and scammers had taken my money. She managed to get in touch with friends who had also been messaged – indeed one was just about to click send when she finally got through – others who don’t know her as well as me thought it was suspicious and also then began to call her to check.

 

We googled what to do and it became clear that we had to get in touch with my bank which is Monzo and explain what had happened, as well as get in touch with action fraud to register a case, both of which I did.

 

Monzo got in touch to ask things like how close am I to the person I sent money to? Was this a normal method of communication with her? Did I try and verify the transaction to make sure it was genuine before I sent etc.. I explained that it was my niece, who I’m close to and that it was our regular method of communication – I sent screen shots to prove this. I sent screen grabs of the phone call I made after I had sent the transaction. After a bit of messages back and forth they sent a message saying that they didn’t think I’d taken enough steps to check who I was paying and what for and therefore wouldn’t be refunding me any money.

 

I pointed out to them that this is not some email scam from some company asking me to wire money – this was my niece (a close family member), who I regularly communicated with on that platform, and it was her actual account. I also sent Monzo screen grabs of an email she got from facebook telling her that her password had been changed.

 

In addition to this, I also pointed out to them that previous times I had transferred money from there, if the account name was even one letter out e.g. if I wrote Katir instead of Katie then it wouldn’t be able to go through, so I am unsure why it allowed the transaction to complete. I explained that as a result of this I feel like they didn’t do enough to stop this from happening.

 

They have said that if there is any money left in the account that I sent the money to that I will receive it back, but that if it had been withdrawn from an ATM then there would be little they could do. I pointed out that if it had been withdrawn from another UK bank account then the bank should have the scammers ID, as the other bank is FSSC regulated, and so should require someone to show some ID when opening the account. If it has been wired onwards then surely the bank could investigate where it has gone.

 

In addition to this, I know that in May 2019, many UK banks agreed to voluntarily refund victims of scams as you can see here - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48385426  - whilst Monzo didn’t sign up to that, they did agree to join the spirit of the code as if they were fully signed up to protect people, as you can see here https://twitter.com/monzo/status/1133392963562803205?lang=en

 

So I would like to know where do you think this leaves me? Do you think there is any way I could get the money back, do I have a case to go further with this? I have asked Monzo for their official complaints process, before going down the financial ombudsman route if that doesn’t work, but I am unsure how likely that would be to get my money back. I really can’t afford to lose £510 this close to Christmas, and my niece is beside herself with worry and feels responsible for what has happened with her account getting hacked. I’ve pointed out to Monzo that to them I am a real person who genuinely is a victim of scammers, but so far they seem unwilling to help.

 

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I hope you can help me out with this matter.

Zanderman

How did you send this money?
What account was hacked?  
Her facebook account?
Or her bank account?
It's a big difference.
Did you send money to an account you'd never sent to before?
Monzo won't care about the facebook hack, or the phone calls.
It's the account you sent the money to that's the issue here.
(and also whether it's feasible that a DD worth £500 can be 'forgotten about')

Davidnotmark

It was a transfer from my monzo to what I thought was my nieces bank account. It was her facebook account that was hacked.

Zanderman

So how did you learn about the account you sent it to?
You mention you've sent her money before so presumably you have her real account set up already?

Davidnotmark

The message I'd received from my "niece" basically said that she'd forgotten her log in for her bank account which is why she couldn't cancel the direct debit. Looking back, this was a little naive on my part, but because it was from her real facebook account, and not a fake duplicate, I had no reason to believe it wasn't her. Particularly as I thought that the name and the account details had to match when you were sending money from one account to another - I'd sent money previously to friends like I said in my OP, where even if its one letter out then the money couldn't be sent. Plus, lots of people have more than one bank account.

I'm not sure what you mean by your first question. If it means how did you learn of the hack, then after I sent it I thought to myself that I should probably check with my niece to check that she had received it, so called her.

[Deleted User]

How did you get around the confirmation of payer to send the money? Monzo require you to verify the name of the payee before you send money to a new account. Surely the name would have been completely wrong with a scam?

Zanderman

I mean what account did you send it to if it wasn't hers?
If you've sent her money before you presumably had her account set up in your Monzo as an existing transfer?
But if this was a different account you had to set up a new transfer? 
To an account you never used before?
The account details (the account number etc) have to be your niece's account, otherwise it's not her account.
The whole business of names matching is an optional check - you can still send it even if the name doesn't match.  
The only real check is the account number.

Davidnotmark

camelot1971 said:

How did you get around the confirmation of payer to send the money? Monzo require you to verify the name of the payee before you send money to a new account. Surely the name would have been completely wrong with a scam?

That is the point I was making - I put in her name and it didn't say that the name and account aren't connected so it was sent. 

Davidnotmark

Zanderman said:

I mean what account did you send it to if it wasn't hers?
If you've sent her money before you presumably had her account set up in your Monzo as an existing transfer?
But if this was a different account you had to set up a new transfer? 
To an account you never used before?
The account details (the account number etc) have to be your niece's account, otherwise it's not her account.
The whole business of names matching is an optional check - you can still send it even if the name doesn't match.  
The only real check is the account number.

Well I sent it to the account that the person pretending to be my niece sent in the message. It was an account I hadn't sent to before.

Zanderman

Davidnotmark said:

Zanderman said:

I mean what account did you send it to if it wasn't hers?
If you've sent her money before you presumably had her account set up in your Monzo as an existing transfer?
But if this was a different account you had to set up a new transfer? 
To an account you never used before?
The account details (the account number etc) have to be your niece's account, otherwise it's not her account.
The whole business of names matching is an optional check - you can still send it even if the name doesn't match.  
The only real check is the account number.

Well I sent it to the account that the person pretending to be my niece sent in the message. It was an account I hadn't sent to before.

Didn't that set off alarm bells?
If you had an account transfer already set up for her?
If you already had a transfer set up for her Monzo will want to know why you didn't use that, but instead set up a new one to a previously unknown account. 

Davidnotmark

It did after I had sent it. But like I stated earlier the original message said that she couldn't get onto her account. Afterwards I obviously realised, but I haven't come here for you to judge me and tell me that I am naive or silly (I know you haven't actually said that, but reading in between the lines, that's what I'm getting from you), I just want some advice or help or information I can use to try and get the money back. It's a lot of money and I can't afford not to get it back, especially with Xmas coming.