Fraud

LeanneC83

Hi all
This is my first time posting on somewhere like here but I desperately need some help. Unfortunately my in-laws have been subject to a horrendous banking scam, typically it started with someone being from the bank fraud team trying to protect their money and now they have been wiped of their life savings. I guess I'm writing to see if anyone else can give me advice to help them fight for justice against the 2 banks concerned and what the process was? I know this is rife atm but I really want to help them.

Many thanks 
Leanne 

KatrinaWaves

Probably need more details. If they simply bank transferred their money to another account to 'protect it' then there may be very little they can do. The banks werent involved, so how can they fight for justice against a bank that did nothing wrong...

Pollycat

So was it really someone from the 'bank fraud team' or someone pretending to be from the bank?

Where are they in the process?

Have the banks said there is nothing they can do?

How did the 2nd bank come into the situation?

Is it a similar situation to this?

Two retirees were conned out of their savings, but the banks say they were negligent

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/feb/08/bank-couple-lose-43000-but-cant-get-a-refund

JamoLew

LeanneC83 said:

Hi all
This is my first time posting on somewhere like here but I desperately need some help. Unfortunately my in-laws have been subject to a horrendous banking scam, typically it started with someone being from the bank fraud team trying to protect their money and now they have been wiped of their life savings. I guess I'm writing to see if anyone else can give me advice to help them fight for justice against the 2 banks concerned and what the process was? I know this is rife atm but I really want to help them.

Many thanks 
Leanne 

the fight for justice is probably against the fraudsters -- the Bank have just done what was asked of them

JJ_Egan

(it started with someone being from the bank fraud team trying to protect their money )

Thats the key was it  the genuine bank fraud team .

If it was genuine then their is a path to follow .

If it was any old person pretending to be any bank then that's a different path .

Hasbeen

LeanneC83 said:

Hi all
This is my first time posting on somewhere like here but I desperately need some help. Unfortunately my in-laws have been subject to a horrendous banking scam, typically it started with someone being from the bank fraud team trying to protect their money and now they have been wiped of their life savings. I guess I'm writing to see if anyone else can give me advice to help them fight for justice against the 2 banks concerned and what the process was? I know this is rife atm but I really want to help them.

Many thanks 
Leanne 

Except it was not someone from the bank fraud team.

Typical scam. Random phone calls, texts etc until the fraudster hits on someone not aware.

Did someone convince them to transfer money out from their account with Bank 1 to put it into an account in Bank 2 for safe keeping?

What have your in-laws bank stated to them?

Some info: Bank transfer fraud victims face refund lottery – Which? News

robatwork

Horrible situation but you won't get any decent advice without many more details. In similar threads on the Banking forum (which is more suitable for your post) it turns out the person posting never knows the full details anyway - the person scammed tends to be too embarrassed to tell the full truth.

Anyway you're more likely to get help from someone like Tony Hetherington Tony Hetherington, Financial Mail on Sunday | This is Money or Katie Morley Katie Morley (telegraph.co.uk) to whom you can tell the full story.

tacpot12

I do think there is more that the UK banks can do, but the FCA needs to step in and set the expectations. 

Here's what I think they could do: 
1. Insist that retail customers calls them back on a phone number that is unique to the transaction, the phone number being generated by the bank's website when taking the payment instruction.
2. Investigate the reason for the payment thoroughly, using metrics such as the age of the client to determine the risk inherent in the transactions. 
3. Refuse to act where the client is clearly being defrauded.
4. Delay payment while a text message is sent to close relative who has agreed to act as a gatekeep for older/vulnerable customers when payments over £1000 are made. 
5. Not allow payments of more than £1000 INTO personal bank accounts that haven't been open for 12 months, unless the account is associated with an address that the account holder has lived at for 10 years (e.g. been on the electoral roll at the address for 10 years AND has utility bills for five of the last 10 years). 
6. Not allow payments of more than £1000 INTO business bank accounts that haven't been open for 12 months, unless the bank has a second charge over at least one director/partner/sole trader's property OR hold the money as an unavailable balance for 5 days to allow time for fraudulent payments to be returned. 

There is so much more that the industry could be doing to make fraud a thing of the past, but until their regulator makes them, they won't do it because it will cost them money.
 

knightstyle

Which banks are involved and what have they said when contacted about this?
TSB will refund all the money if it was a sophisticated scam.  Other banks have recently signed up to a refund scheme.
New protection for individuals tricked into transferring money to fraudsters has now taken effect - but not all banks are signed up to the scheme.

Eight banks, covering 17 brands, have committed to implement the code immediately:

• Barclays
• HSBC (including First Direct and M&S Bank)
• Lloyds (including Halifax, Bank of Scotland, and Intelligent Finance)
• Metro Bank
• Nationwide
• RBS (including NatWest and Ulster Bank)
• Santander (including Cahoot and Cater Allen)
• Starling Bank

The largest banks have established a fund to immediately reimburse customers who are in the "no blame" category.

tempus_fugit

tacpot12 said:

I do think there is more that the UK banks can do, but the FCA needs to step in and set the expectations. 

Here's what I think they could do: 
1. Insist that retail customers calls them back on a phone number that is unique to the transaction, the phone number being generated by the bank's website when taking the payment instruction.
2. Investigate the reason for the payment thoroughly, using metrics such as the age of the client to determine the risk inherent in the transactions. 
3. Refuse to act where the client is clearly being defrauded.
4. Delay payment while a text message is sent to close relative who has agreed to act as a gatekeep for older/vulnerable customers when payments over £1000 are made. 
5. Not allow payments of more than £1000 INTO personal bank accounts that haven't been open for 12 months, unless the account is associated with an address that the account holder has lived at for 10 years (e.g. been on the electoral roll at the address for 10 years AND has utility bills for five of the last 10 years). 
6. Not allow payments of more than £1000 INTO business bank accounts that haven't been open for 12 months, unless the bank has a second charge over at least one director/partner/sole trader's property OR hold the money as an unavailable balance for 5 days to allow time for fraudulent payments to be returned. 

There is so much more that the industry could be doing to make fraud a thing of the past, but until their regulator makes them, they won't do it because it will cost them money.
 

I wouldn’t be happy with a number of those because it would make it impossible for me to manage my money in the way I want to. No. 5, for example. I have lived at this house for nearly 4 years and I often open new bank accounts for rewards or whatever. In this case I would not be able to move any reasonable amount of money into them. And many of the other suggestions would make it a real scutter to move money around as I want to. I don’t see why it should be made harder for me just because some people can’t carry out due diligence when some random person comes on the phone telling them to move their money out of their bank account into another one that they don’t have control of.