Bank Transfer Scam

Jewelscollectingdust

Hello all 

I am in the throes of dealing with this problem but put this up here to say to good folk out there - please be careful.
I am a trader - I sell in an antique centre and also online
I don’t tend to think of myself as easy prey to a scammer - but have had the most horrible experience in the last few weeks.

I had advertised a gold chain and a gold bracelet online 
I was contacted by a friendly person asking if he could buy them direct from me with a little discount 
I agreed the discount on the basis he made payment to me by bank transfer - I was under the impression for high value goods - this was the safest option for payment.
Agreed price was £1745.00 
I have done transactions this way in the past without any issues.
I sent him bank payment details 
Had an email back saying he had tried to pay me but the transaction wouldn’t go through - would I check details again
I did and replied - Yes bank details are correct.

3 days lapsed without any further word.

I logged into my bank one morning and saw a payment had gone in for - £1745.00 
I did note the name on the payment was different to the name of the person on the email. 
So I therefore contacted him and asked him to confirm payment information - amount and the name of the account it came from.

He replied - Yes That he couldn’t get the transfer from his own account to work and had therefore asked his partner to pay. he gave me her name details which were correct.

So I ask for delivery address - He says he’s away currently - could I hold off posting until he gets days off and then post 

A week after payment I get an email saying he’s home now and would I post - giving London address 

I checked and funds were still in my account - I post the parcel special delivery insured. 

I got no response following day so checked the tracking number and parcel had been signed for (squiggle) and the right name recorded by Royal Mail. 

I thought transaction was over 

Spin forward 3 weeks and I get a text message from bank saying my account was frozen due to an unauthorised payment going into the account. 

After hours on the phone to the bank ( I won’t bore you with all the details) I have gleaned with a slow drip feed of information from them exactly what has transpired.

The scammer was also in contact with another person whom he pretended to be doing a property deal with and asked her to pay a deposit to secure the deal they had done.
He gave her my bank details to pay the deposit - so the payment that comes into my account (the bank only give you name details)  The exact amount as agreed for gold items   I was selling - she other person thought she was paying deposit on property deal. 

Bingo - he gets what he wants - delivery of the gold items. 

Three weeks later she discovers when going to the property it is occupied !! - Files fraud with her bank 
Bank freeze my account to investigate 

I have been to the police and reported this as a crime and also made report to action fraud.

My Bank account is still frozen pending bank review and I don’t know what the outcome of this will be 

I keep asking myself - where did I go wrong here ?
I want to be able to sell online - and I always thought bank transfer was the safest option for higher value items 

Bradden

Wow.. that is some serious scamming!.... not sure anything youi could have done differently. I too thought that Brank Transfers were safe.

pbartlett

I agree - things are getting worse. It used to be that you could risk your bank account being frozen if someone paid you from an account under suspicion for eg muleing, but this takes things to a whole new level.

Wonder what connection the 'buyer' has with the London address - if any

Jewelscollectingdust

The worrying thing is - I have given details of the delivery etc to the bank and offered to supply them with the full email transcript regarding the whole transaction plus the address the parcel was sent to etc etc
They also have the action fraud numbers 

So far they have told me to keep the information to hand - I may have to take it into a branch but not to supply it yet.

The thing that I find irritating here is that a way to have stopped this scam dead in its tracks is basically for the bank to add an imformation box regarding this type of transaction - that details what the transaction was for - ie goods services etc

All you see when you check online banking is the persons name that sent the money - nothing else

Had I seen the persons name plus a comment like - "Property Deposit" - straight away I would have rang the bank knowing something was wrong

Jewelscollectingdust

I should also explain
My bank account is frozen - i cant conduct any transactions on the account that involve money in or money out - but I am still able to see the account when logging into online banking 
The funds for the transaction are actually still in my account.

Can anyone advise that maybe knows banking procedure  - how the bank will deal with the matter ?? what the likley or outcome will be ??  or even how long its going to take.
I have asked all these questions of the bank themselves but not getting any answers - the information I do have was like getting blood out of a stone.

soolin

I am tempted to move this thread to the banking board as they are the experts, however taking money in good faith should see you in the clear, it’s the person paying for the property deposit that is going to lose out. *

OP are you Ok if I move this? 

* my thinking is that you were paid for items which you shipped, how your ‘buyer’ paid is immaterial - a recipient cannot expect to be privy to arrangements being made by any buyer. After all many of us cover debts or payments for friends or relatives , I did it a few months ago, I paid a small deposit for a friend and she paid me back the next day, I can’t see how I could have claimed my money back if she had later refused to reimburse me. 

pbartlett

To answer your question ('my account has been frozen' comes up regularly on the b&ba board) the bank won't engage with you as they are legally required not to whilst they investigate. The investigation could take weeks. At the end they will either re-open your account or close it.

The advice most often given is to open a new account now with a different institution - just in case.

edit: if you have anything like pension, benefits etc going in there (unlikely i know as it is a business account i assume) the bank will let you withdraw those.

Jewelscollectingdust

Yes - ofcourse I have no problem with the thread being moved.

My decision to put it here was really based around - the fact that there were likley traders here and I wanted to put out a warning

But yes - please if you think its would be better placed elsewhere - Thank you

MR1988

I don't want to sound like giving praise to the scammer but that is one messed up scam engineering. Thanks for letting us know of your happening, will definitely consider your experience when dealing with high amounts transfered or different names involved.

I wonder if the person paying for deposit got any proof or invoice for the deposit they paid?!

I hope you will be able to sort it out.

cymruchris

That's quite a well thought through scam - and one that many could easily fall for, as we are often told that bank transfers are one of the safest options, and that once the money is in your account, it's safe - but in this instance it clearly isn't. I would hope the bank would investigate, unfreeze your account and release your funds - someone will no doubt have to pay for it - and it's interesting to work out who might be liable. Do keep us updated as to your progress - even if it's a few weeks down the line. Fingers crossed you'll get a positive result.

Jewelscollectingdust

Yes I use the account just for business and thankfully dont have anything linked to it except my ebay account
 I have already started the process of switching ebay over to another bank account 

I do have funds in the frozen account though which concerns me