Reclaiming fraud

JerseyJo

Has anyone had fraudulent problems with Starling Bank? I had £20,000 taken from my bank account during the night in November and thee bank are not claiming any responsibility, they won't even give me any details of their investigation i.e. where the money went. I have contacted the Ombudsman who currently have a backlog of 4 to 5 months but said they have pushed it back to the bank who need to contact me within 8 weeks of the complaint. I've heard nothing and they won't discuss when I try to contact them.

eskbanker

The bank is under no obligation to tell you where the money went, but is required to refund you promptly unless they have reason to suspect that you were complicit - the onus is on them to prove that you did authorise the transaction rather than you having to demonstrate that you didn't:

https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/unauthorised-payments-account

How does the transaction show on your statement?  Has there been anything unusual with your account or device?

FOS are right that your complaint needs to be raised with the bank and only escalated to FOS if the bank doesn't resolve it to your satisfaction within eight weeks - how close to the end of that period are you (starting from the date the formal complaint was logged with Starling)?

grumbler

eskbanker said:

...unless they have reason to suspect that you were complicit ...

... or "acted ... with ‘gross negligence’, failed to protect the details of your card, PIN or password in a way that allowed the transaction"

JerseyJo

I explained to the bank NO ONE knows my log in details or passwords, I was alone and asleep while my phone (the only device the banking app is on) was on charge on my bedside cabinet and my card was in my purse in the adjacent room. My mobile provider, Tesco, have confirmed that my device was not in use at the time the transactions occurred. Incidentally of the 7 transactions that occurred 2 were declined by the bank but then more authorized. All this occurred on 12th and 13th November 2021, I realised the following day and contacted the bank immediately. The bank started an investigation asking me questions which I answered honestly but their conclusion was that There had been no fraud and they would take no action, their investigation was then closed on 28/11/21 with very little explanation. I have since reported this to Action for Fraud and the Ombudsman.

cx6

is there any indication of how the fraudster bypassed 2FA (eg a text with a pin number) necessary to set up a new payee ?

eskbanker

JerseyJo said:

I explained to the bank NO ONE knows my log in details or passwords, I was alone and asleep while my phone (the only device the banking app is on) was on charge on my bedside cabinet and my card was in my purse in the adjacent room.

But only one of those is likely to be relevant - were the transactions processed as faster payments from the app, or debit card payments?  It's obviously important to establish the facts of what happened - Starling may be reluctant to disclose everything (but may be slightly more forthcoming if you submit a formal subject access request, if you haven't done this yet) but you should still be able to see what shows on your statement.

JerseyJo said:

My mobile provider, Tesco, have confirmed that my device was not in use at the time the transactions occurred.

This seems an odd comment - your mobile provider might be able to determine whether there was any activity via their network at around that time but couldn't rule out, say, wifi use, unless they have access to your device itself, which would obviously be a risk in itself, so any such confirmation from Tesco is unlikely to be seen as meaningful to Starling.

JerseyJo said:

The bank started an investigation asking me questions which I answered honestly but their conclusion was that There had been no fraud and they would take no action, their investigation was then closed on 28/11/21 with very little explanation.

'Very little' isn't the same as 'none' though - what specifically have they said?

born_again

As @eskbanker has said.
Just what type of payments are you talking about? As that can make a massive difference to how it's dealt with.

This sounds very much like a previous thread from a while back? 

JerseyJo

what specifically have they said?

Hi *******
 
Thank you for your patience whilst we have investigated your fraud case.  
 
When investigating these types of claims, we work them on a case-by-case basis, analyse all available information and evidence to determine the outcome. 
 
We have intensively reviewed your claim and couldn't find any evidence to support fraudulent activity, therefore we would not be in a position to refund the transaction(s). 
 
Please note ⤵ 

• We will not divulge any information relating to our investigation, this includes any evidence we have obtained. 

 

• Whilst we take all reported claims of fraud very seriously, false claims will not be tolerated, which could lead to account closure. 

 
Going Forward 
 
If you wish to take this matter further, we would advise speaking directly to the merchant(s) involved, contact your local authorities or ActionFraud to report the case. 
 
We appreciate that this may not of been the outcome you were expecting, but we hope this clarifies the bank’s position.

Chris_English

Can you answer the questions which people have asked about the type of payments?

FreeFallerSaver

JerseyJo said:

what specifically have they said?

Hi *******

Going Forward 
 
If you wish to take this matter further, we would advise speaking directly to the merchant(s) involved, contact your local authorities or ActionFraud to report the case. 
 
We appreciate that this may not of been the outcome you were expecting, but we hope this clarifies the bank’s position.

This may seem like an odd thing to ask, but did you retype what they said to you? or have you copied and pasted what they actually wrote? 

Longtrip20384

Well they have said “ false claims “ so they think it was YOU who did it...

and they think you did the transactions and trying to claim funds back by saying you didnt do them. 

so I’d tread carefully about what your doing and saying to them. As the more your fussing around the more your making yourself look silly.