Someone I started dating recently asked me to hold £5k cash for him while he travels abroad - Scam?

uss_tish

@Farrella given what your friend has told you about a ‘sugar mummy’ surely alarm bells must be ringing? Two months is not a relationship and you owe this person nothing, please walk away.

Section62

Daliah said:

You haven't mentioned whether he has settled or pre-settled status, or a student visa, but there's a distinct chance he is residing illegally in the UK. 

I don't know what scheme he is running by asking you to look after money for him...

My guess is it is simple.  He can't legally remove the money from the UK without the risk of his (possibly illegal) earnings being seized.

Shortly after getting back to his family he'll use the pretext of some emergency to ask the OP to pay the money into her account, then transfer it electronically to him.  If it works, that will be the last the OP hears from him.

Again, if it works, the OP may - depending on the nature of the transfer - subsequently get a letter from her bank saying they can no longer provide banking facilities to her.

The wildcard is whether, when asking for his £5k to be transferred to him, he asks for an extra £xk 'loan' to help with the emergency... with a touch of emotional blackmail thrown in - "I trusted you with my £5k/Trust is a two-way thing/If you loved me.../Don't you trust me like I trusted you?"

The only sensible advice is what you said...

Run. Now.

Voyager2002

wmb194 said:

Voyager2002 said:

It is difficult to understand why he cannot take the cash with him. Presumably he will be staying somewhere reasonably secure in his home country.

The remainder of his story makes sense: banks do make it incredibly difficult for new arrivals to open accounts, particularly for someone who does not have a stable or conventional job.

And I wonder: suppose you take care of the money; he returns, and then some of the banknotes turn out to be fakes, what then?

HMRC and other border forces use cash sniffing dogs at airports and will ask questions about where it came from. If this guy has been evading tax / only working cash in hand jobs he won't have any proof and it'll probably be seized.

That would be true of big money, but this is only about £5,000. You are allowed to carry cash to the value of Euro10,000 without documentation.

pearl123

Even if I knew someone for 10 years, I would not be putting that sort of cash in my bank account. Five months, is very little time to know someone. 
Just don't get involved. 

wmb194

Voyager2002 said:

wmb194 said:

Voyager2002 said:

It is difficult to understand why he cannot take the cash with him. Presumably he will be staying somewhere reasonably secure in his home country.

The remainder of his story makes sense: banks do make it incredibly difficult for new arrivals to open accounts, particularly for someone who does not have a stable or conventional job.

And I wonder: suppose you take care of the money; he returns, and then some of the banknotes turn out to be fakes, what then?

HMRC and other border forces use cash sniffing dogs at airports and will ask questions about where it came from. If this guy has been evading tax / only working cash in hand jobs he won't have any proof and it'll probably be seized.

That would be true of big money, but this is only about £5,000. You are allowed to carry cash to the value of Euro10,000 without documentation.

The OP mentioned that he has more and I remember watching a border force programme and I'm sure they still grilled someone about their cash who had less than the equivalent of €10k (that person happened to have a relevant building society passbook with them and they were satisfied with that).

Section62

wmb194 said:

Voyager2002 said:

wmb194 said:

Voyager2002 said:

It is difficult to understand why he cannot take the cash with him. Presumably he will be staying somewhere reasonably secure in his home country.

The remainder of his story makes sense: banks do make it incredibly difficult for new arrivals to open accounts, particularly for someone who does not have a stable or conventional job.

And I wonder: suppose you take care of the money; he returns, and then some of the banknotes turn out to be fakes, what then?

HMRC and other border forces use cash sniffing dogs at airports and will ask questions about where it came from. If this guy has been evading tax / only working cash in hand jobs he won't have any proof and it'll probably be seized.

That would be true of big money, but this is only about £5,000. You are allowed to carry cash to the value of Euro10,000 without documentation.

The OP mentioned that he has more and I remember watching a border force programme and I'm sure they still grilled someone about their cash who had less than the equivalent of €10k (that person happened to have a relevant building society passbook with them and they were satisfied with that).

Similar to the situation with alcohol and cigarettes (for personal consumption) - a big difference between the theory of what was/is allowed, and the practice of what the border authorities will get suspicious about.

Thrugelmir

Section62 said:

Daliah said:

You haven't mentioned whether he has settled or pre-settled status, or a student visa, but there's a distinct chance he is residing illegally in the UK. 

I don't know what scheme he is running by asking you to look after money for him...

My guess is it is simple.  He can't legally remove the money from the UK without the risk of his (possibly illegal) earnings being seized.

Shortly after getting back to his family he'll use the pretext of some emergency to ask the OP to pay the money into her account, then transfer it electronically to him.  If it works, that will be the last the OP hears from him.

Laundering the money in the process. Probably not going home at all. Just finding other victims. 

jimjames

Farrella said:

He is a student (25) and part-time model, and doesn't have a work visa.  He should be back in 2 months, after seeing his family.  I think I will say "no"....he made it sound like I'm the only person he'd trust in the UK with his money.  I've known him for 5 months but only dated for 2.  A friend of mine once said he had a "sugarmummy" and I assumed it was a joke, but now I know he has all this cash I suddenly remember this and am becoming suspicious. 

From what you're saying if he doesn't have a visa to work here presumably he's been working under the radar without any documentation which is why he can't open and pay it into a bank account. The scenario mentioned above sounds like a feasible way it could go with trying top get the money paid into an account.

Voyager2002

jimjames said:

Farrella said:

He is a student (25) and part-time model, and doesn't have a work visa.  He should be back in 2 months, after seeing his family.  I think I will say "no"....he made it sound like I'm the only person he'd trust in the UK with his money.  I've known him for 5 months but only dated for 2.  A friend of mine once said he had a "sugarmummy" and I assumed it was a joke, but now I know he has all this cash I suddenly remember this and am becoming suspicious. 

From what you're saying if he doesn't have a visa to work here presumably he's been working under the radar without any documentation which is why he can't open and pay it into a bank account. The scenario mentioned above sounds like a feasible way it could go with trying top get the money paid into an account.

We can be reasonably confident that he has a student visa (without one it is impossible to enroll or graduate at any reputable college). And a student visa allows a limited amount of work (20 hours per week I think). So there is nothing to stop him from paying the money into a bank account if he managed to open one.

Section62

Voyager2002 said:

jimjames said:

Farrella said:

He is a student (25) and part-time model, and doesn't have a work visa.  He should be back in 2 months, after seeing his family.  I think I will say "no"....he made it sound like I'm the only person he'd trust in the UK with his money.  I've known him for 5 months but only dated for 2.  A friend of mine once said he had a "sugarmummy" and I assumed it was a joke, but now I know he has all this cash I suddenly remember this and am becoming suspicious. 

From what you're saying if he doesn't have a visa to work here presumably he's been working under the radar without any documentation which is why he can't open and pay it into a bank account. The scenario mentioned above sounds like a feasible way it could go with trying top get the money paid into an account.

We can be reasonably confident that he has a student visa (without one it is impossible to enroll or graduate at any reputable college). And a student visa allows a limited amount of work (20 hours per week I think). So there is nothing to stop him from paying the money into a bank account if he managed to open one.

If I were the OP in the light of this odd request about the money I'd be revisiting everything he's told me and giving it a reality check.  Such as...

Farrella said:

He is a student (25) and part-time model, and doesn't have a work visa.  He should be back in 2 months, after seeing his family.

...maybe I'm out of touch with the way reputable universities and colleges work these days, but there was a time where you had to attend lectures and tutorials during term-time, and as a result a student wouldn't be going off travelling to visit family for two months in the middle of the academic year.