Current account fraud

Bobbobbobingalong

binao said:

Daliah said:

binao said:

HSBC have failed in their duty of care in permitting ID fraud.

If you raise an official complaint with HSBC and mention compensation for stress, your time, mortgage problems, etc  you will see real high speed action.

Good luck 

How exactly have HSBC failed in their duty of care? How were they meant to notice the application was fraudulent?

Good point @Daliah

Due diligence.

As HSBC didn't notice that the account application was fraudulent they failed in their duty of care.

Maybe the "due diligence" is not robust enough, for the new financial climate and needs ammendment.

You need to think very carefully about this. The fact that HSBC had not, apparently, identified a fraud taking place it most certainly does not mean their systems weren’t in the act of flagging the application. So to make a ridiculous and sweeping statement such as “ As HSBC didn't notice that the account application was fraudulent they failed in their duty of care” is so ill conceived it is almost contemptible.

Quite apart from that, the fact that banks have to have anti fraud procedures in place is because, surprisingly, fraudsters will try their luck and the harsh reality of that is that sophisticated attempts will sometimes prevail. That is a world apart from the bank being negligent, unless you have something you’d like to share that contradicts that?

emm12345

Pretty certain that banks should have appropriate KYC in place that prevents fraudsters from fraudulently opening accounts with fake ID/no ID at all. There are articles of similar examples at hsbc and they have higher account opening fraud rates, so clearly something isn’t working at their end. Clearscore on the other hand spotted fraud by doing device & email checks in the background, prevented the account from being opened and customer service were responsive and got back to me almost instantly.
Opening a bank account and taking out a £5k overdraft fraudulently and failing to update/reassure me is extremely poor experience that I wouldn’t expect from a well known brand. 

p00hsticks

I'm pretty sure we've had posts on this board before from people who have apparently successfully 'opened' bank accounts with various banks but then been asked as a follow up to go into branches to provide ID and/or had almost immediate notification that the account has been closed for one reason follwoing background checks. I susect that HSBC falls into this category.

Starling for example claim that you can quickly open an account using just your mobile phone, but I presume (hope) woudl then go on to do further checks in the background to confirm the persons identity and details.

I understand and appreciate your concerns and that this has come at a particularly bad time for you, but I do think you are being rather harsh on HSBC. You have been a victim of identity fraud and in those cases it is not straightforward electronically to distinguish whether the applicant is really the person they say they are. You spotted the credit check so quickly that HSBC may well have already been carrying out further checks in the background as part of the account opening process.

emm12345

Ah I would really hope do! They did block “my” card apparently, so it’s worrying that card was created. On the other hand, it’s a massive relief that they didn’t get a chance to use overdraft. Just created one massive headache to me at the worst possible time. I am really interested to hear the explanation from the fraud team…

p00hsticks

emm12345 said:

I am really interested to hear the explanation from the fraud team…

I wouldn't get up too much hope about getting a detailed explanation from the fraud team - they (quite correctly) prefer any ways fraudsters have found of circumventing their systems not to become public knowledge.

Perhaps bizzarely, there are also data protection issues in play - you can't logically say on the one hand that the account holder is not you but then expect them to discuss the details of that same account with you.

masonic

p00hsticks said:

I'm pretty sure we've had posts on this board before from people who have apparently successfully 'opened' bank accounts with various banks but then been asked as a follow up to go into branches to provide ID and/or had almost immediate notification that the account has been closed for one reason follwoing background checks. I susect that HSBC falls into this category.

We certainly have: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2354029/hsbc-application-accepted

I've also personally experienced this.

HSBC now allows applicants to upload photos of ID. Some information is here: https://www.hsbc.co.uk/help/banking-made-easy/help-us-identify-you/
It's therefore very important to make sure nobody gains access to your valuable ID documents

emm12345

Ah ok - lady in the branch told me that electronic verification is enough contrary to their website. Very strange as my passport is always in my possession ☹️

Daliah

emm12345 said:

Ah I would really hope do! They did block “my” card apparently, so it’s worrying that card was created. On the other hand, it’s a massive relief that they didn’t get a chance to use overdraft. Just created one massive headache to me at the worst possible time. I am really interested to hear the explanation from the fraud team…

Don't hold your hopes too high for an explanation.

Somebody applied online for an account in your name, with details that matched the data about you held on credit reference files and the Electoral Register. This is usually sufficient to open a current account at many banks. Somebody might even have been asked by HSBC to provide additional proof of ID, and somebody may or may not have supplied such additional proof.

Bottom line is that the 'somebody' could have been anyone, including even yourself. It's most unlikely that HSBC will ever establish the true ID of the fraudster, but they will obviously have information that you, and people on this forum, don't have. Such as the precise time of application, and the IP address used. HSBC will also know precisely what data was used to confirm 'your' ID. You'd have a huge job proving HSBC failed in any way, and you might just be better advised to let go, as the fraud was discovered before any harm was done, and you have a lot of other things to deal with.

As your data is 'in the wild', have you taken steps to protect yourself from further fraudulent use of your data, such as a protective CIFAS registration? That seems way more important to me than hassling HSBC.

emm12345

CIFAS registration will mean that I will encounter delays and potential problems with my mortgage. And I definitely believe that protecting customers and asking for ID should be a must! My main concern is a speedy removal of the fraudulent account information from my CRA file. If this affects my mortgage in any way or delays it, I will not only be hassling HSBC but will uphold my complaint and escalate to FOS.

masonic

emm12345 said:

CIFAS registration will mean that I will encounter delays and potential problems with my mortgage. And I definitely believe that protecting customers and asking for ID should be a must! My main concern is a speedy removal of the fraudulent account information from my CRA file. If this affects my mortgage in any way or delays it, I will not only be hassling HSBC but will uphold my complaint and escalate to FOS.

Is the account now visible on your credit files? I thought all that was there was a search, which will no doubt be removed, but will take time.

When are you planning to make your mortgage application?