I got scammed and then got a CIFAS marker

alexbrowne

I’m a 20 year old student working currently on an industry placement year between 2nd and 3rd year Uni.

About a month ago I was in a pub near a train station and was approached by a man who said his wallet had been stolen and needed money to get the train back to London from Birmingham. He asked for my bank details so his Dad could transfer me some money to take out on his behalf so he could pay for a ticket. 

I thought nothing more of it until around 3 days later my Monzo account (where the money was sent) was frozen to complete fraud checks. Monzo were incredibly unhelpful and didn’t tell me anything despite me constantly trying on their in-app chat and logging complaints. Until 2 weeks later when I got the notification that they are officially close my account and that they don’t have to tell me why. But they gave me access to my money so I went to send it to my Santander account which I then found was also frozen. 

Santander were much more helpful over the phone and I went through all their fraud protection people, they checked all my transactions. They then informed me just 2 days ago that I was cleared and could have access to my money and transfer it elsewhere but that they would not give me my account back as a CIFAS marker was against my name. They said they would be closing the account after 30 days but that I could keep the account if I get the marker removed. Seeing as Santander informed me of this and let me know it wasn’t them- I can only assume it’s Monzo who logged the marker.

I have tried contacting Monzo via email (no reply), twitter (unhelpful reply which told me to contact their email/ phone) and phone (which because my account is closed I cannot get through to anyone other than an automated voice that tells me my call has been logged and they’ll get back to me). They finally got back to me today and I spoke with a woman who couldn’t tell me why my account was closed, or if they had raised a CIFAS marker against me. They told me to speak to CIFAS and then get back to them. Very unhelpful, the worst customer service I’ve ever experienced.

I have now filled out a DSAR and CIFAS just emailed me back informing me they’ve nearly finished processing my request which is good. 

I have never, and will never, knowingly commit fraud. I did not even know the fraud I experienced was possible. I was just trying to help out a stranger and now I have had no access to any of my money for weeks. It was hard enough trying to keep money on track before.

I am writing to ask for advice in whether what I have done so far is right and for what to do next.

Thankyou to anyone who takes the time to read this and help. 

[Deleted User]

You would need to formally complain to Monzo (as it's most likely them who issued the CIFAS). I suspect they assume you are a money mule i.e. taking in cash from an unknown source and pushing it on (money laundering)

Getting a fraud marker removed will be difficult and you need to be completely honest on here if you want more advice - drip feeding stuff won't help 

You lent a guy some money for a ticket (so what, £10?)
How much was paid to your Monzo account in relation to the amount you lent? 
Did you move the money out? If so, where did you move the money to?

alexbrowne

Thankyou for your response. 

Yes I have logged a complaint with Monzo, and as soon as CIFAS get back to me with the information they hold on me I’ll send it onto Monzo as well.

Of course, I’ll try to provide as much information as I can. I was with a group of friends at the pub and so he said he’d by us a round for helping. He left us to go on the phone and try and send the money. Nothing more happened that night and the next day I received a call from him asking if the money ever came through and that he never made it home and is still trying. The money (£115) has not but 5 minutes later it did. So I called him back to let him know. I assumed that if the money had entered my account then what could the harm be? Obviously I was wrong.

I took out £170 in cash but only gave him £100 and the other £70 was for me for something unrelated. I just took it out at the same time because I was at the cash point.

When my Monzo was frozen I was worried I would lose the money, and they give you £250 still to spend when they freeze the account, so I sent £250 to my Santander straight away.

In hindsight I understand that this flagged something to Santander as the money sent across accounts was from what is now a fraudulent account.

[Deleted User]

So money mule fraud, appealing to their better nature and providing supporting statements e.g. from witnesses might help but this is nailed on a CIFAS for fraud.

alexbrowne

Okay thankyou for your help- I’m slowly getting through to Monzo via email so hopefully they’ll be able to tell me something useful.

When you say appealing to better nature and providing supporting statements is that to CIFAS or Monzo? 

Do you think I have a leg to stand on to get this removed? 

I understand the process but this feels like I’m being unfairly punished for trying to help someone. 

phillw

alexbrowne said:

About a month ago I was in a pub near a train station and was approached by a man who said his wallet had been stolen and needed money to get the train back to London from Birmingham. He asked for my bank details so his Dad could transfer me some money to take out on his behalf so he could pay for a ticket. 

If this happens in the future, suggest their dad buys a ticket online and emails it.

CIFAS is a very blunt tool to protect against fraud, whether you knowingly took part in the fraud or not then it would not have occurred without you.

You can follow the suggestion on and it might work.
https://www.richardsonlissack.co.uk/service/financial-services-regulation/cifas-markers/

If it were easy to get rid of CIFAS markers, then there would be no point in CIFAS markers. As you wouldn't be able to stop the fraudsters asking for them to be removed.

alexbrowne

Yeah I mean of course I will never get into this situation again. I have thoroughly learnt my lesson.

I am currently following the CIFAS removal process. I have got in contact with Monzo’s help email service and I’ve now gone through a stage of complaint and then a stage of identification. Hopefully then i’ll be able to reach someone to deal with my issue. They said they’ll contact me within a few days.

Then either they help me or I will go back to CIFAS with the information and see what they will do.

I appreciate that it’s not going to be easy to remove, but aren’t people scammed like this all the time? Surely they don’t punish everyone who is scammed by stopping them from getting any bank card/ loan for 6 years?

[Deleted User]

alexbrowne said:

Okay thankyou for your help- I’m slowly getting through to Monzo via email so hopefully they’ll be able to tell me something useful.

When you say appealing to better nature and providing supporting statements is that to CIFAS or Monzo? 

Do you think I have a leg to stand on to get this removed? 

I understand the process but this feels like I’m being unfairly punished for trying to help someone. 

What I mean is, when you deal with Monzo, explain the situation i.e. you were just doing someone a favour not intentionally acting as a mule and if you have witnesses of what they asked for / what the agreement was, get them to put it in writing to support you. It's the equivalent of providing an alibi to the police to show you were not doing wrong as such

alexbrowne

Okay that’s good advice- thankyou so much for all your help. When getting my friends to provide a statement what should I do? Get them to hand write it and sign it?