Chase Bank / Scam Processes

[Deleted User]

Hi guys!

I've been trying to find on the internet what Chase's policy is on customers being scammed.

I was a victim of this on the 3rd May, totalling £760 in transfers. It's a long story but it was very sophisticated and manipulative way of getting me to send money and there was also coercion as the scammer was with me. Any way, when I realised what had happened I called the police and they sent someone out to arrest the guy who scammed me but they said because I actually sent the money, the money is a civil matter.

I contacted Chase as well straight after the police and they were very understanding and sympathetic and said they'd do everything they could to recover the funds. I provided them with THREE crime reference numbers (the scammer also stole my passport and some other belongings), and I provided a full statement of what happened and literally receipts of WhatsApp convo's and emails from the scammer.

This was Wednesday last week and by Friday I called Chase multiple times to find out some info but all they kept saying is the relevant department are going to deal with it and "make sure everything's put right", but they don't know a timescale or when someone from the 'relevant department' will call me.

I've left it another week and they've just told me the same thing but with "we've escalated it as an an urgent request". And they asked how to make things right but they're not doing what I expect from them and I don't know what to do?

I burst in to tears on the phone because everything with the whole crime got to me, the humiliation, the frustration of the bank seemingly doing nothing, and all my money was gone. I had to borrow money. It was awful.

Does anybody have any advice please? 

TheBanker

I am very sorry to hear about what has happened. 

Unfortunately, Chase are not a signatory to the CRM code, which means you have fewer rights than if this had happened at one of the bigger banks. If you are not happy with how Chase are dealing with your situation, then make a formal complaint. If you're not satisfied with the outcome, you can refer the complaint to the FOS (or after eight weeks if it's unresolved).

However, I think we need to be realistic about the possible outcomes. These payments were authorised by you, and were relatively small, so they probably would not have been unusual enough for Chase to intervene. You should therefore prepare yourself for the outcome that Chase are not at fault and not obliged to refund this money. The fact that the police have advised it's a civil matter unfortunately doesn't help your case. 

I know this won't be what you want to hear, but I think it's important not to create unrealistic expectations. 

wmb194

Is this a similar situation to what happened in your other thread with TSB that was also denied? Perhaps Chase's reasoning will be the same as TSB's?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6259538/tsb-fraud-reported-and-closed-account#latest

TheBanker

Having just read the other thread, I think your attention should be focused on the police. It sounds like you were a victim of false imprisonment. Given the perpetrator's identity is known, and there is likely sufficient evidence from your phone and theirs, I would expect the police to take this seriously. Not least to protect his next victim from the same thing, or something even worse. The fact that false imprisonment carries a potential prison sentence shows how seriously law-makers consider this crime to be.

If the police have just issued crime numbers and said the money is a civil matter, then that doesn't sound right. I would make a complaint to the police that you have been a victim of a serious crime which has not been properly investigated. I would also ask your MP for assistance. I don't think this is a matter that the bank's complaints process or the Financial Ombudsman Service can reasonably resolve. The person who did this needs to be arrested and brought before a judge. 

[Deleted User]

TheBanker said:

I am very sorry to hear about what has happened. 

Unfortunately, Chase are not a signatory to the CRM code, which means you have fewer rights than if this had happened at one of the bigger banks. If you are not happy with how Chase are dealing with your situation, then make a formal complaint. If you're not satisfied with the outcome, you can refer the complaint to the FOS (or after eight weeks if it's unresolved).

However, I think we need to be realistic about the possible outcomes. These payments were authorised by you, and were relatively small, so they probably would not have been unusual enough for Chase to intervene. You should therefore prepare yourself for the outcome that Chase are not at fault and not obliged to refund this money. The fact that the police have advised it's a civil matter unfortunately doesn't help your case. 

I know this won't be what you want to hear, but I think it's important not to create unrealistic expectations. 

Oh, I definitely know I won't get the money back from his bank. I kind of hoped for Chase to consider the circumstances and refund it, but I'm no expert and I'm leading with some hope that someone has my back.

One strange part of this is that the scammer got my email address somehow and when I said I was reporting him to the police he started sending nasty emails, threatening me and also claiming I was high on drugs (I wasn't), and that he's giving me notice off him taking legal action for my abusive behaviour towards him (also, not true), and my harassment (also, not true), which was all very bizarre.

He stole my passport and he messaged me to say he'd accidentally picked it up - so he admitted it without me even knowing it had gone, but then he refused to return it. I begged him and offered to send a courier but for some strange reason he made out I was inconveniencing him and therefore the money he took is rightfully his. But he continued emailing me, about 40 times in the evening. The police told me not to respond and when they came to my place the next morning they asked me to send them all of the emails and screenshots of him saying he has my passport and refusing to return it. I ultimately ended up reporting my passport as stolen. The police went and got it from him the next day and brought it to me, but it's redundant now. I asked them to press charges but they just returned the passport and said they've advised the scammer to not contact me and they advise the same to me, and because the other issues are civil matters they closed the case.

TheBanker

Something that just occurred to me - your forum user name seems to be your real name. If this is the case, I would strongly recommend contacting the Forum Team to ask if it can be changed, and/or your posts removed. I say this because the person could easily find these posts and take pleasure from the fact you are clearly still distressed. They could even prompt further contact from the person involved. 

Holding someone against their will, and forcing them to authorise bank transfers, are not civil matters. Neither is theft of a passport. 

I'd suggest you stop referring to this as a 'scam'. A scam is where you knowingly and willingly made a payment, having been tricked about either the purpose of the payment or the identity of the payee. This isn't a scam, it's extortion which is a crime that the police should be dealing with. 

clowning

TheBanker said:

Something that just occurred to me - your forum user name seems to be your real name. If this is the case, I would strongly recommend contacting the Forum Team to ask if it can be changed, and/or your posts removed. I say this because the person could easily find these posts and take pleasure from the fact you are clearly still distressed. They could even prompt further contact from the person involved. 

Holding someone against their will, and forcing them to authorise bank transfers, are not civil matters. Neither is theft of a passport. 

I'd suggest you stop referring to this as a 'scam'. A scam is where you knowingly and willingly made a payment, having been tricked about either the purpose of the payment or the identity of the payee. This isn't a scam, it's extortion which is a crime that the police should be dealing with. 

I don't know if you noticed, but the linked thread is from 2 years ago, so no point labouring this now.

In relation to this matter with Chase OP, you say the 'scammer' was with you. Is it someone that you know? It sounds like another incident of theft

TheBanker

clowning said:

TheBanker said:

Something that just occurred to me - your forum user name seems to be your real name. If this is the case, I would strongly recommend contacting the Forum Team to ask if it can be changed, and/or your posts removed. I say this because the person could easily find these posts and take pleasure from the fact you are clearly still distressed. They could even prompt further contact from the person involved. 

Holding someone against their will, and forcing them to authorise bank transfers, are not civil matters. Neither is theft of a passport. 

I'd suggest you stop referring to this as a 'scam'. A scam is where you knowingly and willingly made a payment, having been tricked about either the purpose of the payment or the identity of the payee. This isn't a scam, it's extortion which is a crime that the police should be dealing with. 

I don't know if you noticed, but the linked thread is from 2 years ago, so no point labouring this now.

In relation to this matter with Chase OP, you say the 'scammer' was with you. Is it someone that you know? It sounds like another incident of theft

No, I did not notice the other thread was two years old, and the first post of this thread says the incident happened on 3 May. Are these the same incidents? If it happened two years ago then I agree the time for action is long gone. 

Edit: They cannot be the same incident, as Chase UK hadn't launched when the other thread was created. So the OP seems to be very unlucky. Perhaps they need to take additional precautions when meeting people, and not go to houses of people they don't know well. 

born_again

TheBanker said:

Having just read the other thread, I think your attention should be focused on the police. It sounds like you were a victim of false imprisonment. Given the perpetrator's identity is known, and there is likely sufficient evidence from your phone and theirs, I would expect the police to take this seriously. Not least to protect his next victim from the same thing, or something even worse. The fact that false imprisonment carries a potential prison sentence shows how seriously law-makers consider this crime to be.

If the police have just issued crime numbers and said the money is a civil matter, then that doesn't sound right. I would make a complaint to the police that you have been a victim of a serious crime which has not been properly investigated. I would also ask your MP for assistance. I don't think this is a matter that the bank's complaints process or the Financial Ombudsman Service can reasonably resolve. The person who did this needs to be arrested and brought before a judge. 

Police are not there to recover funds. They will pass this to the bank, but unless the bank can reclaim from the fraudsters acc at that point. Then it is gone.

Totally agree on other points though. Op needs to press further & raise a complaint with the police.

TheBanker

born_again said:

TheBanker said:

Having just read the other thread, I think your attention should be focused on the police. It sounds like you were a victim of false imprisonment. Given the perpetrator's identity is known, and there is likely sufficient evidence from your phone and theirs, I would expect the police to take this seriously. Not least to protect his next victim from the same thing, or something even worse. The fact that false imprisonment carries a potential prison sentence shows how seriously law-makers consider this crime to be.

If the police have just issued crime numbers and said the money is a civil matter, then that doesn't sound right. I would make a complaint to the police that you have been a victim of a serious crime which has not been properly investigated. I would also ask your MP for assistance. I don't think this is a matter that the bank's complaints process or the Financial Ombudsman Service can reasonably resolve. The person who did this needs to be arrested and brought before a judge. 

Police are not there to recover funds. They will pass this to the bank, but unless the bank can reclaim from the fraudsters acc at that point. Then it is gone.

Totally agree on other points though. Op needs to press further & raise a complaint with the police.

I agree the Police are not there to recover funds - but this is not always something the bank can do either. The Police should however be looking to prosecute criminals, and the courts can confiscate the stolen funds and return them to the victim. I appreciate in practice this won't happen for relatively small amounts as we're discussing here.

Theft of money shouldn't be described as a civil matter by the police. A civil matter is something like paying for goods which were not received/not as described. It's not being forced under duress into making payments.

born_again

Sadly this is how the police view money in these situations.

Same with the known ATM scams where people are forced to enter pin. They simply will not deal in a lot of cases. Even had argument with police after customer handed phone to me, while talking to police. After being assaulted at a ATM & money lost. They were refusing to log a crime & said should be reported on action fraud as it was money lost. Not the fact the person had just been assaulted at a ATM.

Met police are by far the worst in these cases. They simply do not want to take a report & deal.