Oxbury Bank

lebilly1

I have opened an account with Oxbury Bank having looked at the options on this website and followed the link to Oxbury and set up account.  I transferred a small amount to start with from my bank account to check if went over okay which it did.  I then went to transfer a larger amount which looked to go out my bank but within minutes I had a call from my bank fraud dept to check and put enough doubt in my mind that this may be a scam (even though I've already done my homework like checking the webpage and googling on line reviews).  Has anyone else had this experience worried as MSE dont seem to address this.  Im not sure what to do ?

eskbanker

What exactly did your bank's fraud department say?

I was assuming that Oxbury may not be part of the Confirmation of Payee scheme, which would have prevented the recipient from being validated when setting up a transfer, but I think Oxbury are part of that scheme and in any case the check only would have 'failed' first time round rather than on the second transfer.

Oxbury is a genuine bank, regulated by the PRA/FCA and so on (you can check the register and verify that the entity you're dealing with is the correct one, and so on), so it would be irresponsible for your current account provider to be suggesting or implying anything to the contrary - who is it?

Malchester

If this is the real Oxbury Bank then it is definitely not a scam. It is not unusual for some banks to be ultra cautious over funds transfers. 

elsien

I had a similar call when I wanted to move a large sum from Natwest - not to Oxbury, to a different smaller bank.
Because it was unusual for me, they just wanted to check I knew what I was doing. Once I'd explained it was due to their appalling interest rates on the account so I was moving  my money to someone with a much better deal, there were no further problems. 

amanda1024

I had a similar issue trying to move a large sum from Virgin Money to Barclays (chasing better savings rates last year). They asked stuff like 'are you sure this is a real bank' - I was like, I've had a mortgage with them for a decade, they have branches all over the place, if they're some sort of fake it's very good! And this was with having passed the confirmation of payee etc. And having transferred a small sum over first to make sure it turned up to be doubly sure it turned up ok. 

SVts

This tends to happen when you transfer small 'test' amounts first as this method is what the fraudsters apparently do.
They seem to prefer you transferring large amounts.

caper7

amanda1024 said:

I had a similar issue trying to move a large sum from Virgin Money to Barclays (chasing better savings rates last year). They asked stuff like 'are you sure this is a real bank' - I was like, I've had a mortgage with them for a decade, they have branches all over the place, if they're some sort of fake it's very good! And this was with having passed the confirmation of payee etc. And having transferred a small sum over first to make sure it turned up to be doubly sure it turned up ok. 

Branches all over the place? Not anymore! Closing left, right and centre 😕

noclaf

Op, I had a similar experience albeit involved moving money into Oxbury and Shawbrook...my bank put a temporary stop/freeze on my account as I tried 'testing the waters' with a small payment followed by much larger sums....sometimes fraudsters employ similar methods when trying to steal money/shift around fraudulent money etc It was a temporary PITA but sorted out fairly quickly after a call with my banks fraud team well 2 calls per their due diligence checks etc.

masonic

SVts said:

This tends to happen when you transfer small 'test' amounts first as this method is what the fraudsters apparently do.
They seem to prefer you transferring large amounts.

This is a bit of a myth. Banks look for unusual account activity, meaning that if you don't typically do small 'test' transfers followed by large amounts, then this pattern is more likely to get flagged. I always take the test transfer approach when I can, so when a savings bank won't accept a small payment and I have to send a large amount as the first payment, that's typically when I have to jump through extra hoops. I've not had an issue with sending £1 followed in quick succession with £XXXXX for many years.

The exception to the above is Santander, which is a law unto itself.

Any bank that took a uniform approach to flagging payments would be playing right into the hands of fraudsters, as fraudsters will have far more knowledge and experience to predict and avoid activity that is likely to be flagged than us honest money savers.

AllAboutAlice

Happened to me yesterday. Apparently certain banks are targeted by scammers and movement from these banks raises a flag. I got a text from RBS after they stopped the second, larger amount (following a test transfer) and warned me about why they were holding this money and would contact me shortly to discuss it. Well, they didn’t call me,  so I called them on a number for the bank and whilst I appreciated their concern, it took a long time and many checks to convince them I had done the transfer (to a better savings account 🙄) voluntarily. I’d’ve been mad if the rate had dropped while I waited! 

jimexbox

AllAboutAlice said:

Happened to me yesterday. Apparently certain banks are targeted by scammers and movement from these banks raises a flag. I got a text from RBS after they stopped the second, larger amount (following a test transfer) and warned me about why they were holding this money and would contact me shortly to discuss it. Well, they didn’t call me,  so I called them on a number for the bank and whilst I appreciated their concern, it took a long time and many checks to convince them I had done the transfer (to a better savings account 🙄) voluntarily. I’d’ve been mad if the rate had dropped while I waited! 

When folk are scammed I'm sure after reporting it to the police, they want their bank to refund their money.

I read in the telegraph a person 'invested' after reading a Facebook ad, they even took a loan out. Obviously they lost the lot, and was moaning to the consumer journalist that their bank should have protected them and wanted a full refund.