Santander looking to freeze Bank account

noitsnotme

35har1old said:

noitsnotme said:

I know it’s a bit pedantic but haven’t Santander only been in the UK for 20 years since acquiring Abbey National in 2004?

They came into the UK in 1988
As Abbey National rebranded in 2003 to Abbey so Abbey National  was never acquired 
Abbey only changed its name 2010

Santander themselves say they acquired Abbey National in 2004…

Emmia

Could the branch see any evidence that your parents had actually been called - even hanging up may not clear the call on a landline, so your father could still have spoken to the scammer when he "called back" (which might explain the rudeness). I'd be surprised if he got back through to the same member of staff who called him the first time using the number on the card. Or did he use a different phone e.g. a mobile for that call?

Nasqueron

penners324 said:

Requesting house deeds is a ludicrous over reach of AML. 

Lodge The issue with your MP and the banking Ombudsman.

Just FYI you can't go direct to the FOS (well technically you can, but it won't go anywhere) - you have to formally complain to the bank and give them the standard 8 weeks to resolve the complaint or issue a deadlock letter before you can go to the FOS. The FOS will contact the bank and if there was no formal complaint issued, 99% of the time they will simply refer it to the bank to deal with rather than charging them the fee for taking the case

Nasqueron

xylophone said:

The staff member was very rude, firstly saying if my father spoke to them when they phoned him originally instead of ending the call.

Rudeness to a customer, especially an elderly customer who may be particularly nervous about a scam call is utterly unacceptable

Rudeness to one person is formal banking responses to another, someone who has been with one bank for 50 years and probably used to the old days of a local bank manager knowing his customers might consider security and corporate responses rude, unless OP was on the call as well, it might be better to clarify what was said before going in guns blazing. I spoke to Virgin about an old dormant account to advise I didn't want 5 years of paperwork sending before they shut it and she called me darling and babe twice, to some that might seem impolite and overly familiar!

35har1old

noitsnotme said:

35har1old said:

noitsnotme said:

I know it’s a bit pedantic but haven’t Santander only been in the UK for 20 years since acquiring Abbey National in 2004?

They came into the UK in 1988
As Abbey National rebranded in 2003 to Abbey so Abbey National  was never acquired 
Abbey only changed its name 2010

Santander themselves say they acquired Abbey National in 2004…

The statement three formier building societies is slighty misleading as at the time of Abbeys takeover Abbey had been a bank for 15 years

born_again

Emmia said:

Could the branch see any evidence that your parents had actually been called - even hanging up may not clear the call on a landline, so your father could still have spoken to the scammer when he "called back" (which might explain the rudeness). I'd be surprised if he got back through to the same member of staff who called him the first time using the number on the card. Or did he use a different phone e.g. a mobile for that call?

No chance what so ever.
The specialist team that deal with these cases, will not take calls to the main number.

Branch should have access to notes on account. But some teams will not put full notes on, as normal staff can & often do say the wrong thing that the customer should not know.

Op did the right thing. But on ringing the number would have been put through to that team. If not then the points to a fraudster who had been sat on the home phone line.

dippy3103

Did your parents ring back from the same phone? Some scammers  keep the line open and catch people this way.

More info here 

https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/phone-scams-and-cold-calls

redgem12

Santander have sent a letter if parents don't provide information they will freeze the account. Telephone call they are going to freeze anyway my 19th. KYC its to do with FCA regulations. Know your customer.

I have told them to transfer all funds to another bank and leave 1p in the account.

redgem12

By 19th meant to say

dippy3103

The letter could be counterfeit. Take it from a fraud investigator, fraudsters can be very sophisticated.  In this day and age of deepfakes, a letter from a bank would be very easy to produce.
The requests for deeds is a huge red flag In my opinion….