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Suspect bank statement is fake

245

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  • DullGreyGuy
    DullGreyGuy Posts: 15,618 Forumite
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    saajan_12 said:
    Surprised why everyone else is surprised at wanting to review bank statements - its a normal part of checking references and affordability, just like an estate agent or landlord would do for example. 

    Yes there are hurdles to pass such as registering with ICO, having a proper system to securely store the data, delete when not needed, etc but those would likely already be the case with other personal information held. Nothing in the OP to suggest that's at issue. 

    However OP, there's likely no way to fully verify, and I doubt the bank would help as it opens up GDPR things to check for the advisor without any benefit to them. All you can do is try to get a hold of a friend's statement to compare the format, or ask the person about the discrepancies in case there's an explanation, or ask them to show on the app . website itself. They may or may not be willing to answer. 
    Your average person doesn't have a need to check someone else's affordability. The biggest exposure most people are going to have is if their employer can afford to pay their wages and good luck asking a potential employer to share their bank statements with you as a candidate for a job. 
  • MattMattMattUK
    MattMattMattUK Posts: 10,165 Forumite
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    saajan_12 said:
    Surprised why everyone else is surprised at wanting to review bank statements - its a normal part of checking references and affordability, just like an estate agent or landlord would do for example. 
    That should be done in an official capacity, not just by a random person. It requires ICO registration and policies to be in place and comes with some quite serious obligations, which is why small landlords get estate agents to do it, who generally use an approved third party process. Any private landlord just randomly asking for bank statements is on very shaky ground. 
    saajan_12 said:
    Yes there are hurdles to pass such as registering with ICO, having a proper system to securely store the data, delete when not needed, etc but those would likely already be the case with other personal information held. Nothing in the OP to suggest that's at issue. 
    Asking on this forum is fairly indicative. The third-party services that most use mean that the landlord never even sees the customers bank statements, they are all handled within a secure environment by the third party, the landlord just gets told pass or fail, based on the criteria that they specify. An larger landlord that manages that process internally will have trained staff who are aware of the process. 
    saajan_12 said:
    However OP, there's likely no way to fully verify, and I doubt the bank would help as it opens up GDPR things to check for the advisor without any benefit to them. All you can do is try to get a hold of a friend's statement to compare the format, or ask the person about the discrepancies in case there's an explanation, or ask them to show on the app . website itself. They may or may not be willing to answer. 
    Banks will not verify to random people, or indeed anyone other than the police or a court. In theory one could ask a bank to certify statements and send them to a solicitor, but that is a different process and needs to be initiated by the account holder, not a third party. That is why nearly all use the third party services, so that the customer is properly credit checked and that any bank statements can be processed on a secure system, which will have the benefit of having hundreds, possibly thousands of statements from different banks to be able to cross verify against for layout/design. 
  • DullGreyGuy
    DullGreyGuy Posts: 15,618 Forumite
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    MattMattMattUK said:
    Banks will not verify to random people, or indeed anyone other than the police or a court. In theory one could ask a bank to certify statements and send them to a solicitor, but that is a different process and needs to be initiated by the account holder, not a third party. 
    There are a few counter fraud schemes like CIFAS where members will verify things for each other but the schemes come with processes to identify each other to ensure its really Bob from RBS's Counter Fraud team rather than some random person calling Virgin's Counter Fraud team claiming to be from RBS. 

    Schemes aren't open to the general public to join so not an option for the OP but just adding for completeness that there is more than just the police and courts. 
  • mab3000
    mab3000 Posts: 524 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 500 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 30 May 2024 at 1:48PM
    In my line of work, we often receive documents titled Transaction list rather than actual bank statements when a customer banks with NatWest (or same banking group), which looks different to the statement examples been given on this thread.  I believe it’s what you are given if you go into one of their branches and request a statement, or also by the sounds of it what you get when generating a statement online. So just because it’s says says transaction statement I wouldn’t be suspicious of the document based on that 

    For the purposes of what my company use bank statements for, we don’t accept transaction lists as we are unable to get them verified for authenticity. I’m not part of the team that actually deals with it so not 100% sure how it works, but like DullGreyGuy has said, my company is part of the scheme that can have bank statements verified to see if they are genuine. 

    Depending on what you are using the bank statements for, having the transaction list may or may not be ok for you. However in terms of getting it verified to see if it’s genuine, as an individual it will be extremely difficult to do if it impossible 
  • SiliconChip
    SiliconChip Posts: 1,651 Forumite
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    Like most posters it's unclear to me why you would want to do this, but if you do need it then surely one way is to go to a branch of the other person's bank with them so that they can get the account statement printed in your presence, which would at least tell you that the contents match up with what the bank has in it's records.
  • GTR_King
    GTR_King Posts: 1,942 Forumite
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    I am with NatWest! 

    Why u think statement is fake?? 

    This is my monthly bank statements from NatWest (info blocked)

    this is my traction list (info blocked out) is the statement one of the pictures 
  • General_Grant
    General_Grant Posts: 5,156 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Perhaps the OP wanted to have confirmation that the account holder had made a payment to the OP's account - because it hadn't arrived in their own.  Someone making a private sale of a car perhaps?
  • born_again
    born_again Posts: 18,360 Forumite
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    Perhaps the OP wanted to have confirmation that the account holder had made a payment to the OP's account - because it hadn't arrived in their own.  Someone making a private sale of a car perhaps?
    Proves nothing.
    No funds in your account. No goods sent.
    Buyer has to chase their bank as to where the funds have gone.
    Life in the slow lane
  • DullGreyGuy
    DullGreyGuy Posts: 15,618 Forumite
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    Perhaps the OP wanted to have confirmation that the account holder had made a payment to the OP's account - because it hadn't arrived in their own.  Someone making a private sale of a car perhaps?
    Could be but it feels more like doing due dilligence on someone's ability to pay over time as a Landlord or creditor would do. 

    If I wanted to show I'd paid something I'd just send them the screenshot of that single payment not a full list of every transaction I've made. On the flip side if someone was paying me then they dont get their goods till I see it in my account irrespective of what evidence they have that they wired the money.
  • boingy
    boingy Posts: 1,666 Forumite
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    I assumed the OP was a private landlord trying to vet a potential tenant. Regardless of the rules about what landlords can ask of potential tenants those rules are routinely broken by landlords trying find reliable tenants and by tenants desperate to get into a decent property. 
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