Scam?

eskbanker

Rollinghome said:

eskbanker said:

Rollinghome said:

eskbanker said:

gt94sss2 said:

eskbanker said:

gt94sss2 said:
If your relative don't take action themselves,  I suggest you report the issue as well as telling their bank what is occurring so they can take preventive action.

What preventive action do you think they can take if receiving a warning from a third party with no authority on the account?  How would you feel if your ability to pay someone was affected by something the bank had been told by (what is to them) a random stranger?

It means they can flag the customer as potentially vulnerable for instance and apply greater scrutiny to unusual transactions.

I'm not saying giving over the head of the account holder directly to their bank is my preferred response but it is an option. 

As for what they or the police/bank can do

https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/news-and-insight/blog/vulnerable-victims-notifications-bringing-together-banks-and-law-enforcement

Fraud is usually reported via Action Fraud (https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/reporting-fraud-and-cyber-crime) and I would encourage the OP to assist their relative to report it.

I'm all for OP assisting their relative in reporting potential/likely fraud but still don't believe it's viable for OP to approach the relative's bank unilaterally and would be surprised if such an approach resulted in any action, although if the bank is advised by the police that a VVN might be appropriate then that would be different.

That's not my experience.

My mother developed dementia when she was still very young, just middle-aged, as her mother had before her.  As typically happens, the disease changed her whole character.

After my father died, when she was 70, we found around £1000 in her handbag and that she had been drawing out huge sums every week from her bank account that seemed to have vanished.  I went into the bank and explained what was happening. It was clear to them that something was amiss, and they agreed to give her a small sum, £10 I think, and more than enough for a week's shopping back in 1979, each time she came in.  They might have seen me with her but didn't ask for any proof of who I was.  She apparently made a huge fuss every time, including accusing them of stealing her money, and I was very grateful they put up with her.

So bank staff could be very helpful and sensible back then, and I'm sure would still be today. They may even have training now in what to do if a customer is thought to be acting irrationally. Nobody wants to see elderly people robbed.

After she died, we found the missing money squirrelled away all over the house. Thousands of it; the biggest cache under her pillow. We also found that she had told the milkman what she'd been doing, so probably half the neighbourhood knew.

The world was a very different place 45 years ago!  Among the many significant changes are the introduction of data protection legislation and transformation of financial services controls - it can doubtless be debated as to whether these are positive or not, but such an old example is unlikely to be relevant to what's likely to happen today if someone contacts a bank expecting to influence how another person's account is to be managed.

Mr E, while that can't be denied, and I'm sure you are trying to be helpful, it would more useful if you could get your head in a place where you concentrate on what can be done, rather than on what can't be done. 

Sometimes it's better to try and to fail, than to never try at all.

Things have clearly moved on since I was last on here but for the record, I did make early suggestions about how best (IMHO) to deal with this, and was simply highlighting that an approach that may have worked way back in the same decade as decimalisation is unlikely to be relevant in this day and age, even though you no doubt felt that you were being helpful in citing it!

Glad to see that the matter has been resolved in the best way, i.e. by getting the victim to see sense.

jaypers

The outcome of this thread is good news and everyone on here should feel happy that in some small part we have helped the OP with what is a huge issue in society at the moment, and also a huge issue within his own family. Hopefully it can also be of use to anyone else reading it. Every defeat caused to these dregs in the world, ie: the criminals we call scammers, is a win for good. 

[Deleted User]

Thanks everyone for your help and support through my relative's difficult time.

He blocked their numbers and emails, and hasn't heard any more from these scammers, and hopefully, this will be a warning to all of us.

Thank you