Cheque Fraud - Accounts Frozen

Samj008

I apologise if this is in the wrong place but please help regardless.

Recently I discovered that someone had stolen my card and pin from the post and used to to withdraw £40 (all that was available from that account). On the same day someone had deposited two £900 cheques into my account. I notified the bank by telephone the day I noticed, thats was a saturday the 9th of Feb, the transactions had happened on the 8th. While it is unlikely, the cheques may have been deposited by a family member or a friend as we have recently moved here and could be better off financially. So when I went into the bank on the monday to inform them and request a copy of the cheques, I told them that I was concerned but that the best way to sort it was to send me a copy. They told me I could not order a copy of a cheque paid into my account, only a cheque paid out of it. They also told me they would highlight them "...in case anyone asked." but all I could really do was wait and see if they cleared. They cleared on the 13th, and again I rang and asked for copies of them, this time over the phone the lady said she had sent an email and to expect them inside 5-10 working days. Then having not been told otherwise by any bank staff member I transfered the money out of the joint account it had been deposited into and into out two personal accounts, so that whoever had previously accessed this account could not gain access to the cleared funds. Then I went about my business leaving the funds untouched. on the 19th the bank froze all of my accounts and has informed me they are investigating the possability I was involved in fraud.

Given I was not a knowing party to fraud, and the bank did not take the money out before the 6 day cleared for fate deadline, do I have any rights to the money under the 2-4-6 changes. OR should they pay me any compensation for time off work and inconveinience given the only reason they know that there is a possability of fraud is because I brought it to their attention, at this point there is no proof beyond my initial suspision that the cheques are fraudulent, they have not produced a copy of them either.

Ultimately I would love to have rights to it, even though I understand its not mine. But I do feel the bank owe me at the very least an apology for how they have treated me and my partner during this.

N79

You don't have any rights to the money.

However, you have clearly acted honestly. You have queried the cheques several times with the bank. I would suggest you are definately owed an apology and compensation for your consequential losses and costs related to the freezing of the account.

Make a written complaint to the bank outlining the events and what you want them to do. If they refuse, complain to the financial services obudsman.

Good luck

N79

gazebo

From the information you have provided, given that you do not know where the cheques deposited into your account have come from and you've ended your post with you know it's not your money, technically you are involved in the 'fraud' (please note, I am not saying it is definitely fraud here).

I know that you have only asked the bank for details of the cheques to establish the source of funds, however you have alerted them to the fact that there are suspicious transactions on your account at the same time.

In addition to this, you have then gone on to remove the funds from the account to protect them from being stolen by a third party (this might sound a perfectly reasonable thing to do).

Whilst these things appear reasonable to you, unfortunately the bank are obliged to act as they are on the grounds of potential money laundering and also fraud. Failure for them to investigate and for this to be a real case could result in them being fined.

There may well be many reasons as to why your accounts have been frozen, not simply because you told them about the cheques.

I understand that you have been inconvenienced by all of this and would like an apology from your bank. My suggestion would be that you call them and talk calmly to them to establish more information.

Samj008

yeah I tried that, they wont' speak to me, what annoys me most is this would have all been no problem had they contacted me before freezing the accounts it could all have been sorted, they could have frozen the funds only until they established whether or not they were legitimate.

Samj008

and how about a little common sense, had I been involved in money laundering would I have moved the money into ajoining accounts in the same branch and then left it there?

gazebo

When it comes to money laundering, banks have seen it all.

What is common sense to you in this situation, i.e. if you were involved in ML then you wouldn't keep the funds with the same bank, is potentially a classic sign of ML to the bank.

Again, I stress that I am not implying that you are involved in fraud or the laundering of money, just trying to explain the perspective the bank may have on the situation.

I hope everything is sorted out for you quickly.

Samj008

I'm just annoyed that in this situation I was up front and honest and I get shafted by the bank leaving me no access to my legitimately earned funds what will probably turn out to be longer than a week.

gazebo

fingers crossed that you get access to your own money again quickly.

Samj008

gazebo wrote: »

fingers crossed that you get access to your own money again quickly.

Does that not annoy you though. Fingers crossed you will get access to your funds shortly. Banks were set up to protect my money, they made their money by lending it out at a higher interest rate than they paid. Though the margin would have been a lot slimmer back then. Now they make money on every transaction (Well in NZ they do) plus they get all sorts of penalty fees. Then they treat you like a W*nker whenever they feel like it. And just because I am not one of their bigger customers I have to just keep my fingers crossed that they will allow me access to my own money in good time. Meanwhile my possible fraud case sits at the bottom of someones 'to do' box in some office in Halifax!!

gazebo

It is annoying and it would annoy me yes.

Unfortunately being annoyed will not and does not sort things out any quicker. I've learned from the past that sometimes it is better to let things work their course and then seek compensation afterwards. Going in all fired up only gets everyones back up and makes people less likely to listen and/or help.

Once it is all sorted, write a detailed complaint to the bank and explain fully details of the contact you have made and the responses you have been given at each stage, as N79 said at the top of this thread.