Relative has been scammed - what can Bank do ?

ERICS_MUM · 24 April 2018 at 10:26AM

Relative has fallen for the old trick of believing a call was from the police advising of fraud on her bank account and saying she needed to give them £2,000 so they can set a trap for the fraudster (I do t know how, she's very scared and can't explain). She also gave the scammers her bank details (I know, I know).

Anyway she's reported it to her bank who quite rightly say that it's not fraud on her account because she withdrew cash. They have blocked her account now.

My question is, now that she's told her bank and they have blocked the account, IF by some chance a fraudulent debit does come through, would the bank be responsible - for example if they gave not blocked the account properly ?

Such a sad story. She knows not to do it again and she knows she's lost the £2,000. I'm just trying to find out if she's protected against any future account fraud?

Thanks

Yorkshire_Pud · 24 April 2018 at 10:30AM

If the account is blocked presumably there is money in it that needs to go in to a new account for that person being as the old account details are known by fraudsters it must be inoperable going forward?

ERICS_MUM · 24 April 2018 at 10:36AM

Yes they will transfer to a new account but I'm worried that the bank might "switch" any debits destined for the old account to the new account automatically, without referring to the relative.

xylophone · 24 April 2018 at 10:41AM

Perhaps your relative should open an account with a different bank, transfer the cash from the old account to it, manually transfer her DDs and close the old account?

Yorkshire_Pud · 24 April 2018 at 10:41AM

Reading OP again she gave the fraudsters £2,000 in CASH! Where, when? CCTV? The real Police should be involved.

Yorkshire_Pud · 24 April 2018 at 10:46AM

ERICS_MUM wrote: »

Yes they will transfer to a new account but I'm worried that the bank might "switch" any debits destined for the old account to the new account automatically, without referring to the relative.

Check the DDs set up on the account and cancel the fraudulent ones if any. The account holder controls the DDs. Tell the Police about the details of the fraudulent DD of any.

Candyapple · 24 April 2018 at 11:06AM

ERICS_MUM wrote: »

Relative has fallen for the old trick of believing a call was from the police advising of fraud on her bank account and saying she needed to give them £2,000 so they can set a trap for the fraudster (I do t know how, she's very scared and can't explain). She also gave the scammers her bank details (I know, I know).

Anyway she's reported it to her bank who quite rightly say that it's not fraud on her account because she withdrew cash. They have blocked her account now.

My question is, now that she's told her bank and they have blocked the account, IF by some chance a fraudulent debit does come through, would the bank be responsible - for example if they gave not blocked the account properly ?

Such a sad story. She knows not to do it again and she knows she's lost the £2,000. I'm just trying to find out if she's protected against any future account fraud?

Thanks

Do you mean she gave them her log in details for online/telephone banking?

Or do you mean she just told them her account number and sort code? If it's the latter, then they can't take anything out of her account using just those details.

You said she withdrew cash - how did she pay the fraudsters?

soulsaver · 24 April 2018 at 11:23AM

Candyapple wrote: »

Or do you mean she just told them her account number and sort code? If it's the latter, then they can't take anything out of her account using just those details.

Yes they can... which is why the OP is right to be concerned about DDs.

Candyapple · 24 April 2018 at 11:34AM

soulsaver wrote: »

Yes they can... which is why the OP is right to be concerned about DDs.

I meant as in they wouldn't be able to withdraw cash physically by just using those details, not setting up DDs.

Who exactly are the fraudsters going to set a direct debit up to? A company? What would be the point? Don't forget that there is also the direct debit guarantee so assuming in this instance that a DD was wrongly set up, the relative would still be able to get their money back.

If the account is blocked by the bank, that means you wouldn't be able to set up a DD anyway. Plus any DD's that are legitimately on there which were set up by the relative would likely bounce as the bank won't release the money.

Another issue faced by the relative is that if the bank has blocked the bank account, the bank may have applied a CIFAS marker to the relative which would mean if they then tried to open an account elsewhere - it would be closed.

soulsaver · 24 April 2018 at 11:59AM

Candyapple wrote: »

I meant as in they wouldn't be able to withdraw cash physically by just using those details, not setting up DDs.

Who exactly are the fraudsters going to set a direct debit up to? A company? What would be the point? Don't forget that there is also the direct debit guarantee so assuming in this instance that a DD was wrongly set up, the relative would still be able to get their money back.

If the account is blocked by the bank, that means you wouldn't be able to set up a DD anyway. Plus any DD's that are legitimately on there which were set up by the relative would likely bounce as the bank won't release the money.

Another issue faced by the relative is that if the bank has blocked the bank account, the bank may have applied a CIFAS marker to the relative which would mean if they then tried to open an account elsewhere - it would be closed.

You made a general statement which may mislead. I pointed out it was incorrect...
I cbb to correct the errors in your response.

jonesMUFCforever · 24 April 2018 at 12:03PM

In scams like this they are just after cash - they won't set up D/D's IMO. They will be well away now.

Relative has been scammed - what can Bank do ?

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