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  • #1

    Shifting the blame

    Hearing on the news this morning that a senior police officer is advocating that Banks stop automatically compensating their customers if theybecome victims of online fraud.

    Absolutely furious at that. Not because I've been a victim of online fraud but it could easily happen.

    Like most folks, I get bombarded with phishing emails and the volume of online frauds would be hugely reduced if Police Forces worldwide collaberated in tracking down and prosecuting those responsible. Any country not co-operating should be subject to severe sanctions and blocking of all emails from within their borders.

    It may be a huge task but it is a huge problem which is not being tackled with enough vigour. It is not the fault of bank customers and I accept it is not the fault of the Banks. I do think however that Police Forces must accept that their failings are partly to blame and that they should not try to deflect that blame to the public at large.

    Could have stuck this in the rant thread but it's not minor!!
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  • #2
    Yup...I'm with you on this.

    A slightly different situation but someone once opened ten direct debits on our joint account to pay electricity and satelite tv bills to four different addresses in the North, none of which had anything to do with us and none of which were in our names.
    They were massive electric bills, probably for pot growing enterprises.
    We noticed immediately, reported it and tried to close them but here's how it went;

    Bank...."well those companies must have had your signature to open a direct debit in the first place" Erm....not true? what about online set-ups?
    Police.... "Its for the bank to sort out, nothing to do with us" But surely this is theft?
    Bank....."sorry, you can't close this account which has charges outstanding for paying these ten DDs when you had insufficient funds" But they aren't our DDs that you paid, not in our name or for our address....not even in the same city as us!
    Trading standards....."I'm sorry, but you do not have the right to cancel a direct debit once you have set it up, respectable companies will close it for you but it is entirely at their discretion" But we didn't set the DDs up
    Scottish power, EDF, Sky tv......."No, we can't give the address the YOUR account is paying for, that would break data protection, only the police can do that"
    Police....please see above reply.


    No-one is dealing with online fraud already.
    No-one is dealing with bank fraud already.
    What the police chief is suggesting is that we pay the price for it now.

    We sorted those DDs out by putting a terrorism block on that account.

    For anyone who ever needs it, if you cannot close an account but want it not to release money, you can suggest to the bank that they put a terrorism block on it. Then no-ne, including you, the bank or anyone else can take money out or put money in untill some elaborate procedure is completed by the home office.
    http://goneplotterin.blogspot.co.uk/

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    • #3
      Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe online fraud refund claim provokes anger - BBC News

      A police chief's suggestion that banks should consider no longer refunding some online fraud victims has been branded as "astonishingly misjudged" by a consumer group.

      Get emailing your MP etc saying what an idiot this man is.

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      • #4
        That police officer needs to have his account hacked, his salary and all his savings siphoned off..

        Then he might rethink.

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        • #5
          When we had a direct debit set up on our joint account, the name didn't even match. I asked the bank for such a thing could have gone unchecked and she told me that there is an automated approval system subscribed to by all the banks and many major companies. In our case it was BT and I didn't even have a landline at the time. I was bounced to and fro between bank and BT until I literally shouted down the phone at a BT idiot (who kept asking me security details for an account I didn't have). Also arranged a meeting with the bank, which is when I discovered this system. I did point out that it was an amazingly flawed system, resulting in 1000s of accidental, never mind the fraudulent, DDs. She did accept it was a flawed system but as far as I'm aware it still goes on. The DD in our case was small and clearly a mistake (it had been taken out for over a year from a service account which we only had an annual bill for). Perhaps this police officer has too big a pay wedge to worry about such things, but as usual it'll be the people who can't afford to fight the decisions who will suffer.

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          • #6
            A few years ago I worked in the fraud dept of a main bank. I learnt just about every way that frauds are perpetrated, which makes me very, very careful. However, there is no way I can stop the companies who insist on payments and my bank details being transferred by the Internet. My account has now been hacked 3 times in the last 6 years, the last one 3 months ago where someone was using my business account for Internet gambling. Most, but not all, of the money was refunded by the bank and the details reported to the police.

            This police officer is a tw@t and needs to live in the real world.
            "I prefer rogues to imbeciles as they sometimes take a rest" (Alexander Dumas)
            "It is neccessary to have wished for death in order to know how good it is to live" (also Alexandre Dumas)
            Oxfordshire

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            • #7
              Last year my credit card was prematurely replaced. A subsequent statement had five fraudulent entries totalling £300+. Phoned them immediately. They said they'd had information that my card had been compromised but they couldn't or wouldn't tell me how. It took three months and a another phone call to get them deleted.

              I recently heard on Radio 4 of a scam, where fraudsters contact mobile providers alleging they've lost their SIM. The providers didn't carry out proper checks and issued a new SIM. Using the new SIM the fraudsters hijacked the new payee authorisation texts. There's a good article at"˜Sim swap"™ gives fraudsters access-all-areas via your mobile phone | Money | The Guardian
              Riddlesdown (S Croydon)

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              • #8
                Banks vary considerably, when I had some fraudulent activity mine were brilliant and sorted everything but other people I know have had very bad experiences with different banks.

                Some of us live in the past, always talking about back then. Some of us live in the future, always planning what we are going to do. And, then there are those, who neither look behind or ahead, but just enjoy the moment of right now.

                Which one are you and is it how you want to be?

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                • #9
                  Sir Bernhard is of course the man who spend £2 million of taxpayers money based on the evidence of ONE person - when they had a known history of lying. The police were warned he was lying as well.

                  (I refer to the "allegations" of political sex scandals, rent boys and the odd murder or six).

                  They gave up when they found no evidence and decided the person who gave evidence was - lying...

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                  • #10
                    I don't know how effective the existing system is, but there is a process for reporting fraud. Everything from a very obvious phishing email, up to anything more serious:

                    Action Fraud

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                    • #11
                      It wasn't that I couldn't report it....I did so frequently in writing and in person and with increasing volume!

                      The problem was that no-one did anything about it, no-one would let me do anything about, and no-one would accept responsibility for allowing it to happen in the first place.
                      http://goneplotterin.blogspot.co.uk/

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by muddled View Post
                        It wasn't that I couldn't report it....I did so frequently in writing and in person and with increasing volume!

                        The problem was that no-one did anything about it, no-one would let me do anything about, and no-one would accept responsibility for allowing it to happen in the first place.
                        It doesn't help when Trading Standards get it wrong about cancelling DDs. You can but be careful as knock ons can cause even more problems. How to cancel your direct debit or standing order - Which?

                        Have a look at the Ombudsman's case studies. It looks as if compensation may be due in certain circumstances. issue 27 - banking - direct debit guarantee
                        Riddlesdown (S Croydon)

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