Hi All

Really appreciate your help on this.

I have googled and I don't think there is anything we can do, but thought I'd check here.

My mother had a quote for £2700 for some building work.

She Emailed the builder and he set a date to start work.

She had a reply saying it was confirmed etc.

They sent numerous communications.

Then she had a reply from the builder on a fake Email address that looked just like his asking for £900 payment to secure the date.

She checked his references etc and it all seemed okay.

2 weeks later the builder called her asking for payment to get the scaffolding started. Obviously she thought she had paid. She hadn't.

The bank investigated and the fraudulent account now has no money in it so they say she has lost it and it she was at fault.

I told her to ask the bank in writing how long the account was open,

how many frauds occurred and when was the first one.

I heard you can complain based on the bank not closing the fake account in a timely manner.

Anything else you would recommend?

Thanks

D

This is a really curious story because apart from any other questions I have, I wonder how the fraudster knew that your mother was dealing with this particular builder and knew to produce an email identical to the builder's. I find myself uncharitable wondering whether the builder wasn't involved in some way.

Anyway, where an account is subject to fraudulent use of the card then the bank has a duty to refund the money immediately and without any questions and carry out the investigation later on. In practice, they disobey this rule and they cause lots of problems.

However your case is very different because here your mother went ahead and based on instruction which she received in an email which had nothing to do with the bank, she went ahead and made the transfer.

I can't really see that the bank is involved here.

I do agree that if the bank has been negligent in some way in allowing a fraudulent account to be set up then this is a matter of concern but I find it difficult to think that the bank are gonna put their hands up to this.

I'm afraid that your only course of action would be to begin a complaint with the bank and then eventually move your complaint to the ombudsman.

I expect the ombudsman will find in the bank's favour. It was the bank which held the fraudulent account the same one as the builders bank?

Someone with good knowledge of IT security told me recently that people should be careful with any transaction online which is not properly secure. Email is not a very secure way of agreeing to a contract and organising any payment arrangement. The email details will be hacked and the content will be available to fra*udsters to pretend they are the contracting party wanting money transferred to them.

Never provide any information that is a security risk within an email. Presume that your email content can be read by people that will attempt to use it illegally.

And it is not just restricted to email either. There are people out there who can harvest your data from what you are looking at on your computer screens. Always make sure you have the latest computer security software and keep it updated. At home make sure any passwords for secure sites that you have written down are hidden somewhere safe.

This is a really curious story because apart from any other questions I have, I wonder how the fraudster knew that your mother was dealing with this particular builder and knew to produce an email identical to the builder's. I find myself uncharitable wondering whether the builder wasn't involved in some way.

 

Anyway, where an account is subject to fraudulent use of the card then the bank has a duty to refund the money immediately and without any questions and carry out the investigation later on. In practice, they disobey this rule and they cause lots of problems.

 

However your case is very different because here your mother went ahead and based on instruction which she received in an email which had nothing to do with the bank, she went ahead and made the transfer.

 

I can't really see that the bank is involved here.

I do agree that if the bank has been negligent in some way in allowing a fraudulent account to be set up then this is a matter of concern but I find it difficult to think that the bank are gonna put their hands up to this.

 

I'm afraid that your only course of action would be to begin a complaint with the bank and then eventually move your complaint to the ombudsman.

 

I expect the ombudsman will find in the bank's favour. It was the bank which held the fraudulent account the same one as the builders bank?

Thanks. I don’t think there is much we can do. It’s actually a Common [problem]. I checked on line. Basically fraudsters look for builders Emails and know they’re not that tech savvy and payments is pretty basic. They then monitor the comms on that email and then jump in with a spoofed email half way through so you think you’re talking to the same person when it’s not.