Totally Lost and In trouble. Debt Managers and Barclays

[ashbash]

Hi

 

I just don't know where to start. I am student in my 3rd year of my degree well about to begin but can't understand what to do.

 

I'll make it short. Last year I was duped into by some con artists to take money out my barclays account. I have no overdraft apart from £200.00, they deposited £5000 into my account then asked me to withdraw it, then on the same day they told me they had deposited another sum of £5000 which they told me to withdraw and I did.

 

However it transpires that they never deposited the second sum, but the bank still gave me the £5000 over the counter without any questions at all.

 

Now I am in a terrible situation and have no idea what to do Debt Managers have sent me a letter saying they are taking me to court in pursuant to the county courts act 1984.

 

I have my last year of my degree to do but am terrified of going back to uni. I don't have nay money and they want my student loan. I have tried to speak to the barclays they said tough we dont care, I told the police and they said I have no chance of proving anything, I spoke to debt line and they said go bankrupt, Im a student and my life is messed up so much already. Please can someone help me.

 

Im sorry if this is in the wrond section.

Thank you

[Pinky69]

No. you are in the right place. Are your parents around? If they are it might be a good idea to level with them and see what advice/help they can give.

Also, you can contact your student advice Office at your University. For you the important thing is to get throught your degree. Overdrafts are not covered by the CCA 1974 as loans - they are at the behest of the bank and have to be repaid. You are not the first person to be taken in by this [problem] and you won't be the last.

[debt4get]

Hi

 

I just don't know where to start. I am student in my 3rd year of my degree well about to begin but can't understand what to do.

 

I'll make it short. Last year I was duped into by some con artists to take money out my barclays account. I have no overdraft apart from £200.00, they deposited £5000 into my account then asked me to withdraw it, then on the same day they told me they had deposited another sum of £5000 which they told me to withdraw and I did.

 

However it transpires that they never deposited the second sum, but the bank still gave me the £5000 over the counter without any questions at all.

 

Now I am in a terrible situation and have no idea what to do Debt Managers have sent me a letter saying they are taking me to court in pursuant to the county courts act 1984.

 

I have my last year of my degree to do but am terrified of going back to uni. I don't have nay money and they want my student loan. I have tried to speak to the barclays they said tough we dont care, I told the police and they said I have no chance of proving anything, I spoke to debt line and they said go bankrupt, Im a student and my life is messed up so much already. Please can someone help me.

 

Im sorry if this is in the wrond section.

Thank you

what happened to you was a con nothing more or less I would insist the police investigate, you say they deposited 5 grand first in your account, was it cash, cheque what, there must be some way of tracing that transaction, why did the bank allow you to withdraw 10 thousand pounds in one day, without alarm bells ringing. you have been the victim of fraud and you seriously need to back to the police and demand action.

do you know these people? phone nuimbers? anything?

[cerberusalert]

Have a read of Debt Relief Order - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia It may look drastic but it's not as bad as it sounds.

[Desperate Daniella]

Why did you do this for these people? What were you supposed to gain by allowing them to use your bank account?

 

I really don't understand how the bank would release funds which weren't there. What is their explanation?

 

You must get the police involved if the bank haven't done that already.

 

DD

Edited August 29, 2009 by Desperate Daniella

[WelshMam2009]

I'm sorry to hear of your plight but you have to be so careful these days, especially with money laundering etc

 

If the £5k doesn't form part of your student loan, and you don't own any assets to speak of, then I would be inclined to investigate Cerber's suggestion of a Debt Relief Order.

[ashbash]

I'm really desperate, these people befriended me through my 1st year and I thought they were my friends but they were just setting me up.

I told the police everything and they said they even know who these people are but I would get arrested and they would get away with it, i could only sit there and cry when they did the interview becuase there was no hard evidence.

I can't tell my parents they wont be able to handle it.

My loan is to get me through the last year and pay my rent but the bank never gave me anything they just happily gave me 5k even though I don't have any facility arranged wih them.

 

Is my only option to do the DRO thing? I tried to get a job during the summer but there are non anywhere what is going to happen? i'm really messed up.

 

Thanks for listening

[WelshMam2009]

I'm really desperate, these people befriended me through my 1st year and I thought they were my friends but they were just setting me up.

I told the police everything and they said they even know who these people are but I would get arrested and they would get away with it, i could only sit there and cry when they did the interview becuase there was no hard evidence.

I can't tell my parents they wont be able to handle it.

My loan is to get me through the last year and pay my rent but the bank never gave me anything they just happily gave me 5k even though I don't have any facility arranged wih them.

 

Is my only option to do the DRO thing? I tried to get a job during the summer but there are non anywhere what is going to happen? i'm really messed up.

 

Thanks for listening

 

 

Look Ashbash...nothing is ever as bad as it seems...honestly!!

 

You have a choice here...to remain a victim or take control of your life and get this "inconvenience" sorted. There are no problems, only solutions!!

 

I would be inclined to say, without knowing your exact personal circumstances, that a DRO seems the way to go. However, I'm not sure what subject you are studying and how this might affect your professional studies later in life eg: finance, law etc.

 

Get yourself down to the Citizens Advice Bureau and make an appointment to see a financial advisor there. They will talk you through your options and I believe it will also help you to talk "face to face."

 

You need to get this distraction sorted so that it doesn't impair your studies.

 

Best of luck and let us all know how you get on!!

[debt4get]

I know you are saying there is no hard evidence, but can I ask..who made the first deposit? how was it made? why did the bank hand over 5k when you did not have the funds to cover this amount? there must be some evidence of these transactions taking place. what did they offer you in return for putting this transaction through your account?

[diamondgirl]

Do you have your student loan paid into the same bank if you do you need to open another basic account to have that money paid into.

As said above CAB will help sort yourself out it is always better if you can talk to someone face to face.

If you can't talk to your parents about this is there another relative or good friend who you can tell it really does help to talk about things.

You must also insist that the police investigate this matter.

You also should be able to find a Solicitor who could give you advice most Solicitors will give you at least a half hour consultation for free.

Please try not to worry I know it's hard but you have found this forum and you will get plenty of help, advice and a shoulder to cry on should you need it.

DG

[WelshMam2009]

I know you are saying there is no hard evidence, but can I ask..who made the first deposit? how was it made? why did the bank hand over 5k when you did not have the funds to cover this amount? there must be some evidence of these transactions taking place. what did they offer you in return for putting this transaction through your account?

 

The main problem that the OP has is that ignorance is no defence in the eyes of the law which is probably why the Police advised him that he would be the one who would be prosecuted.

 

There are loads of these money laundering scams going on and either through innocence or greed, people are being scammed daily.

 

I do have to question the bank's involvement in all this although, even if funds have cleared, they will subsequently be reversed if fraud is proven.

[Desperate Daniella]

Clearly some of you know how this particular [problem] works, but I don't.

 

How can the bank have paid out £5,000 without checking that there were cleared funds available?. If they did this they were negligent and I can't see how ashkash should be being blamed for this.

[Pinky69]

Because when a cheque is shown as cleared on an account, is isn't actually cleared through the clearing system, a fact a lot of people don't know. A bounced cheque or fraudulent instrument can take two days longer and more to be returned to a bank via the clearance system. The banks now pay money out earlier than they did previously because customers were moaning about how long it took cheques to clear. The OP drew the funds on the understanding that whatever was presented had cleared and it hadn't. It's not the bank's responsibility to monitor a customer withdrawing funds from their account. For the amounts that were withdrawn, ID would have been asked for and photocopied.

[Stephan56]

I am still unclear how this fraud works. If the first £5,000 cheque was deposited, and funds withdrawn against it (despite it never clearing etc) then I could understand. But how could a bank pay out £10K, on the basis of only one 5,000 cheque "in the system".

 

I think Ashbash is a VICTIM in all this and I do not understand the police statement. Anyway, the police do not prosecute - prosecutors do. Are they really going to prosecute a VICTIM when the perpetrators themselve are not in the dock? I don't think so. They may allege that somehow Ashbash "colluded" with the fraudsters - but he seems to be the one who has lost money, so that does not add up.

 

I would be more "proactive" in my status as a victim. Write a formal letter to the police on this, ditto for the bank. Maybe write a letter to your MP re the police response. What about an article for your Student Newspaper setting out how you were the victim of a fraud and warning others.

 

If they did take you to court on this (and you produced letters, articles, interviewfrom your school paper etc) showing you were the VICTIM OF A FRAUD I very much doubt a judge would just find against you without a lot of other evidence. Get the bank employees in to tell how they failed in their duties etc.

 

I would NOT run to get DRO just yet (although a good option to consider down the line) but I would ensure you build up a "paper trail" thatyou can present in court showing you are a VICTIM.

[Pinky69]

The first £5000 was actually deposited - it was the second £5000 that didn't clear. It's an old trick and,no - the bank are not responsible if you draw funds on something that doesn't reach it's final clearing date. What the student has to concentrate on now is finding a way to repay the money which the so-called friends scarpered with and get through the degree. The police haven't taken it up because the student would also be charged with fraud and the bank haven't made a formal complaint, so it is not as bad as it could have been.

[WelshMam2009]

Clearly some of you know how this particular [problem] works, but I don't.

 

How can the bank have paid out £5,000 without checking that there were cleared funds available?. If they did this they were negligent and I can't see how ashkash should be being blamed for this.

 

Funds can be cleared Daniella and then subsequently discovered to have been fraudulent.

 

I'm not sure how it worked in Ash's case, and my sympathies are genuinely with him, however, it may have been a stolen/forged cheque or credit card deposit and there were sufficient funds available to allow the monies to clear.

 

However, once the deception is discovered, the monies will be recovered.

 

As Pinky said above, it is an old [problem] to pay genuine monies in the first time in order to build trust and confidence. Normally, the second payment is for a higher sum, which did not occur in this instance.

[WelshMam2009]

But how could a bank pay out £10K, on the basis of only one 5,000 cheque "in the system".

 

Two deposits were made Stephan.

[WelshMam2009]

The best example that I can think of, to try and describe this is if, when you are travelling abroad, someone asks you to take something back to the UK for them.

 

If you are stopped at customs and found to have been carrying drugs, you will be prosecuted. You are unlikely to have any hard evidence of actually being given the drugs and your gullability will not protect you from prosecution.

[phil_nottingham]

I am sorry but i smell a troll.

[Desperate Daniella]

Sorry, I do understand about the funds being reclaimed if the deposit is discovered to be fraudulent - I confused things by referring to cleared funds when what I actually meant was that there were, according to ashbash, no funds. He says the second deposit didn't happen, so there was only one deposit.

 

So "they" paid in £5,000, and ashbash took it out.

 

Then "they" didn't pay in another £5,000, but the bank gave ashbash £5,000 when there was no money to withdraw.

 

Doesn't make any sense.

[phil_nottingham]

Sorry, I do understand about the funds being reclaimed if the deposit is discovered to be fraudulent - I confused things by referring to cleared funds when what I actually meant was that there were, according to ashbash, no funds. He says the second deposit didn't happen, so there was only one deposit.

 

So "they" paid in £5,000, and ashbash took it out.

 

Then "they" didn't pay in another £5,000, but the bank gave ashbash £5,000 when there was no money to withdraw.

 

Doesn't make any sense.

 

Thats why i am thinking troll.

[Pinky69]

I think what he meant was that the second payment of £5000 didn't clear, not that it wasn't paid in.

[Pinky69]

Phil, CAGERS have discussions about what has happened in cases all the time - there are no trolls amongst us. You are not 5 minutes on the site and you are calling members you know nothing about "trolls". If you have nothing constructive to add to the advice given to the poster then I suggest you say nothing.

[WelshMam2009]

Phil, CAGERS have discussions about what has happened in cases all the time - there are no trolls amongst us. You are not 5 minutes on the site and you are calling members you know nothing about "trolls". If you have nothing constructive to add to the advice given to the poster then I suggest you say nothing.

 

Well said Pinky!!

[count orlok]

Its quite a common con, the cheque appears as a balance before it clears, and is a form of a con the banks used for years to make loads of money.

 

The term "it's not rocket science" is more true than you think. The banks version of this "con" was originally dreamed up by moonlighting rocket scientists not bankers (or so I heard).

 

You borrow on money that does not actually exist, the "trick" is convincing people it does, AKA securitization.