HELP! Natwest withdrew the money from my account without my permission!

[novasuh]

Please read this and advise me what to do.

I am not familiar with this kinds of matter, because it happened to me for the first time.

Please advise the procedure for the claim and tell me where/what to send!!!

Thank you.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------

 

I was doing the money exchange(UK pounds vs other currencies) in person. (I know I was stupid.)

This guy offered me that he will pay in the UK pounds into my bank account in advance. So I can check my account and then hand over the money(other currency) after checking the balalnce by online banking.

 

I have already reported him as a fraudster, though.

AND THE AMOUNT OF MONEY IS GBP 3,730.00 .

 

And here is the events of what happened and I would like to get advice about:

 

1. After I got a call from this guy, who told me he has just transferred the amount of GBP 3,730 into my account, I checked my Natwest online banking statement at 14:15, on 29/12/2009.

 

2. When I checked my online bank statement, there was pay-in record of GBP 3,730.00. And so I have given him the same amount of money in my other currency.

 

3. I was trying to transfer that money to my savings account via online this morning, and it was GONE (On the statement, it was recorded as 'Correcting Entry' and the amount GBP 3,730 has been subtracted from my account! )

 

4. I called Natwest and was told the situation from the banker who had served this guy yesterday at the counter.

 

5. The banker at the counter told me that this guy had paid in the money to my bank account by cash (GBP 3,730.00 ). So money had been paid in to my bank account.

 

6. A couple of minutes(or seconds, I have to check the CCTV footage for this) later, this guy returned to the same counter and asked his money back saying he had to pay in more to this(my) account later.

 

7. The cashier gave him the money(cash) back to this guy without my permission. Because the banker noticed it was him to pay-in the money a couple mins ago.

 

HERE'S THE QUESTION: If the money had paid into my account with cash(over the counter) and it already appeard to my online banking statement, can the cashier give the money back to someone with pay-in receipt even if it was the actual person who had paid in a minute ago?

 

PLEASE ADVISE ME WHAT TO DO.

[andydd]

Please read this and advise me what to do.

I am not familiar with this kinds of matter, because it happened to me for the first time.

Please advise the procedure for the claim and tell me where/what to send!!!

Thank you.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------

 

I was doing the money exchange(UK pounds vs other currencies) in person. (I know I was stupid.)

This guy offered me that he will pay in the UK pounds into my bank account in advance. So I can check my account and then hand over the money(other currency) after checking the balalnce by online banking.

 

I have already reported him as a fraudster, though.

AND THE AMOUNT OF MONEY IS GBP 3,730.00 .

 

And here is the events of what happened and I would like to get advice about:

 

1. After I got a call from this guy, who told me he has just transferred the amount of GBP 3,730 into my account, I checked my Natwest online banking statement at 14:15, on 29/12/2009.

 

2. When I checked my online bank statement, there was pay-in record of GBP 3,730.00. And so I have given him the same amount of money in my other currency.

 

3. I was trying to transfer that money to my savings account via online this morning, and it was GONE (On the statement, it was recorded as 'Correcting Entry' and the amount GBP 3,730 has been subtracted from my account! )

 

4. I called Natwest and was told the situation from the banker who had served this guy yesterday at the counter.

 

5. The banker at the counter told me that this guy had paid in the money to my bank account by cash (GBP 3,730.00 ). So money had been paid in to my bank account.

 

6. A couple of minutes(or seconds, I have to check the CCTV footage for this) later, this guy returned to the same counter and asked his money back saying he had to pay in more to this(my) account later.

 

7. The cashier gave him the money(cash) back to this guy without my permission. Because the banker noticed it was him to pay-in the money a couple mins ago.

 

HERE'S THE QUESTION: If the money had paid into my account with cash(over the counter) and it already appeard to my online banking statement, can the cashier give the money back to someone with pay-in receipt even if it was the actual person who had paid in a minute ago?

 

PLEASE ADVISE ME WHAT TO DO.

 

Surely your first port of call should be the police.

 

Andy

[postggj]

this is an old [problem]

 

what stands out id

 

chap pays in 3730 into your bank account

 

a few minutes later he withdraws it saying a mistake has been made

 

hold on

 

its your bank account

how can he withdraw when he is not the acount holder

paying in is fine

withdraw no

 

bank is liable for this

 

end of

[novasuh]

I have contacted with the police and been advised to start with the branch manager(and the cashire).

I will visit that branch on Monday.

If things go right, it will be the bank's job to catch this guy and to fix the hole of the banking system.

What else can I do?

I will update my situaton on Monday again.

 

Andy, Thank you for your reply. I really appreciate it.

postggj, Thank you! I have to check the CCTV footage on Monday. However I have a bank statement with this pay-in record.(Actually it was printed by the bank branch manager in my area.)

I hope things go well on Monday.

 

Nova

[postggj]

under the new banking legislation the bank has to refund all reported fraudalent transactions with immediate effect while the bank is doing the investigation

 

dont take no for an answer

[novasuh]

Thank you again, postggj.

 

Can you tell me where I can print out the legislation?

It will be extremely helpful if I bring it to the bank when talk to the manager on Monday.

 

Happy new year, by the way.

 

 

Nova

[indebtstudent]

The bank have majorly messed up here, they simply can't do that. I'm staggered...

 

We weren't even allowed to confirm the name on account for Date Protection reasons. Trouble is if you go the complaints route that might take eight weeks, your priority right now is to get this as high as possible as soon as possible.

 

For example once the cashier keys in the money its in there the deposit is made. Therefore the cashier must have cancelled the transaction. At Nationwide this could only be done by the manager or deputy swiping a card they signed for. I would imagine it would be similar elsewhere.

[ieuanMr]

I think you should complain in writing to the bank immediately, then bash off a letter to the FOS and complaint to the OFT.

 

That's what I did.

 

Ieuan

[novasuh]

Thank ieuanMr.

 

I will.

 

ta again.

[indebtstudent]

Any update on this?

[novasuh]

I visited Natwest bank in Oxford Circus from Surrey and talked to deputy manager of the branch about what had happened to my account.

I explained the situation but the lady kept asking "why did you give him the money, if you do not know him. - obviously my point was how they can access into my account without my permission!" and said if the person was in the bank(in sight) and he can cancle the pay-in.

 

To cut the long story short, I asked if I could record the conversation but the manager didn't agree.

I have still no idea who the cashier was and what was the exact situation of the event(like pay-in, withdraw time log) or CCTV footage at the moment.

 

The thing is that there are two more victoms with same plot(One was Barclays and the other Lloyds) from this same fraudster. I have posted this to the online community used by my people in the UK and figured out two other frauds occurred on the same day and the next day.

We, three of us, have reported this to Financial Ombudsman(with same case) and received letter saying they sent my complaint to Natwest. And Natwest will be replying by 26th of January.

 

IF THE BANK CAN ACCESS INTO MY ACCOUNT BY THE 3RD PERSON'S REQUEST, THIS FRAUD CAN BE USED VARIOUS TYPES OF SCAMS IMHO.

 

 

More updates by 26th of January.

 

If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

[indebtstudent]

"IF THE BANK CAN ACCESS INTO MY ACCOUNT BY THE 3RD PERSON'S REQUEST, THIS FRAUD CAN BE USED VARIOUS TYPES OF SCAMS IMHO."

 

I very much agree and I am staggered at the banks position. Does it say in the conditions of the account if some bloke makes a deposit then asks for it back we'll give it to him without consulting the account holder?

 

I should think now. This is like a gift to hustlers!!! I cannot understand why they have not looked at the CCTV footage immediately, they would if they had been stolen from.

 

It doesn't really matter who the cashier was, other than that IMO they have made a monumental cock up.

 

That 'rule' sounds more like a rule of thumb. I mean if you make an electronic transfer they tell you if the info is wrong you can't get it back, so how is cash any different?

 

I am not certain of this but I would've thought once the deposit is made the transaction is done, the money is yours. I would've thought this could only be reversed if there was clear error on the part of the bank.

 

And as I said before do cashier have the authority to void deposits to this value? That is open to abuse, the manager of deputy must've had some input.

[Surfer01]

It looks as if the tellers were in cahoots with the fraundster!

[novasuh]

Just updated from the other lady(victom).

She could manage to check her transaction log time between pay-in and pay out, surprisingly the time interval was about 25 mins(from the unofficial source in Barcalys).

So it seems that this guy returned to the cashier after 25 mins and got his thing back. Unbelievable.

I really really like to see the CCTV footage about what exactly happened.

How long do they save the CCTV footage in banks.

 

Thank you for all your concern and suggestions.

[ieuanMr]

The CCTV data may be requested under an SAR and fee of £10, but it could take 40 days. I would make another visit to the police and use a solicitor, charge the costs to natwest.

[yourbank]

novasuh, unfortunately, I would say the bank is perfectly able to return the cash if the person has paid it into the branch and has not left the branch and has a printed receipt. They would have to speak with the branch and the same cashier who can effectively cancel the transaction. Had the money been paid in one day and then taken out the day afterwards, then I would agree with you in that the bank is wrong to do so.

 

I kinda guessed at the fraud aspect to it as I started to read. Fraud occurred but I would say I would ask for a more formal written request from Customer relations.

You can email them: [email protected]

Simply ask them why that amount of money was allowed to be taken from the account after it had been paid in 25 minutes later since it was a large amount and no one thought you should be made aware of the transaction.

[indebtstudent]

In Nationwide I believe the tapes were only kept for a week, but this was the physical one which we changed in the branch. I would guess there is a backup made...

 

If the timescale is 25 minutes what was that person doing in that time? I don't really see how wheter or not they have left the branch is relevent since, if thise were an electronic payment, the transaction would not be cancelled in such a manner. In fact when you setup a standing order or a bill payment they tell you to be carful as they cannot recover it (IMHO they can but its not straight forward).

 

Their system does seem to be open to abuse, I hope the OP gets some joy. though obviously I'm sure they will learn from this and indeed have already.

 

Just a minor point I can recall when at Nationwide if there was a clear mix up, eg cashier mis-reading the account no and crediting a cheque to the wrong account, if we hadn't heard from the original account holder we would write to them. But this was only usually done if time had elapsed, and was probably more of an old school thing long serving staff did rather than a rule.

[novasuh]

Thank you for all the replies.

 

yourbank, I have spoken to branch manager regarding the event.

The manager in my local area told me that once paid in to 3rd person's account it cannot be withdrawn without account holder's permisssion.

Still waiting a letter from Natwest.

I assume that all the banks have their unigue rules and regulations.

Three of us, all the same disaster happened, all reported to their own bank and the answers were all differnet.

The lady using barclays, when she talked to the manager(and head office), they told her that the money will be returned for sure.

 

If one of us would get a refund for the stolen money, I believe the rest of us could get as well. Am I right?

[indebtstudent]

Not really since it'll differ from bank to bank. Hoever in principle I don't see why a cash transaction should be treated any differently to an electronic transfer where they'd have to write the to individual concerned, or thier bank, and ask for the money back.

 

Maybe its different if the person was still in the branch, but what were they doing for 25 minutes???

[konrad1511]

The CCTV data may be requested under an SAR and fee of £10, but it could take 40 days. I would make another visit to the police and use a solicitor, charge the costs to natwest.

 

I PAID IN £1500 LAST DECEMBER AT NATWEST AND THEY JUST CANCELLED THE BOOKING AND BOOKED IT AS A PAYOUT, AS I REQUESTED THIS ERROR TO BE REVERSED THEY REFUSED EVEN I HAVE THE RECEIPT, CLAIMING THE BRANCH HAS CCTV FOOTAGE I RECEIVED MONEY, BUT REFUSED TO SHOW ME THE FOOTAGE. WHATS A SAR AND WHERE CAN I REQUEST IT?

[andydd]

I PAID IN £1500 LAST DECEMBER AT NATWEST AND THEY JUST CANCELLED THE BOOKING AND BOOKED IT AS A PAYOUT, AS I REQUESTED THIS ERROR TO BE REVERSED THEY REFUSED EVEN I HAVE THE RECEIPT, CLAIMING THE BRANCH HAS CCTV FOOTAGE I RECEIVED MONEY, BUT REFUSED TO SHOW ME THE FOOTAGE. WHATS A SAR AND WHERE CAN I REQUEST IT?

 

Huh ?Is this related to the original post ? Andy