Fraud within Wonga?

[pipercolt]

I have never had an account with Wonga and never will have one but that did not stop them from taking £521.29 out of my bank account! Despite contacting the police and getting a crime number and six telephone calls to Wonga, 6 days later and they still have not paid the money back into my account. They apparently have a fraud department but none of the telephone operators that I spoke to have a direct telephone link with this department and despite promising five times that someone from their fraud department will contact me, no one has. I have now asked them to return the money with the same amount of exhorbitant interest that they charge their customers. To date they now owe me £564. I am told by the company that they are expereincing a huge amount of fraud at the moment so it appears that you do not need to be a customer of theirs in order for them to take money from your bank account.

[renegadeimp]

You must report it to the oft and also take legal advice on this.

[rebel11]

Hi piper

 

Welcome to CAG

 

You've lodged a complaint with the police, I would also lodge a complaint with your bank as there is no mandate or authorisation for them to debit monies from your account. Also contact the ICO as they've used your bank details, even if its a mistake they can be held responsible.

 

http://www.oft.gov.uk/

http://www.ico.gov.uk/

 

Please let us know how your problem has been resolved, it could help fellow Caggers.

[renegadeimp]

Think the FSA might get involved if a complaint was sent in, due to the bank authorising a transaction with no mandate or even basic authorisation?

[sillygirl1]

The OFT and Trading Standards must hear about this, Wong are trying to become a bank and if they cannot get their systems in order then there is no way they should be allowed to do this.

 

If you don't complain to the OFT and Trading Standards - both organisations would love to have the crime number btw...

 

http://www.oft.gov.uk for the OFT

http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk for Trading Standards

 

MP Stella Creasey would also like to have this story.

[renegadeimp]

Oh yea. Stella will be all over this one. Along with her journalist friends

[pipercolt]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I am just about to contact the OFT and the ICO and trading standards.

I have just sent an E Mail to Stella in the hope that she can prevent this happening to anyone else.

I cannot understand how this could happen but presume that someone has taken out a loan with Wonga and then used my wife's Natwest debit card to pay it off. One of the telephone operators that I spoke to (Anela) told me that a loan cannot be repaid using a credit card but can be repaid using a debit card even if it does not belong to the person taking out the loan. So it appears that as long as Wonga get money into their bank account they do not ask any questions regarding where the money is coming from and when they get it they do not want to give it back.

I wonder how many others have had money removed from their account without even knowing about it. I found out purely by chance.

[sillygirl1]

It does show that they are not in a fit position with robust reporting systems, this won't look good against them if/when they apply to become a bank...

 

This company have been sanctioned by the OFT but for a 'different' offence, but they still are operating behind the law when it suits them. The posts about them on this forum should form part of the OFT's investigation.

[sequenci]

Have Wonga taken any action? When something like this happens the onus is on them to investigate the potential fraud.

[Fred Bassett]

I do hope you are charging 4,000% interest on this - that is their going rate.

[sillygirl1]

Apparently Wonga have not had the 'uptake' on their business loan offer that they thought would happen - I wonder why!

[pipercolt]

14 days after taking the £521 out of my bank account Wonga have reimbursed me for the full amount and also paid me a further £60 in compensation because of the time it took them to sort it all out. I think that I would still be waiting had it not been for the intervention of Stella Creasey who spoke to the Wonga CEO and things starte to happen that same day.

So my problem with Wonga has finally been resolved to my satisfaction albeit after 6 phone calls to them and lots of frustration.

Thanks to everyone on this forum for great advice.

[sillygirl1]

Congratulations.

 

We have always advised to go to Stella Creasey since she has taken such an active role in chasing PDL companies out of the country, her office now seems to be more pro-active than the OFT and FOS put together!

 

Don't forget to contact the OFT and state that whilst it has been resolved it took the intervention of an MP...

[Streets]

After searching 'Wonga fraud' I came across this thread. This morning we opened our Tesco's credit card statement to see that on the 19th June Wonga took 2 amounts - £518.40 & £513.43. We never have and never would use Wonga.com. This has repercussions as we automatically pay off our credit card every month - this would have sent us overdrawn had we not noticed. First of all I don't know why this wasn't flagged up at Tesco's end (as other non-conspicuous transactions have) - also we have the extra Tesco's verification box that pops up upon checkout which requires another password - I'm at a loss as to how this happens. I've been told that Fraud will ring me - and as already stated by the OP - the customers services dept have no direct phone contact with the Fraud Dept - only via email ridiculous!! So I have a crime ref no. which has been passed to Wonga and have notified Tesco's - who said they will organise a 'charge back' next week if they are uncooperative. My question (among others) is who is Stella does anyone have her contact details? I will also follow the advice given above, so thank you for that. I know I'll get the money back - but this has made my blood boil.

[renegadeimp]

You MUST get a chargeback from your bank. Make sure to tell them you have NEVER had any dealings with wonga. If it was debited by a visa debit card, then it is slightly easier, as they refund first then investigate second. Then issue a formal complaint with wonga, the OFT and trading standards.

 

If you have a crime number, your bank should be issuing a chargeback immediatley. NOT in a weeks time.

[renegadeimp]

Stella's email: [email protected] Make sure to include as much info as possible. Even if wonga refund your money, you MUST push forward with full complaints to the regulators so you can help ensure that these muppets never do the same thing again.

 

WOnga have already been actioned by the OFT for accusing people of fraud. It now seems that they are committing theft/fraud themselves.

[sequenci]

WOnga have already been actioned by the OFT for accusing people of fraud. It now seems that they are committing theft/fraud themselves.

 

Probably unlikely. More than likely that it's either

 

a) a third-party that has committed fraud

b) a mistake has been made

 

I cannot see Wonga going out of their way to commit fraud themselves?

 

They do, however, need better systems to get things sorted.

[renegadeimp]

I wouldnt say its delibrate, though you never know. However, mistakes do happen as youve said. Best thing to do is see what wonga say.

[Streets]

Right, thanks everyone - at least I know what I should be demanding now. I shall update you all when I get somewhere with this!

[Streets]

The other thing that bugged me today was that I had 2 telephone conversations with Tesco this morning - my husband had give them permission to talk to me on each occasion. As I'm not the primary card holder but have a card in my name. He then (on their advice) gave them permission to speak to me for the rest of the day. I rang them after he went to work and they said they would not deal with me!! It just elevated my anger - they'd allowed these obviously dodgy payments to go through - where was the security then??

Ok - I'm done - rant over

[renegadeimp]

Easiest way to allow you to speak to them is for him to send them a letter explicitally allowing you full access and joint control of the account. Then theres nothing they can do. Or you can get him to call them up and demand that they add a note to the account authorising you to deal with them, even if they have to do a few checks first.

[Hacked_Off]

I've got the opposite problem. Ive been payi g them back with weekly installments. Today I've tried to pay in full. I've rang both numbers they gave me, emailed and tried via the site to repay. Teu keep saying " you don't currently owe anything" they don't want me to pay them???

[debtadvice2010]

Wonga have more or less done the same thing to me...

 

Back in November 2011 wonga contacted me about a loan, which I had not taken out. Wonga said I needed to report it to my local police and give them the incident number, I did this and thought it was all over untill Mackenzie Hall, who today (10/07/2012) have told me that they have brought the debt?????

 

It still surprises me that DCA's can purchse debts and don't ask questions or the original creditor not passing on details of fraud or disputes.

I have reported wonga about this and if anyone has their postal address I am taking them to court.

[renegadeimp]

Do you have the original details from wonga and the police? If so, send Mucky Hall a copy of them and laugh as you tell them theyve just wasted money buying the "debt".

[debtadvice2010]

I not only have the all the original details but also have the original credit agreement, which is unsigned but for a tickbox that anyone could have ticked, however they still wont confirm the IP Address of the original application.

 

So I am taking great pleasure in chasing MH off.

 

I have just recived an email from Mackies...

They brought the account from wonga for £25 and are asking for £450.

 

They also state that the laws and regulations surrounding Debt Collection prevents them from obtaining details from the original creditor weather or not they are buying it or just trying to collect. They are only allowed to be given a name, address, telephone/mobile/email ect and the amount owing.

 

Deffo if this is true we need to get the regulations changed, if Original Creditors had to provide more details to DCA I don't think any selfrespecting DCA (if there is one) would take on half the debts they do.

Edited July 10, 2012 by debtadvice2010
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