Barclays TO RECONCILE Debit COVENTRY OPS 05 ADV. withdrawn all my money both in current and savings

[Cathe]

Dear members,

 

I'm a student in London.

Yesterday I found that both of my account balance became zero

and the money has been transferred TO RECONCILE Debit COVENTRY OPS 05 ADV.

 

 

I went to a nearest branch to ask what happened to my account.

They said they couldn't touch the money now and I have to write an email to reportasam

(a barclays email, I can't post it here) to clarify the source of my money.

 

After searching on the Internet I realized what happened.

At the beginning of this year, my ex-boy friend has purchased a property in London.

But in my home country, there is limit amount for foreign currency

so he can't purchase enough pounds to buy the property.

 

 

Therefore, he transferred domestic money to people who are working in UK

and let them deposit cash or make payment of pounds to his UK bank account.

And then he asked me for help.

 

As a result,

a total amount of around 80,000 pounds has been deposited to my account

and then transferred to my ex-boy friend's account from January to the end of February.

 

 

I think Barclays suspect that it might be money laundering and then withdraw all my money.

We broke up in March and then I didn't do that again.

I get nothing from those transactions....

 

As a student, all my money are from my parents and now I don't have any money to live.

I've sent an email to that address but it does not work till now.

What else can I do to get my money back as soon as possible?

 

Please give advice.

Thank you very much!

 

Catherine

[SabreSheep]

Sadly I think you need to comply with their requests.

 

You will need to prove where the funds came from, what it is for etc.

 

You sound like you have already read up on CIFAS

[Cathe]

What if I can't explain those fund clearly?

Since those money are cash deposit.

[mikeymack2002]

There are a lots of threads recently across many forums on this matter and could be a sc4m victim. If you are unable to account for these funds you may have more issues to face in the near future.

 

 

Beware of doing this anytime soon.... You may wish to read up on 'Being a money Mule'

 

Or see here >> http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/fraud-az-money-muling

[slick132]

Hi Cathe and welcome to CAG

 

As he's now your ex, I'm not sure if you can rely on help from him in giving evidence about transactions.

 

In the majority of cases we've seen here over the last 8 years or more, money is returned to the account holder within 7 to 14 days.

 

However, in your case, the nature of the transactions you did for your ex may leave you at risk of longer delays, or the loss of your money.

 

Roughly how much has been taken from you.

 

I think you should take urgent action to arrange funds you can borrow from family or friends to see you through the next week or two. You may also need to consider opening an account with a different bank because Barclays may decide to close your account if if they agree to return your funds.

 

You should think very carefully about allowing others to use you and your bank facilities in the future. This could prove to be a costly mistake.

 

Edited May 20, 2016 by slick132

[Cathe]

Hey, thanks a lot for your advice.

 

They've already sent me a letter about closing my account on 19/June and I opened a new account in another bank but haven't received the card yet. I just didn't expect they withdraw all my money before that date.

 

 

I have to admit that this is my fault since my ex knows the password of my online banking and did some transactions that I didn't know. Is it useful to ask him for help?

 

 

Cathe

[king12345]

Well, you helped your boyfriend and now he needs to help you.

Hopefully he can prove that the money came from a legal source and all should be sorted.

If it's "random" cash coming from someone unemployed you might find some further obstacles in recovering your money.

You need to be a bit firm with your bank if you want to speak to someone as they tempt to ignore emails in such cases.

Record all calls, just in case

[Cathe]

He literally can't prove the money came from a legal source since those are "random" cash collected from several places. If they ignore emails, who should I call?

 

Thanks.

[slick132]

Hi Cathe,

 

You should expect to have very little information from the bank while enquiries are made.

 

I doubt you will get information by phone or by email. I suggest you go back to the local Barclays branch and ask them to give whatever information they can, because you are a student and you are struggling to live without your money.

 

Give us an update when you know more, or if the bank hasn't returned your money by the end of next week.

 

[king12345]

£80.000 of "random" money will probably trigger a higher investigation for money laundering.

The link explaining money mules gives a better idea of what your ex could be doing.

If I were you I would confront him to ask where this massive amount of "random" cash came from and get his backside to the bank with you to take full responsibility.

[Cathe]

I've got my money back on 28 May.

 

During this period, I just sent 2 emails to clarify my situation and one day I found that the money has been back.

 

Either branch or phone service can't help nothing.

 

Anyway it's not a bad result.

 

Thank you very much for the advice and help.

 

 

[slick132]

Hi Cathe,

 

Thanks for the update and I'm delighted you have access to your money again.

 

You should still go ahead with the new bank account as Barclays will probably still want your account closed.

 

I'm sure you have learned a valuable lesson from this. Don't allow a relative, a friend or even a boyfriend to use your bank account to move money around like this again. If you do, you may end up in trouble again or find that No UK bank will want you as a customer.