stolen cheques

[justtouchit]

hi hoping someone may have some experiance of this one

 

almost 4 weeks ago my mum discovered 4k missing from her current account, upon checking with the bank it appears it was a counter withdrawl from a stolen cheque from her new book.

 

after a good first responce from lloyds its gone cold - they asked for a crime number, only for police to tell us that the bank now does the investigation. - my question is if the bank has cashed a cheque (made payable to cash) to someone other than my mum and without any id, as there seems to be none mising will see gat her cash back?

 

should we still deal with branch or fraud unit who the have passed case to?

[Guest NATTIE]

Your mother will get her cash. The bank will deal with its fraud unit. Has she reported it to them? If yes, then they should refund her. There was a change in the Fraud Act i believe which means the bank reports to the police not yourself.

[justtouchit]

thanks will need to apply for the cash?

 

as im sure all banks have cctv assume will ask her to try to identify the thief, branch said the images cannt be released, it just a worry that it may be omeone he knows

[Guest tlusnoc]

Was it definitely a cheque out of her book? Have heard of this happening where the cheque has been forged. Ask her to check her cheque book and see if the number is still in her book. Or if she has written it out who it was made payable to, if it has already been cashed legitimately then this would also confirm it was a forged one.

[Guest NATTIE]

I have to say i was surprised that the cheque book wasn;t stopped unless it was taken the same day as it was used.

[justtouchit]

was definatly a cheque from her book - 3 missing from middle of book

 

it was cancelled as soon as we noticed but the 4k was one transaction

[Guest NATTIE]

They would have had to have had more ID for that amount. I think copy of the withdrawal slip maybe in order.

[dw190]

When I want to cash a personal cheque of £1000 or more at my own branch I am required to provide two forms of identity. Passport & Driving Licence and I'm on first name terms with the staff but it makes no difference.

 

No ID No Money.

[shelter pie]

It surprises me often. I regularly have to withdraw money from my account via cheque (not usually the same brach either). I always take ID I never get asked for it!!!

 

Cant say it surprises me though - in a contry whereby they think a 4 digit pin entered in front of queue wittnessed by many is safer that my curley wurhley signature!!!

[Guest NATTIE]

can i just confirm that the bank cashed a cheque to the value of £4k INSIDE THE BRANCH not a cheque written to someone. That means the cheque would be written to CASH not to say Mr Joe Bloggs

[justtouchit]

thats right cheque payable to CASH

 

they seem reluctant to let us see the cheque or cctv images, but did say that the signature didnt match

 

scary really - would be sure its an inside job if the cheque hadnt been missing from the book

[Guest NATTIE]

That means they are embarrassed at how badly their cashiers did not pick up on it.

 

CCTV footage may not exist. Branches do not keep the pictures for huge lengths of time.

[justtouchit]

yeah they do have images are pssing them onto their fraud dept.

 

do we need to claim the money back ?

 

will they fight it as the cheque does seem to hve been taken from the book after my mum had recieved it?

[dw190]

thats right cheque payable to CASH

 

they seem reluctant to let us see the cheque or cctv images, but did say that the signature didnt match

 

scary really - would be sure its an inside job if the cheque hadnt been missing from the book

 

I would say that's Negligence.

[demon_x_slash]

Does your Ma have a carer, or Meals on Wheels, or anyone who visits her while you're not there? My grandmother-in-law was robbed by her regular carer to the tune of hundreds - and if the chequebook has never left your Ma's bag/house as far as she knows, I'd be looking a little closer to home.

[Guest NATTIE]

No it is fraud plain and simple, so no they will not contest that it was fraud if the signature differed and the amount taken if there is cctv footage.

[lindsay22]

i had my bag stolen from my car last year cheque book and cards, i rang the bank straight away and cancelled everything rang the police got a crime number. the bank lloyds sent me a form to fill in which i did and posted it back to them, thought it was all sorted out. wrong

a few weeks later about £1000 had been taken out with the cheque, all the cheques were for around £100 because they used the guarantee card which was also stolen, they were all used in the same asda store.

i rang the bank and went balistic and they said it was my fault for not returning the form so i told them i had and they siad it must have been lost.

anyway i had to complain to the ombudsman before i got my money back.

[JimmyTheOne]

Sorry to hear what has happened. Your mum should get her cash back (eventually).

 

The procedure for reporting card and cheque fraud did change on the 1st April details here.

 

I'd rather report any crime where someone's pretended to me using my account to the police rather than to the people who are trying to recover their losses.

 

You can sign a petition to Number 10 to have the Home Office think again on who to report crime to.

 

Petition click here.

 

Good luck, keep us posted.

[justtouchit]

its been 4 weeks since first reporting to the bank, 3 weeks since they forwarded to their fraud dept.

 

is it too early to chase an answer?

 

they have cheque with no signature, they have cctv with someone other than my mother taking the money.

 

seems like and open + shut case

[Guest NATTIE]

if charges resulted in the fraud then the charges would have to be refunded as well.

[lookinforinfo]

I take it that the cheque was originally a crossed cheque with "Account

Payee Only" stamped on the crossing?

If they won't show you the cheque-will they provide you with a copy?

[justtouchit]

just a normal cheque from a peronal acc.

 

they seemed to change that stance on if we get to see the cheque - suppose it is irrelevent really as the cctv must be strongest evidence

[lookinforinfo]

The one thing I suppose that is holding the bank up from paying out is the fact that the cheques were from your chequebook. Inevitably the question

arises in their minds whether there was any collusion on your part.

As Natty said though, the bank will be embarrassed that they have paid out

so much money to the wrong person.

[justtouchit]

great news, lloyds have said they will be refunding the 4k in full

 

they still wont allow us to view the cctv images (data protection act) but have passed the file onto police

 

will the police allow access to the images? or are they restricted by same rules.

 

as they bank have accepted liabily will the police even bother?

[JimmyTheOne]

Really good news, pleased for you.

 

Re Police - you may like to ask Lloyds for some details of the Police Force who they repoted this to, and a crime reference number.