RBS fraudulant bankers draft

[Babylon355]

Hi, My friend and I sold a car that we both jointly owned and were given a Royal Bank of Scotland draft for £25,000 from a guy who we had checked and had no reason to doubt. The draft was taken to the local RBS branch and the counter staff asked to verify whether it was legitimate to which they said it was. The draft was paid in and the money cleared in the account the next day. Twelve days later however, they sent a letter saying the draft was fraudulant and reclaimed the whole £25k back. Since then we have made complaints to the bank and the Ombudsman with no luck. The bank are saying that their staff are unable to make claims about whether or not a draft is legitimate even though we have since visited three local branches and had answers that a draft takes three days to clear like a normal cheque toa draft can be checked immediately to "don't worry, a draft is better than cash!"

The bank states that it is not responsible as the car had already been released prior to the draft being presented which is true however even if we had held the car until going to the branch, when we were told it was fine, we would have let the car go. We also are unhappy that it took so long to discover the fact the draft was fraudulant as the vehicle was fitted with an expensive recovery system which although it was activated some two weeks later, failed to recover the vehicle because it had either been compromised or the car taken abroad.

We have the full backing of our local MP who is due to raise this matter in the House of Commons but we are both very interested to hear if anyone on this forum has any views on the case.

Rgds,

Mike

[isidore]

Well I would have thought the glaringly obvious point is whether the staff are allowed to make claims about a bankers draft or not, they did! You weren't to know AND you have proof they are continuing to do so.

 

I would have thought you have a strong case, I'm just speculating though. I'm sure a mod or two will be passing through soon..........

[Babylon355]

We had a letter prsonally signed from Sir Fred Goodwin saying his staff would not make such a claim as they do not have the technology to check drafts so that same day we went to three local branches of the RBS and asked if they could verify a draft. One response was it would three days to clear just like a cheque, another was from the manager who said she could check it immediately, the third said don't worry, a draft is better than cash!!

[mailmannz]

I think you need to get "real" legal advice on this one. But my gut feeling is that you are screwed as all the cards are in the banks favour.

 

Now Im assuming you have reported this to the police because the crime was committed by the crim who ripped you off. Now the staff in the branches can claim the moon is made of green cheese and ham BUT you really need to get formal legal advice on this one or the bank will take you for a ride like the fraudster took you for a ride with the bankers draft.

 

Mailman

[G38JF]

Negligent Misrepresentation on the banks part who acting as an interested third party caused you to release the car. There is responsibility there and this would be held up in court... as mentioned I would seek professional legal advice as they can look into all the particulars of the case.

[mailmannz]

Negligent Misrepresentation on the banks part who acting as an interested third party caused you to release the car. There is responsibility there and this would be held up in court... as mentioned I would seek professional legal advice as they can look into all the particulars of the case.

 

You would have a hell of a time proving this, not because the courts are in the back pockets of the banks BUT because it would be up to you to PROVE the bank knowingly ripped you off.

 

More likely their defence will be that its not bank policy for branch staff to say whether a particular draft is legit or not (you can see why from this situation that a bank would have this particular policy).

 

As people have said, you need to get some real legal advice and go after the crim that ripped you off in the first place.

 

Mailman

[G38JF]

Not necessarily - you would have to prove that they did it knowingly if it were fraudulent misrepresentation.. negligent misrepresentation is where whether they believed themselves to be correct or not they are under a duty of care to make absolute certain

[Babylon355]

We have today received a copy of the letter that the Rt Hon Mr Davies, our MP, has sent to the current Financial Secretary to the Treasury, teh Rt Hon Jane Kennedy MP as she has now replaced the Rt Hon John Healy. Mr Davies has discovered that there is currently no time limit on when a bank can counterdemand payments although he tells me that this is due to change in November with the implementation of new procedures. These are designed to reduce the period of time it takes for cheques to "clear" and the introduction of a commitment from the banks to provide a cut off point beyond which cheques can no longer be returned unpaid. Unfortunately this will not help us but things are changing so surely they realise there is an issue with drafts.