scammed out of £525.000

In the case of scams that have been widely publicised, I don’t agree ^NannaSpecialK*. If we have mental capacity it is up to each of us to be aware and be responsible for our safety. Some of the scams people are still falling for have been known of and featured in newspapers and on television and radio for years. How any person in possession of their marbles can fall for them and then expect their bank to refund them beggars belief.

NannaSpecialK I totally disagree. If you go on holiday and leave the front door wide open and a whole lot of expensive computer equipment on view, then you must expect not to find it there when you return. Yes, the thief should know better, but you have a responsibility to take care of your belongings and i doubt that your insurance company would make a full payment out.

It is the same with scams. Most of the ones people fall for ones that have been around for years and there are warnings about them everywhere you look, including on Gransnet.

Under all those circimstances the scammer/ thief is a criminal, but you are not necessarily a victim. Often the persson scammed/stolen from has by their actions made themselves a willing sacrifice.

With the women the got scammed out of half a million, the bank had gone to extreme lengths to warn her, the bank had spoken to her in person and on the phone, the bank had written sent her warning letters, and the bank had arranged for the police to speak to the woman…..not once, but twice!
The woman believed the scammers when they told her bank employees in every branch were part of a secret group colluding to pinch her cash from her bank account, but surely she couldn’t have believed the police were also in on it, and could have divulged what the scammers had told her to the police.
I did feel sorry for her, but it would be totally wrong for the banks to compensate her for the half a million she lost, after all the attempts the bank made to dissuade and warn her. She would have been having her cake and eating it to be given another hall a million compensation after losing the first lot despite all the bank’s efforts to warn her. And it would be people perhaps without large savings who would ultimately pay her the compensation, as the bank would get the money back from its other customers.

I felt less sympathy for the adult children who couldn’t get their hands on their inheritance property because of the problems with the trustees.
The trusts had been set up in an attempt by the parents to avoid having to pay care home costs.
So that means that the rest of us have to pay the parents’ care home costs through increased taxes and council tax, while the parents get free care homes and the children inherit a property.
So I felt the greedy people got what they deserved.

A fool and his/her money are soon parted.

If this is the same case I was hearing about on todays “You and Yours,” I was gobsmacked that anybody could be quite so gullible and only became suspicious when the criminal tried to get her to sell her house.
It does not detract from the severity of the crime, but how naive were the couple in question. It beggars belief.
Best advice I heard was “Run any suggestions of this type past your adult children, or a good friend or family member - and phone the police “.
I am not dismissing negligence on the part of the banks and this is why the £674k is being refunded, but as responsible adults we need to engage our brains before opening wallet/credit card accounts/bank accounts.

It was recently announced that the HMRC were actively taking on these 'trusts' that people put their money in to avoid care home fees. For these to work you need to convince HMRC that the purpose of the trust was NOT to avoid paying care home fees and that is not easy. LAs are also looking at whether they can declare them null and void, especially when the parents are still living in the house and not paying a market rent.

Remove last sentence of previous post, that refers to people who give their house to their children.

True Monica. I read the other day that only a fraction of trustees have registered their trusts too. The tax man will be knocking on some doors.

Good.
More fools and their money to be soon parted..

I had experience of the tax man knocking on my door. He was trying to find the previous owner. I found it very exciting. Unfortunately I didn’t have a forwarding address.

I used to work in the tax office, in my former life.
The best thing about that job was the tea trolley.

Like you Maw I listened to that piece with my jaw on the floor. The most telling comment came at the end where the wife said she was telling her story to warn other people.
This case was in 2021!!!!!!
Where had the 2 of them been that they were totally unaware of this scam.

at the end of that piece on You & Yours today, i noted that the police officer for financial security in N Yorks, said that it is extreme arrogance to think you would never be caught by a scam.
he said he might be, his colleagues might be, and he is investigating similar crimes at the moment.
victim blaming is not helpful. if you think it is, explain how.

Any of us might be caught by a sophisticated new scam. Assuming you are in possession of your wits, and of course some poor souls aren’t, there is no excuse for being caught by one that has been around for years and has received vast amounts of publicity.

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00174dd

this is the piece about the courier fraud.
you may have to register with bbc to listen, but it's free.

I do not think anyone has said they would never be caught by a scam. But most people who are scammed fall for well known scams that people are constantly warned about, and there is little excuse for that.

Although ‘victim’ blaming is criticised, and in some cases quite rightly so, women who hand over their entire life savings to a man they have only ever conversed with online, can expect to face ridicule and disbelief.
Unless someone is two cans short of a six pack, they have only themselves to blame.

Welbeck
He can call me whatever he wants.
I don’t have a landline and I only answer numbers I know on my mobile. I check my bank account every day, sometimes twice.
I think the part of my character that protects me the best is: I don’t trust most people

As for someone telling me that I couldn’t go into my bank or access my online bank ( as they were) for 10 months defies belief that 2 intelligent adults would fall for.

ShropshireMiss

I felt less sympathy for the adult children who couldn’t get their hands on their inheritance property because of the problems with the trustees.
The trusts had been set up in an attempt by the parents to avoid having to pay care home costs.
So that means that the rest of us have to pay the parents’ care home costs through increased taxes and council tax, while the parents get free care homes and the children inherit a property.
So I felt the greedy people got what they deserved.

Quite agree, ShropshireMiss!

I couldn't believe my eyes/ears. The one woman who spoke most looked so indignant.

I agree ShropshireMiss. Why should the rest of us pay for their parents' care? I'm always pleased when these schemes, which I consider fraudulent, are found.

Given the poor quality of care and care homes you get put into when you wriggle out of paying your care fees by putting your assets out of reach and rely on the LA to fund your care, just leaves me hoping that they have a nice long stay in care during which they can contemplate how much more comfortable and happier they would have been if they had not been so venal and their children so greedy, and had paid for the care they could so fully afford.

The rules on OTC changed recently you are supposed to be asked for it with every online transaction although my Zopa card has always had an extra security question, I also get a text message everytime my card is used so if I see something I am not expecting I can query it withing minutes of the cards use

M0nica

Given the poor quality of care and care homes you get put into when you wriggle out of paying your care fees by putting your assets out of reach and rely on the LA to fund your care, just leaves me hoping that they have a nice long stay in care during which they can contemplate how much more comfortable and happier they would have been if they had not been so venal and their children so greedy, and had paid for the care they could so fully afford.

It’s not just that, either. Being self funded means you can choose the time and the place, rather than being dependent on the tender mercies of social services, who will typically (and understandably, because of the cost) wait until family doing their best to care - especially in the case of dementia - are on their knees with stress and exhaustion, before considering residential care.

When I was a regular on a forum for carers with people with dementia, I read of someone who became so desperate, she told SS that if they didn’t do something NOW, she was going to take her parent to A&E and leave him/her there.

Might add that my mother was self funded and the residents of her excellent care home were probably around 50% local authority funded. However it was an Abbeyfield, and I’m well aware that we were very lucky to find a place for her there.

victim blaming is not helpful. if you think it is, explain how

As has been said elsewhere on this thread, the naivety and frankly stupidity of some people has made them the perfect focus for that sort of criminal.
Contributory negligence?