Security

Many years ago I was impressed by a phone call, while we were still in the shopping centre car park, checking that it was us who had spent quite a lot of money on electrical goods. It was in the early days of mobile phones and it was a miracle I had it on me!

I worked in a bank for 19 (mostly horrible) years and developed an instinct for when something was wrong. One young man was taken away in handcuffs when he tried to take money out of a friend's account and I caught him. My OH and I went for a drink in the local a few days later and there he was with his mates! I made sure we weren't followed home.

Another time an elderly person was trying to take a large amount of cash out and I was worried about her. I asked the manager to take her somewhere private to check and it turned out she had been conned.

Narrowboatnan, the currency notes that we now use, should make it much easier to launder money these days.

Daisymae, we have recently ordered a new car, and will be moving money from one account to another, so that we can pay by bank transfer.
I suppose we may well be asked what we are up to!

I think asking why you want the money is a bit much - what's a scammer going to say -
A. I'm money laundering
B. Drug dealing
C. Buying a car/holiday/something else
My other point is that security is just so complicated that genuine customers are being prevented from accessing their own accounts. Online purchases now involve a six digit verification code texted, every single time. If you are not having this at the moment, then you soon will be

Last week mine and my husband’s bank cards were stopped when we attempted to buy foreign currency. A phone call to the bank eventually freed them both up but it was apparently done because fraudulent transactions are taking place where elderly people are conned into buying currency for the fraudsters. I pointed out that it is the main holiday season and not unreasonable to need currency! Also, earlier this year, same bank, we were both questioned and asked what we needed to transfer some money for. We were asked what we were buying and whilst I understood they were trying to protect us, it did seem a bit intrusive to want to know what we were using the money for.

I was doing an online BACS transfer to pay for a holiday and my bank's fraud section phoned and asked if I knew what I was doing, who the payee was and what the money was for. All this within about a minute of me trying to make the transaction. They blocked the transfer until they were sure it was genuine.

When DH & I sold our house in 2011 we went into the Bank the following day to transfer money for our new home (mobile/park home) & 10% of purchase price to Park Owner. We were asked where the money had come from. The "little devil" on my should whispered "tell them drug dealing!!", I thought perhaps better not & produced a letter from our Solicitor giving sale details.

I still wonder what would have happened if I'd listened to that "little devil"

I opened a Savings account next door to work. I use that address for post as I live on a boat.
I was called in and asked to close my account as they weren’t happy with my address not being permanent. ( your nobody without a postcode)
It seems I could be a money launderer. Yeah like £750 made me the mafia

It is the criminals who have made this situation

Heaven knows! There is more money laundering than ever before. Banks have been caught out facilitating money laundering on a huge scale and just get a rap over the knuckles.

I was involved in some money laundering once. I washed my husbands work trousers with his pay packet still in the pocket. We had £1 notes (remember those?), £5 notes and £10 notes arranged all over various surfaces to dry. Hadn't been married long and he never let me forget it

Just thought I'd lighten things up a bit

Pamela
This happened to me in the past month.
I was checking my bank account and saw 2 withdrawals of £2.50 and £3.75. I didn't recognise the company name so checked them out. They were both car parking companies.
I knew straight away what was going on.
Cancelled all cards pronto.

Bank fraud is endemic. The crooks are at it 24/7. A lot of money is lost. As soon as one method is stopped another crops up which means the fraud teams in banks and creditcard companies have to be on their toes all the time.

There is no way of stopping this so far. Therefore we all need to be patient. And we can help ourselves by letting the bank/card company know in advance of any unusual transaction you will be making.

It is no use blaming anyone except the crooks.

Even with all this extra security people still get fraudulent transactions made on their bank accounts.

I had great trouble paying a tax bill because my Bank did not want to do the transfer as it's a common scam and I didnt have a history of paying HMRC. Well no, it was a one off CGT bill which I explained and also that it was expected and I had double checked the details. They made me jump through all sorts of hoops and still didnt want to let me pay...

Just an added thought, before you phone back either make a call to someone other than your bank and check the line has been cleared or use a different phone. Scammers are very good at letting you think you are making a new call when they are still on the line.

It is terribly frustrating when we are going round in circles because one needs our passport and our passport application needs our address proof and another needs something else...

But really we must remember to whom we need to address our frustration!

It is the criminals who have made this situation.

Not the Banks or Passport office or whatever...

The Banks do so much to try and keep us safe, but the criminals are so wicked and always looking for ways to get ahead of them.

I am still grateful that my banks have phoned me to say there has been some unusual activity on my card. I always phone back - never accept the first call. But each time it has been the bank and there has been a wicked person who may have watched me putting in my code or something. I am impressed by how quickly they notice when my account is being used differently. wait must be so difficult to keep updating their computer systems to keep abreast of the fraudsters. We live in an age of many very dishonest people.

GreenGran78.

Very good advice!

Always contact your bank on your own phone or by putting their address into your computer yourself.

Make sure your computer has not "remembered" the last address it had of the bank which was the one the scammer gave.
If necessary, clear your computer's cache (look into "History" in your web browser,) or open another page and check carefully that you have got a new address.

M0nica. You are right. I am very grateful to the two banks i have used. They have both bent over backwards to help me in difficult circumstances when a Builder defrauded me. one in particular could not have been more considerate or understanding and I am really grateful to them. I had no idea that a major bank could look after an oldie like me like this. On the phone the people are so kind too. It has been wonderful what they have done to help.

Incidentally, i have had two phone calls recently, saying that my credit card has been used illicitly for a transaction, and I have just hung up on them and checked with my bank. Both were scams.
Never believe, or follow-up, what you are told on the phone or by email. Always check for yourself. No doubt, if I had continued with the calls, they would have tried to get information that would allow them to access my account.

Yes, I agree, it's becoming absurd. My DD, who has just married and changed her name, is trying to get a passport in her new name for a very imminent holiday and the passport office is demanding a bank statement and the bank won't give her one without the passport which is now in transit.

I asked to drawer out £6000 cash last year...I was paying a friend of a friend cash for supplying and fitting my new bathroom. They would only let me have £1000 and I had to ‘order’ the rest for next day. I cannot believe they didn’t have the money in the branch at the time. They told me it was because as I’m an older person they have to be sure I’m not being coerced! I said yes they were waiting outside for me but had just let me pop into Tesco next door to pick up my bread and milk ...I lifted shopping to show them! They gave me the money. I’ve banked with them 47 years!

Daisymae Keeping your money under the bed has its problems too. I read recently about a couple who were saving for a special wheelchair for their disabled child, and keeping the money under the bed. Most of it was stolen by one of the child's carers. How despicable was that? They caught her, by using a hidden camera, attempting to steal more. She was convicted, but they didn't get the money back.

I agree that all these security measures can be a right pain in the neck. However, there is so much fraud going on that I am prepared to put up with the inconvenience.

I had a man from the fraud office phone me about our joint account. They asked if I knew my husband had paid a large amount of money for aircraft insurance. I did know. They then asked me about 20 security questions. Unfortunately husband had set the answers years ago and we couldn't remember them. The man on the phone could hear husband trying to help with the answers and that was wrong too. It took three phone calls to sort it all out. I HATE dealing with banks.

I ordered an online shop with Asda at Christmas as I had the whole family coming over.
I added a new card to pay for it instead of the one I usually use and the bank cancelled the transaction because of unusual spending.
Luckily Asda still sent out the order but I got an e mail asking me to sort it out.
I was furious with the bank because if it hadnt been for Asdas good will I would have been left seriously in the lurch.

That's what is needed HootyMcOwlface, I don't see that I should have to buy a passport for 70 odd quid to prove I am who I say I am on the rare occasion I take a larger amount of my cash out! The banks should provide such a service if they are going to insist on it. The only thing I had was an electric bill with my name on (all other bills in OH names) but teller said that wasn't really enough. Went through various security questions with a queue of people stood right behind me... then asked me what payments have recently gone out - I hardly use the account as I get paid in cash and buy with cash. So stuck all ways lol.

Our local Co-op have a leaflet about a Citizencard that you can apply for and use as ID if you have no other photo ID. I expect anyone could apply for one, although it seems to be offered to mainly youngsters here I think.