Transferring savings and stopped by the fraud squad again!

When you put in the (trading) name of the account holder, account number and sort code your bank should immediately be able to check if this is valid. Certainly this is true of UK banks.

I paid an auction house in Germany yesterday and as soon as I put in the IBAN the money transfer system I was using was able to check the details were correct. Im always worried it will go into a "black hole" but it never has.

First you have to set up the details of the recipient - unless you have sent money to them before. You dont enter any money at this stage and the system will check all the details for you to make sure they match its records. It now insists on the name and address of the company/recipient and everything has to match. If there are differences it will put up a message recommending you use XXX address.

Only when the recipient details are confirmed can you send the money. My UK bank (Santander) is now doing something similar when you set up a new recipient.

Opportune thread for me as I'm thinking of moving some savings from my bank into an existing UK investment account. Not done it online before and sent a test £100 yesterday.

I agree with the principle of checking but worry that I'll get into a muddle between mobile and computer or make some mistake and the money will fall down a hole. Might it be easier to send a cheque?

A lot of these scams are duping silly people who believe they are investing in schemes that will pay huge interest rates or are speculating on bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.
I have great sympathy for folk being tricked into moving money by believing they are genuinely speaking to their bank but absolutely none for those who are just plain greedy to begin with. I’m always amazed reading the money pages in The Sunday Times how banks actually reimburse foolish people for investing huge sums in get rich quick schemes that turn out to be fraudulent. Their greed causes their own downfall.
Personally I’d far rather the bank stopped a large transaction to be on the safe side and err on the side of caution, rather than let a potential fraud through.

Shandy57

It was a new savings account, I had already sent a £1 tester successfully, I was transferring £7K.

I do appreciate that banks are trying to protect us. I am sorry BT are removing land lines so we will not have an alternative phone line in the future to check if callers are legit.

A landline is essential to some. Those who don't use mobile 'phones but will of course now be forced to.

... and my neighbour who does not get a good signal on his mobile unless he's in his garden. Not to mention my partner who simply cannot fathom how his iPhone operates, can't swipe because he has permanently sweaty fingers... I've just been sitting holding his 'phone for him, keying in numbers, whilst he talks to his bank about a rejected credit card.

However, in 2025, we will still be able to have a landline, but the underpinning system will be different and replace the current PSTN.

This site (AgeUK) gives all the information you need to understand the change.

www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/money-legal/consumer-issues/changes-to-landline-telephones/

... so we will still be able to check out those suspicious callers...

I cannot understand how people manage to transfer large sums of money to another bank account (often abroad) when they are being genuinely scammed.

Im talking about sums in excess of £20,000.

I routinely transfer sums abroad to pay for items Ive bought in online auctions for my business. Not huge sums - usually between £500 £5000. One time I was paying about 1000 euros to a German bank and the intermediary bank (Barclays) queried it. I had to provide a lot of information plust a copy of the invoice from the auction house. And that was when we were still in the EU.

So I wonder how these fraudulent transactions are allowed to take place.

This is good news!
WhilstI have been ill recently I have watched a morning TV show about scammers, one poor woman actually convinced the bank and the police it was not a romance scam.

I was in a post office last year listening to the post mistress try and dissuade a woman from doing a money transfer she was sending to her “friend” abroad who needed to pay fines.

There is one born every minute.

It was a new savings account, I had already sent a £1 tester successfully, I was transferring £7K.

I do appreciate that banks are trying to protect us. I am sorry BT are removing land lines so we will not have an alternative phone line in the future to check if callers are legit.

Yes it is GSM. If it prevents just one person being scammed, it's worth the inconvenience of a transaction taking that little bit longer to get done.

It’s good to know that banks are trying to protect people. It always annoys me that people transfer money to scammers despite publicity and warnings and then expect the bank to reimburse them.

Are you moving it from your online account? How much? When i transferred 15k to my DDs account for deposit on her house , I hadcavpop up on my online account warning me of scams and asking to ensure it was the correct account and if it was a trusted person/s ....then the money went straight through ....I have sent money to her before tho and vice versa so she was already in my 'list

Yes, it’s a great interest rate, but so often, after a short time, these headline grabbing rates on new accounts are quietly reduced.

Instant access means you can, of course, soon move it again though.

Glad it's not just me cornergran! When she was asking the questions I had a feeling of fear that perhaps this new US based bank could be a scam! Did some googling again and it's fully protected by FSC. 1.5% interest and easy access, fantastic!

Same thing here shandy. It took 35 minutes on the phone to be permitted to transfer money from my current account to a newly opened savings account. It was all perfectly pleasant, just time consuming. I enquired at the end whether it was policy to stop every such transaction and was told not, a percentage according to perceived risk. Yes, age was a factor and also gender.

Yes, I saw that on the rip off Britain show. Very sad, there are many lonely people on this planet desperate for love.

Or sending it to your young lover/gigolo....