Scam letter from Santander? I don’t bank with them!

Similar maybe.

Could it be to do an old Abbey National, Alliance & Leicester or Bradford & Bingley account you had and have maybe forgotten about? All three were acquired by Santander and rebranded over 15 years ago.

Last year, I received a letter from Santander addressed to my late husband saying they were reviewing dormant accounts.

It was an invitation to claim the money if ID could be provided.

I went to a branch with the relevant documents: his birth and death certificates, probate, my passport and proof of address.

I was shown into a private room where a very efficient member of staff called up the accounts on screen.

These were two old (Abbey) accounts. The last transactions were over 25 years ago. DH had transferred the funds elsewhere but had not closed the accounts. A small amount of interest has been credited to each after the transfer of funds and had just sat there.

With accumulated interest there was now over £60 which was paid to me a few days later.

Thankyou Paynesfor your reply.
I did a reverse look up of some of the phone numbers on the letter, and one appears to be a scammers phone number. Seems this scam could have been doing the rounds for the last 2 years- on ringing up to discuss the letter the scammers are apparently asking for further details. Think I’ll just ignore the letter seeing as I’ve no account with them or any other banks connected to them.

Thanks for the warning. I have an account with Santander, so I need to watch for anything like that and visit my local branch, which is still there, for verification or otherwise.

My brother forwarded to me a letter that had been sent to him (he lives in France), from Nationwide. It was re an account held by our father (who died in 1991, over 30 years previously). We both suspected it might be a scam but I took it into Nationwide and amazingly, it was genuine! I was really surprised. They had been going through dormant accounts, trying to find the holder or heirs if deceased.

I had been tempted to just tear it up.

My Mum inherited everything when Dad died, but I think his Nationwide account was his "secret stash" (although I had known he had one) and it got missed. My siblings and I got a payout of nearly £30 each (after 30 years + of interest).

Just wanted to say thank you for the warning because I used to have an account with Santander. It could be easy to be taken in if such a letter turned out to be a scam.

If there is a Santander branch near to you mamaa, it might be a good idea to pop in with the letter you have received, explaining to them what you have said here. At the very least, they should be able to tell you if it’s a genuine letter.

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I would also take the letter in to a branch for reasons some have said above.

Also if it is such sophisticated scam then the bank and the fraud service need to be informed to prevent it happening to others and may even lead to a cessation of criminal activity.