Bank fraud

[fraud2016]

My company was recently the victim of bank fraud, losing £5,500 in a fraudulent payment. My bank is HSBC and they have carried out a very biased investigation that was more about pinning blame on me than getting to the truth.

Has anyone else faced a similar problem? How did their bank handle the situation? Has anyone taken this to the banking ombudsman?

I was shocked to learn that customers are not very well protected in law against bank fraud and recent news stories suggest that many high street banks are adopting a hard stance. This can only encourage more fraud. Throughout the process so far it has felt as if HSBC and myself are on opposite sides of a dispute - not on the same side against the fraudster.

I actually telephoned the bank while the fraud was being committed but waited for more than an hour in the bank's queuing system - this was on a fraud reporting number. By the time I got through, it was too late, and then, while the fraudster was telephoning me to gloat (my son picked up the telephone), I had to listen to a lady from HSBC lecture me about security. Throughout the process, I have found HSBC staff completely unhelpful - it is as if they are in denial.

Fraud is actually commonplace and you would think that the banks would be leaning over backwards to involve customers in the battle. Anyway, interested in hearing the views of others.

[Harold Mansfield]

It's hard for banks to police fraud when they themselves are committing it.

My own bank was just caught opening up fake accounts with other people's money, to make it look like growth and then cash in on the increased stock prices.

HSBC was caught laundering drug money for cartels, helped collapse the economy by pushing knowingly bad investments, and just settled with The U.S. for their role in the LIBOR scandal where they conspired with other world banks to manipulate rates.

Bank of America- settled lawsuit concerning over draft fees.

My point? We're screwed. Banks themselves are frauds, so how are they supposed to help us? They don't. These days (unless you have significant assets) you are more likely to get ripped off by a bank, than protected by one.

I wish I could give a rosier picture or offer help in some way, but when banks get caught time after time committing fraud against their customers and people in general, and are still allowed to exist to do it all over again, then who is supposed to be looking out for us? I wish I could tell you who to turn to, but all signs and history points to the fact that we are screwed and they are free to just do whatever they want.

Again, if you have significant assets they will bend over backwards for you. But if you're just a "Little guy", they'll just string you along for years and there's nothing you can do because they know you don't have the resources to sue them.

Sounds like you're not in the U.S. so any references to agencies that I know of won't be relevant.

If you want to press the matter, just search out the agencies responsible for banking ethics or policing in your country and file a report with them.
If this had anything to do with a credit card company or 3rd party, you should follow up with them. Financial institutions know how to speak to each other and will generally work together to hash things out.

Or see if you can get local press involved.

Other than that, if you really think they have screwed you I'd take my money and business to another bank. Or better, a credit union.

[Fulcrum]

If you're 100% in the clear, go public with the details. Shaming seems to be the only way to get banks to correct a mistake or pursue fraud.

There was a time you could get good service and rates from a bank. Now it's all about your money and how much of it they get to control or take.

@Harold, sounds like your bank operates the same way mine does.

[fraud2016]

I don't think going public is in the interest of my company.

I posted my message on another website and the administrator insisted on removing the bank's name.

Currently posting some stuff on twitter under the hashtag #HSBCfraud (although this hashtag is also being used for other stuff).

J

[nealrm]

How did you know the fraud was being committed while it was in progress? And why would the person call you to gloat?

[fraud2016]

I did not know fraud was being committed, I had doubts and thought it safe to contact the bank and confirm the identity of the man claiming to be from the bank.

Why would the man phone to gloat? Presumably this is one way that he gets a kick. You could hear the sense of triumph in his voice.

I was in the local branch of HSBC yesterday and a member of staff told me that my experience was common and he recognized some of the tactics I described. Why don't HSBC write to customers in the area and warn them about some of these tactics if they are so familiar?

[Harold Mansfield]

Why don't HSBC write to customers in the area and warn them about some of these tactics if they are so familiar?

To quote my favorite movie "Independence Day", "Plausible deniability". If they admit it that means they know about it and have to do something about it. Most times they string it out to weigh what their risk is, figure out how to absolve themselves of it, or mitigate it as much as possible before saying anything. Unless the feds make them.

You see this with data breeches all of the time. A company will have known for months or years before they admit it to the public. Many times I've gotten a "Change your password now!" email from a company, with no explanation other than it's time to freshen things up, only to hear months later that there was a breech during that time. (Ahem, Yahoo. Pay Pal).

And sometimes they just ignore it altogether because it's not profitable to do anything about it.

Basically customer service from most banks is horrible. They're constantly weighing how much profit is in every single thing.
Banks are like the Ferengis in Star Trek.

[nealrm]

I'm guessing that he got enough information from you that he was able to access your account and make a transfer.

[nealrm]

After reading the through, I question if this is the fault of the bank. The OP receives a call from a random stranger and proceeds to give him enough information to allow him to break into the guy's account. There are literally thousands of articles published that all say don't give out bank information over the phone. Common sense says not to give out bank information over the phone.

[ricke]

This is a good article from NCI discussing about the prevention of identity theft nci.ca/how-do-you-recognize-and-prevent-identity-theft/
Take a look at this, I don't think a reputed bank will follow such practices