Hi Arnie - it's been a hectic day.
Just to recap - you are a victim of 'Barclays Markandu' and the fact that money mule victims can currently receive a group classification is essentially the problem.
I cannot stress it strongly enough that the responsibility of banks with regard to KYC and money laundering legislation does not end with looking at a gas bill or passport when initially opening a bank account, and anyone from a bank who tells you it does, isn't competent to serve on a counter, let alone call themselves a manager.
You know the circumstances of your loss and can provide evidence and paperwork to support it, including a copy of the evidence of the payment you made. It is apparent that certain banks have a particular problem, or they're peculiarly unlucky. Though it's difficult to make an issue of an isolated instance, when you have been duped using an account that has already been reported as having been involved in money laundering, the situation is entirely different. A response of 'oops we dropped the ball' isn't an acceptable response. Banks have a legal obligation to act and in a situation where failure to react could result in bank staff going to prison, you'd expect a steely efficient reaction. If not, the conclusion is that no one takes the legislation seriously. I am not exaggerating when I say that failure to report/act in instances of money laundering renders individual members of staff themselves liable to prosecution. I don't imagine it's ever likely to happen, but i didn't write the law/rules.
I'll repeat the view of CIFAS - (CIFAS is the UK's Fraud Prevention Service with 270 Member organisations spread across banking, credit cards, asset finance, retail credit, mail order, insurance, investment management, telecommunications, factoring and share dealing) - in other words this is the banks talking
http://www.cifas.org.uk/moneymulescams_febProviders are legally required to close accounts that are used to launder money and can be heavily fined by international regulators if they fail to do so.
Money from drug dealing, investment and boiler rooms scams, fake lotteries, people trafficking and prostitution is pushed through these scams, so that ‘dirty’ money is made to appear as if it is ‘clean’.
Crimestoppers - (an independent charity helping to find criminals and help solve crimes) - supported by the police and government.
http://www.crimestoppers-uk.org/assets/files/Media%20Centre/more_info.pdfMoney Mules are breaking the law. Ignorance of the law is no defence. If you become a Money Mule you are liable to be prosecuted and could face up to 10 years in prison.
If you become a Money Mule, you could become part of a police investigation, and are often the easiest link in the criminal chain to track down.
The bank account of the Money Mule will be suspended. Being tagged as a fraudster makes it harder to obtain a bank account in the future, and to obtain credit.
A Money Mule is liable to pay back all the money that they have transferred through their account. This could total many thousands of pounds.
Banksafeonline - (The Bank safe Online website is run by the Payments Council, the body with responsibility for ensuring that payment services work for all those that use them in the UK.) - another banking representative body
http://www.banksafeonline.org.uk/common-scams/money-mulesRemember that even if you have nothing to do with the actual extraction of funds from another person's account, by allowing your account to be used to receive and transfer such funds, you will be acting illegally.
Ignorance is no excuse - allowing your bank account to be used for fraud can lead to up to 10 years’ imprisonment!
The FFA - (Financial Fraud Action UK is the name under which the financial services industry co-ordinates its activity on fraud prevention)
http://www.financialfraudaction.org.uk/money-mules.aspThe money you’re transferring is stolen, and what you’re doing is called money laundering, which is illegal. Involvement in money laundering can lead to a criminal sentence of up to ten years in prison.
Although the prospect of making some easy money may appear attractive, any money or ‘wages’ that you are given will be recovered by your bank because they are the proceeds of fraud. You will be the easiest link in the chain to track down and will be involved in any resulting police investigation. Your bank account will be closed down and details of the activity shared with other banks, making it hard for you to open up a bank account in the future.
Action Fraud - (Action Fraud is the UK’s national fraud reporting centre where you should report fraud if you have been scammed or defrauded) - effectively the police have some interesting facts and statistics here.
http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/money-mules-fake-jobs-lead-to-crime-feb11The overall situation is unacceptable. Your particular case is one that is more effectively pursued because it evidences that money laundering procedures in some banks are palpably ineffective, otherwise different victims wouldn't be losing money to the same money mules again and again.
If I were the bank, in view of the nature of your case, I'd settle with you.
If it needs to go to the MP level I can synchronise contacting my MP with when you contact yours, if it gets to that level, though mine will be on the general issue.
