Barclays Bank Ebay fraud

I'm sorry skodabrouk but money mules don't forget where they live or obfuscate their name.

This information identifies the person

Sort Code: 20-46-60
Account #: 53-87-12-07

... and is guaranteed to be accurate, and it's specific enough to individually identify the person from everyone else on planet earth. Banks are obliged by law to hold records of their customers, including ID, for many years even after the account is closed.

Whatever other information you were given is likely to be untrue, as far as it doesn't hinder transmission of the payment, thereby making the recipient's likely name to be 'Markandu'. Christian names you may have been given are irrelevant.

Scammers have been working bank accounts for over a hundred years and they can't come up with anything that hasn't been tried before.

Hi there,

I've recently become a victim of the Barclays eBay fraud, and I saw your posts online asking for other victims to send you their details, so here are mine:

I transferred £2,550 on the 26th of April to:

Barclays Bank plc
Sort Code: 20-53-04
Account number: 93631818

The account holder was given as:

Andrew Werner
39 Lothian Drive
Glasgow G76 7NA UK

I'd be happy to take my case up with MoneyBox, the FOS or whomever might make a difference.

Hi ownen

So to hear you too have been scammed on ebay with a Barclays account.

Get onto the FOS and they will raise a complaint to Barclays on your behalf..I am just off the phone to them myself.

PS the address quoted by your scammer is only 10 minutes away from my home, i might take a nosey around for you when I get back from working abroad.

Welcome to Scamwarners craigwww and I regret you gave suffered such a devastating loss.

The information you've provided helps and I'll do some more work on it.

The concern is that the majority of these scams are all being perpetrated through the same bank and possibly the same branch.

Ignore the references to Scotland as that is just misdirection by the scammer who can't even spell the fake branch address and no Scotsman refers to the Highlands as a country....

Terrance

Apologies I have only just seen your reply !

Thank you for the info and I came to the same conclusions as yourself regards names and the location of the Braclays branch.

I worked in a bank for 5 years from cashier up to Mortgage Adviser so I am aware of all account opening processes and the protection put in place to stop money laundering. I am continuing my research into tracking this guy down.

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated!

Regards
Craig

Forget the Scottish details owenk77 as that merely suggests that it's the same scam group behind it who have been working this fraud successfully for a while now. The actual account is located at a branch in Tottenham, London and I'll attempt to identify specifically which one shortly. Undoubtedly the account holder is also located in London, presumably the Tottenham area.

The account holder may be an 'innocent' mule. However he has been recruited in to a criminal enterprise, even if he may not have understood what he's doing, and the least he should expect to suffer is the cost of repaying the money he's been responsible for receiving and paying on. That's my personal view but it does accord with UK legal principles. Of course it would be awkward and inconvenient for a bank to be involved in such an arrangement but, if they do nothing, they are actually contravening UK money laundering legislation. Considering that CIFAS (the UK representative of all financial organisations) states clearly that anyone involved in such an arrangement risks a prison sentence of ten years, in actual fact, it's more likely they'll do nothing. That might suit them economically but it's a clear abrogation of their legal responsibility.

The benefit of you revealing the account identity owenk77 is that, if the account crops up again in a similar fraud, then that is prima facie evidence that UK money laundering legislation isn't being properly and effectively applied by UK banks. Neither you nor I know the identity of those who are stealing this money and what they're using it for, but we know they're organised and performing this fraud on a large scale. Turning a blind eye is scandalous.

That the same bank is usually involved, and that the fraudsters themselves indicate a preference for using that bank, should make the bank and regulators uneasy.

I wouldn't speak to the FOS as they will undoubtedly try to fob you off and deter you. Making a formal complaint won't cost you anything. You just have to follow the procedure.

This is a major problem and it would be more than embarrassing for them to have this issue become public, and the FOS/FSA would have to act if they see this happening. As well as your own MP, certain MP's have a specific interest in financial matters and I'm sure the one I'm thinking of would be prepared to intervene.

One poster reported that a bank they contacted suggested that implementing KYC principles was all a bank was required to do, which shows how badly educated some banks are in their legal duties and responsibilities. Strictly, every payment going in and out of a customer's account should be scrutinised. This may be an unreasonable expectation, but that's the law and I recall it being suggested that a window cleaner paying in £200 in cash should be interrogated as to its source in internal educational material. Banks know their responsibilities but their full and proper implementation would be costly and awkward.

Like a car, a bank account is a useful tool, but in the wrong hands it becomes a dangerous weapon. Those who use them as weapons have to be made to suffer the consequences otherwise the car/bank account itself becomes too toxic to allow within society.

So, would a formal complaint have to be to Barclays themselves, or is there a different avenue of complaint available - I'm quite happy to jump through lots of hoops if somebody points me in roughly the right direction. Thanks very much for your help on this, by the way.

Owen, I've sent you a PM.

I do want to make one thing clear here:

It's not quite as simple as it may seem. We don't know that the bank accounts referenced in this thread were opened fraudulently. Many times, scammers use fake job offers and/or romance scams to convince innocent people to receive and forward money from their legitimately opened bank accounts, or they convince unemployed people with no criminal history to open a new account for their "job." Some of these existing accounts used may be long-standing, with no history of criminal activity. You can see hundreds of examples of fake jobs used to recruit mules in the relevant sub-forum of our website. Sometimes the scammers even target people with accounts at specific banks!

I can quote from 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) - that is, this is the banks own representative body speaking -

http://www.cifas.org.uk/moneymulescams_feb

Providers 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.

A bank account, like a car, is a dangerous a weapon in the wrong hands and, if a person can't operate one within the requirements of the law, they shouldn't be allowed to have one. The ultimate result of not acting is that the whole banking system becomes toxic and loses credibility, which potentially has very serious consequences.

On the same subject I noticed this news report

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22436311

European residents will have the right to open a basic bank account in any country of the EU ...

... which has horrific implications as regards fraud. By CIFAS' own admission 45,000 bank accounts were compromised last year, and if fraudsters are given the ability to use those details to open accounts abroad, the whole banking system could fall apart. I don't consider that an exaggeration.

The general issue is not the forum's concern but we do deal with the victims and, unless and until the regulator gets a grip on the matter, the problem's only going to get worse.

Hi am new on this.

Encountered this forum while looking for a way of complaining to Barclays officially.
Here is my story -
Was in communication with a rogue car dealer in birmingham (meridian motor machinery services)
He ended up selling me a Toyota Landcruiser LC5 2006 that doesnt exist. Payment was done in totals of GBP17200 to include delivery of the vehicle.
The bank details used were:
ACC Name . Meridian Motors
ACC No. 40888885
Sort Code. 200782
IBAN GB10BARC20078240888885
SWIF BIC BARCGB22
Barclays Bank
68 Highstreet, Harbone B17 9NJ

I have tried to use the debt collectors, the guy is slippery.
I have made a complaint to the Birmingham police and still waiting.

I found out the owner of meridian motors is a kenyan and maybe I should report him to His embassy, home office and practically to interpol. but how will i get my money back?

should i go ahead and make a formal complaint to barclays bank? they would probably freeze his account or something?

Any advice on this will be greatly appreciated.

As there appears to be an incorporated company involved you must contact Companies House to prevent them going in to liquidation without dealing with your claim.

It may not get you any money but at least your claim will be recorded.

I'd also register an objection if I found he was setting up a new company with a very similar name.

Dotti,

I agree that some of the accounts involved in these scams won't necessarily have been set up with the express purpose of fraud, and that many of the account owners will be essentially innocent parties, but the following is from the Action Fraud website:

Money mules are often recruited by fraudsters to receive money into their bank account, then withdraw the money and wire it overseas, minus a commission payment.

Even if the money mule is not involved in the fraud to generate the money, they are acting illegally by laundering the funds.

Other sites suggest that these people can expect to pay back all of the stolen money which has passed through their accounts. Whether that is true or not, time will tell.

I've just been speaking to the FOS. They explained they're not able to help, because I don't actually have a problem with MY account at MY bank, but with a different person's account at a different bank. They suggested contacting the Financial Conduct Authority (http://www.fca.org.uk/), and lodging a complaint with Barclays directly.

Automan, getting debt collectors involved may bear fruit, by I doubt it - the Meridian Motors may well not exist, and almost certainly won't be the account holder's name.

Given the information from CIFAS, it would seem reasonable to me that, if it can be proven that Barclays are not following all legally required or best-practice guidelines when it comes to people opening accounts, and/or they're not shutting down accounts involved in money-mule scams as promptly as they should, then they are contributing to this scandal, rather than helping to resolve it.

I will contact Barclays and the FCA tomorrow, and keep this Board posted.

The concept of someone suffering or going to prison through being deceived or by making an error of judgement may appear unfair or inequitable, but it was made very clear to staff in the bank I was employed by that failure to report suspicions of money laundering could lead to individual staff members going to prison. The staff didn't need to be complicit in the act or profiting from it. The mere failure to act was enough to render them liable to prosecution. Therefore the legal principle exists that you can commit a prosecutable act even if you are unaware of the consequences of what you are doing.

What's at stake is the integrity of the banking system and it's up to banks to uphold it. If fraudsters find a weakness in a bank's systems and procedures it will quickly turn in to a crisis if it isn't addressed.

Hi everyone, I have only just joined but a friend found this site and found that I am not the only one who has been scammed by Mark Andu Jude. Today I took the letter from my bank HSBC confirming monies had been transferred to the Barclays account and the manager at Barclays after phoning there fraud team for advice gave me the following address to write to with my case:
RBB Litigation and Special Investigations
Level 29
1 Churchill Place
Canary Wharf
E145HP
The fraud department said this is the team that will investigate the account in question and the claim will help in returning lost funds? We shall see.
The account in question is
sort code 20-46-60
account 53871207

Surely with more than one of us scammed by the same people we can get somewhere?
Any advice please
Arnie

Considering that I'm retired from banking it's depressing to hear that UK banks still behave like 19th century institutions, lacking an ability to engage in internal communication with their own departments and failing to understand how it reflects on their image. In my day we would never fob off anyone in that manner. The rule was that if you were faced with a problem you took ownership and dealt with it, or ensured it was resolved. The risk being that it will escalate out of control without anyone ever knowing about it.

Have you reported it to Action Fraud ? If not, do so and get a reference number, making sure that you've detailed the account used. The important information is the account number and sorting code whereas, as I have pointed out, the name you have been given is an anagram. The horror is that in failing to block the account, the bank are likely to ensure that the customer, whether an innocent mule or not, risks being prosecuted.

Put in a formal written complaint to Barclays in preparation to taking the matter up with the FOS, which will bring it to the attention of the FSA, and won't cost you anything. If enough people do the same, there's a hope the FSA will wake up to the problem.

You can raise the issue with your MP and there are online links to enable you to do it. If you mention the widespread nature of the problem it will act as a spur, and one MP in particular has a special interest in this area and may be prepared to take notice.