Discussion
I have experience of a compromised email push payment fraud and yes in that case the bank did pay out.
Hacked clients email plus a phone call IIRC resulted in them visiting a bank branch in person (!) and sending north of 500k to the hackers account. Bank staff didn't ask any questions. Money went to a funny card-only 'bank' in London then vanished overseas within hours. Not recovered AFAIK but the client didn't lose out as it was covered by the scheme. Santander - clients bank - really didn't seem bothered it'd happened.
Our IT guy reckoned the scammers had been following it via the clients compromised email for weeks.
eta phone (google the company number - don't rely on emails or letters) to confirm their account details (ideally they won't just read them out, you tell them what you think the account number is, they either say yes or no), then a test payment for a quid first, then follow up phone calls to confirm monies received. This happens a lot.
Hacked clients email plus a phone call IIRC resulted in them visiting a bank branch in person (!) and sending north of 500k to the hackers account. Bank staff didn't ask any questions. Money went to a funny card-only 'bank' in London then vanished overseas within hours. Not recovered AFAIK but the client didn't lose out as it was covered by the scheme. Santander - clients bank - really didn't seem bothered it'd happened.
Our IT guy reckoned the scammers had been following it via the clients compromised email for weeks.
eta phone (google the company number - don't rely on emails or letters) to confirm their account details (ideally they won't just read them out, you tell them what you think the account number is, they either say yes or no), then a test payment for a quid first, then follow up phone calls to confirm monies received. This happens a lot.
Edited by andy43 on Tuesday 24th September 12:34
Make sure that there are no forward rules configured on any received emails - chances are the scammers compromised you email account years ago and had the emails forwarded to them. They simply sat in wait and when something interesting arrives they replace it with their own.
Did the solicitors call you and ask you to make a payment around the time the email was received?
Did the solicitors call you and ask you to make a payment around the time the email was received?
Hopefully it all works out OP, I dont think companies house help here, a friend almost got caught in something similar, his solicitors was something like A Brown Solicitors, the scammers set up a new company called A Brown Operations Ltd, they managed to get into the emails and must have picked a good day to act as they managed to get quite a few payments diverted to them, he didnt lose out as he needed to go into the branch to send the payment and got a call before sending,
As he didnt lose anything he didnt find out much more about what happened, but the solicitors are still there so managed to survive
As he didnt lose anything he didnt find out much more about what happened, but the solicitors are still there so managed to survive
My guidance is when speaking to the bank, inform them of all of the sorts of things you checked before making the payment.
It doesn’t have to be crazily involved, but it should show that you at least took some reasonable steps to make sure you weren’t getting scammed.
This will help you to be rewarded a refund, if you can display this. Up to you what you want to tell them those checks were.
Which bank was it? Different ones treat the ‘Contingent Reimbursement Model’ differently. Google this term, read up and cross fingers your bank is signed up.
How did you end up being given the bank account details?
It doesn’t have to be crazily involved, but it should show that you at least took some reasonable steps to make sure you weren’t getting scammed.
This will help you to be rewarded a refund, if you can display this. Up to you what you want to tell them those checks were.
Which bank was it? Different ones treat the ‘Contingent Reimbursement Model’ differently. Google this term, read up and cross fingers your bank is signed up.
How did you end up being given the bank account details?
Do banks not ask the purpose of the payment these days and, if you select "payment to a solicitor", do they not tell you to validate the bank details by physically calling your solicitor on an independently verified number to confirm the details ?
Am assuming this was the old 'email from solicitor advising of a change of bank details' chestnut ?
The solicitor should normally have provided bank details in writing on a physical bit of paper with some wording about never accepting instructions to change these other than in writing...
Am assuming this was the old 'email from solicitor advising of a change of bank details' chestnut ?
The solicitor should normally have provided bank details in writing on a physical bit of paper with some wording about never accepting instructions to change these other than in writing...
The way it should work is that the Supplier sends you the bank details via email, or sometimes it's just on the bottom of an invoice. To verify them you should phone them but NOT using the number on the invoice. The best thing is to look up their number via Google, ask to speak to their Finance dept and then ask them to verbally confirm their bank details.
[This isn't 100% fool proof. Ive heard of dodgy office Managers substituting their personal bank account details for the Company details. However all banks now provide bank account verification. When you set up a new payee the bank matches the sort code/account number against the name that you've typed in]
[This isn't 100% fool proof. Ive heard of dodgy office Managers substituting their personal bank account details for the Company details. However all banks now provide bank account verification. When you set up a new payee the bank matches the sort code/account number against the name that you've typed in]
OddCat said:
Do banks not ask the purpose of the payment these days and, if you select "payment to a solicitor", do they not tell you to validate the bank details by physically calling your solicitor on an independently verified number to confirm the details ?
They do, it also depends on how they send the payment, if done online my bank (also my employer) has 3 pages of checks & warnings 1, the reason for sending the funds 2, stop & think about the payment you’re making, I cant remember the 3rd, once those 3 pages have been gone through you then have to check the details & confirm the payment. If done in the branch we have an A4 double sided checklist to go through with customers which involves adking customers how they have verified the bank details & I encourage a phone call to their solicitors in the meeting so I can confirm them too
BoRED S2upid said:
I’m pretty sure if I tried to transfer £100k to anyone the bank would say no.
My bank has a £25k daily limit, not sure how you managed to transfer the full amount in one go without the bank being directly involved.Any bank details I get via email always gets a follow up phone call using a number I know to confirm before a penny goes anywhere.
FMOB said:
BoRED S2upid said:
I’m pretty sure if I tried to transfer £100k to anyone the bank would say no.
My bank has a £25k daily limit, not sure how you managed to transfer the full amount in one go without the bank being directly involved.Any bank details I get via email always gets a follow up phone call using a number I know to confirm before a penny goes anywhere.
BoRED S2upid said:
FMOB said:
BoRED S2upid said:
I’m pretty sure if I tried to transfer £100k to anyone the bank would say no.
My bank has a £25k daily limit, not sure how you managed to transfer the full amount in one go without the bank being directly involved.Any bank details I get via email always gets a follow up phone call using a number I know to confirm before a penny goes anywhere.
Last car purchased from a dealer using a debit car for nearly £50k was a total nightmare with blocked transaction, an hour on the phone hoping they would answer. They did everything possible to block the transaction from happening.
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