I speak as someone who is retired from banking so. though I don't claim to be an expert, I'm not an ignorant fool either, and I do have some knowledge of the workings of banks and their systems and procedures.
A number of things are glaringly apparent. There are some clear vulnerabilities within banking and payment systems. There always are and banks have to devise strategies to deal with them otherwise criminals will exploit them to the point at which their customers and the banks themselves are destroyed. If that sounds over dramatic you can read the item I posted in the 'News' forum about the Washington hospital that was taken for $1m recently and, in another forum, a Greek company have had their clients defrauded for large sums of money.
In my day fraud teams (inspectors as we called them) were no nonsense people and they struck fear and terror in all staff. They didn't believe in fairies or coincidences, quite rightly so. The fact that the name of one UK bank in particular keeps cropping up to an extent that is quite bizarre is something which should be looked in to, as it clearly shows that other banks must be doing something they aren't, and it's negligent for them not to find out what it is.
The banks' representatives state quite categorically that victims will get their losses paid back, and I've quoted the links to their statements, and those of the police and other authorities stating the same, in an earlier post on this thread. If they don't mean it, they should issue a revised statement so that people know the risks they're taking using the payment system provided by banks. Moneybox on Radio 4 is another avenue to explore and I would also contact your MP. It is a general issue that has affeceted you specifically and it is quite justified that you raise the issue with him. You can do it through an online portal in which you can give your opinion as to how well he deals with your issue, giving him an incentive to take the matter up. Also Stella Creasey is an MP with a special interest in banks and matters related to finance.
The current attitude appears to be that if the matter is ignored it'll go away, but it won't. It's getting worse and now that it's affecting companies and large institutions, the potential risks are horrific. Based on CIFAS' own figures the amounts involved must be staggering - the maths is easy. 45,000 x £1,000 or £10,000 or more. That's up to half a billion pounds being taken out of UK economy annually through a fraud against which the banks appear to be doing nothing. It appears to be treated as the cost you pay to have a bank account.
The problem is that the criminal faces no risk in performing this fraud and that's a very dangerous situation. It makes ad sites such a risk to use I wouldn't go near one, so there's a risk to commercial activity. The Greek company I mentioned have had someone go through their client list performing fraud against two of them.
Banks will undoubtedly respond with the usual platitudes but they don't work. The vulnerabilities are clear and obvious and I won't risk making matters worse by detailing them, but it's not a secret, and certainly not to criminals.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01s8mp3Have you been the victim of financial fraud? For advice about protecting your identity, spotting scams and sorting out the mess if you are caught out, call 03700 100 444 between 1pm and 3.30pm on Wednesday or e-mail
[email protected]
The important thing is to make those outside the banking industry aware of the problem. If you all contact the Financial Ombudsman Service, your MP, programmes like MoneyBox and the One Show, you create a surge of interest that makes it impossible to be ignored.
but bank inspectors from my day didn't believe in coincidence, and nor do I.