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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Miles Brignall

I have evidence of fraud but Santander won’t act

Santander's website offering contract numbers and help.
Of no help … when we reported a suspicious email to Santander. Photograph: Alamy

The banks always claim they do their utmost to stop bank frauds, but my experience tells a different story.

I run a small dog care business and last week my email was hacked. We realised quickly after one of my clients questioned an email requesting money and nothing was lost. However, we were now in possession of the details of the account the fraudsters were using to receive the stolen money – a Merseyside-based Santander account.

Santander, however, refused to even make a cursory examination of the account as I am not a customer. It told me I needed to raise a complaint through my own bank, HSBC, but it could not as no money had been transferred.

So we are left with the ludicrous situation of Santander knowing the details of a bank account used for criminal purposes – I have the email evidence to back it up – but refusing to do anything about it. Meanwhile, others might be being defrauded using this account. PH, Watford

No wonder bank fraud is running out of control. Sadly, this is not the first report of this type. In my opinion the banks are super hot on fraud when they are losing their own money; when it’s the customer’s it is a different story.

Santander told us it normally blocks an account if it is alerted to fraudulent activity. It said you were “incorrectly informed” to contact your own bank. “We have since spoken to the relevant teams and provided feedback to prevent this happening again.”

I’m sure everyone will find that suitably reassuring.

We welcome letters but cannot answer individually. Email us at consumer.champions@theguardian.com or write to Consumer Champions, Money, the Guardian, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Please include a daytime phone number

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