Scams help please

My mother was recently scammed from an add on facebook, it was a free trial of face cream ....... anyhow without going into the inns and outs they took £200 out of her bank account. In an attempt to get her money back I logged into her Gmail account from my computer using my broadband and sent them two emails from her email address in her name ........... I haven't once mentioned my name or used my account and yet they have replied to my MUM's email address starting 'Hello Helen'

Has anyone got any idea's as to how they know my name or know if companies have the ability to get info from my computer whilst logged into a different account in a different name.

I get unsolicited emails trying to sell me things to do with my business, saying hello peter etc:- and if you look at some websites you get adverts which are related to where you live so they know where you are
You are not anonymous when you search the web.
I hope your mum gets her money back. Pete  

Have you noticed when you get emails they can be accompanied by unsolicited adds for goods relevant to the email content,this in my mind means emails are scanned looking for key words, i locked mine down on privacy as much as i could but it still happens.things have been better since getting the new pc and not touching facebook ect since getting it.

Hope your mum gets her money back

mike

Some banks have covered the costs but hers won't, it all depends on who you bank with. It's a well known scam where you are supposed to only be charged £1.99 for post and packaging costs but your not ....... Trading standards and watchdog have already investigated and every few months they just close the business and start in a new name, they also have addresses all over the world which they change frequently. I doubt very much if she will see a penny back but it could have been worse as some have lost a lot more money than that and thousands have been scammed while the company is using it's current product name of pro-lift and glow. My mum has only recently learned how to use a laptop and the internet, she uses it mainly for ebay and I made sure she has a paypal account and only uses that to buy stuff from there ....... never in a million years did I think she would just tap in her bank account details when an ad showed at the side of her fb page, she thought because it was on fb and millions use fb it must be safe  

I still can't fathom how they have my name from me sending an email in her name from her email account and although I used the broadband at my home it's in Johns name.

Though I don't know enough to know I would imagine it was something to do with the nature of Google and Gmail.
You can clear out your history via Ccleaner but if you go into eBay it displays relevant ads instantly even before you log on!
I would select options on your mother's bank account that prevent the account having automated payments taken in case they return.
I presume knowing you that you have been through this but the bank can't help or they won't help? if the money had been from a credit card account she would have been fine and due to a refund.

The bank isn't helping, this has been going on a while so you can imagine the number of calls made to them already and my parents even went in to see the manager, he said the fraud team would look into it and that any future payments would be stopped and if any did go through then the bank would reimburse those payments. There are a couple of opinions on if the bank should pay, depending on who you speak to there is a legislation that recently came into force that says they should help but getting them to is another matter.  The police fraud team have looked into it and given her a crime number but with the bank we've hit a brick wall.

I was sorry to learn of your mum suffering a loss at the hands of these rogue traders.

You haven't set out full details of how exactly the scam was carried out but you clearly believe your mum's Bank has used or failed to use systems which left her susceptible to the scam.

What I suggest you do if the Bank are not playing ball is write to them, not by e-mail but using first class post, pointing out what you believe the shortcomings were in their safeguarding your mum's money. The letter will either have to be written by your mum or, if you intend to take this up with the Bank for her, then you will need to have her sign a suitable form of authority, something along the lines of 'I (name) authorise my daughter (name) of (address) to correspond and otherwise deal with my complaint concerning (Name of Bank) and the handling of my personal account (no.) signed (Mum) and dated...." should suffice.

Head your covering letter to the Bank "Formal Complaint" setting out account and other reference numbers and open up with the line:

"I should be grateful if you would refer the matter set out in this letter to the person within your organisation tasked with the responsibility for handling complaints"

Then give a short resumé of what transpired

"On (date) my mother entered into contract with (Co) ('the Vendor') for the purchase of (goods) and authorised payment of £X to be remitted from her account with your Bank to the Vendor.

Then set out particulars of what went wrong and why you hold the Bank either wholly or partly responsible for the loss sustained.

Round of the letter by stating

I hold the Bank (wholly/partly*) responsible for the loss sustained and expect you to compensate my mother for such loss.

I look forward to hearing from you as a matter of urgency, however, should I hear nothing or in the event the response I receive is unsatisfactory, please note that I shall refer this matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Yours faithfully"

* delete as appropriate

The complaints regime can be found on the web-site for the Financial Ombudsman Service and generally a financial institution must get back to you with a response (a 'Final Letter') within 28 days I believe but check me up on this!

Hope this helps

Thank you so much especially as this is your first post

and welcome to the Dandy Campers  

I have read that we need to write to the bank on a consumer action group, I will make sure that it gets done. We were about to give up with the bank and put it down to experience, this is the second time they've had money taken from their bank in a couple of years. The first time was a cloned card and the bank did reimburse the majority of the cash ...... that was a lot more though and the way it was taken should have alerted the bank before so much had gone. Personally we'd rather the rogues who took it gave it back but as the police fraud team have looked into it and decided it was fraud then you'd have thought the bank would have helped. We went in and asked them to do a chargeback and they said they could but it would probably get taken again in a few months ...... yet they can put a stop on any more payments to that company and if any get through they will reimburse  

Like my mum said 'that's my winter fuel allowance gone, these people have no scruples'...... my parents were well prepared for retirement so they won't freeze this winter ' if you heard my mother though you'd think they will'  

First thing tomorrow we'll get a handwritten letter sorted with the help of your first post  

once you register your computer/laptop you have an IP address and all your details are open to the web world it doesn't matter if you say your some one else it's the IP address is logged up as my bank will contact me by phone if I use my sisters laptop to gain access to my account even though I have gone through all the security they know it's not my IP address

good luck to you with the monies hope you get it all back the best word of warning is not to use bank details or debit cards on the internet but when purchasing things to only use a credit card as you are covered to the hilt with them

Caz1960 wrote:

good luck to you with the monies hope you get it all back the best word of warning is not to use bank details or debit cards on the internet but when purchasing things to only use a credit card as you are covered to the hilt with them

Hi,

Unfortunately you are not completely protected even if you use a credit card because the protection afforded to you under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 only operates if the cost of goods or services you purchase exceeds £100 and is less than £30,000.

Check out S.75 Consumer Credit Act 1975.

Generally, what this means is that if you use a credit card the supplier of goods or services goes bust after you have paid but before any supply is made to you and the cost of the supply falls within the limits, you can claim what you have lost from the credit card company which will be liable to you in place of the insolvent supplier.

If you had used a debit card or cheque then you would have no such comeback.

It is possible to look to Paypal, if you use it, which offers a similar type of protection for buyers so if what you propose to buy costs less than £100 whether you use a credit card or not, Paypal presents as the safest way to purchase on the net.

She got nowhere in the end and has put it down to experience  an expensive lesson learned about clicking on pop ups offering freebies that turn out to be very very expensive.

I was lucky then as 29 pound was taken off my credit card and I had it returned , I did know the Debit cards do not cover anything under 100 but did believe that credit cards did thanks for the info greatly received as there is nothing worse to find out that you have lost allot and I always use paypal