Family help: Conned out of £30,000! - Help.com

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A lawyer will probably be able to sort this out. Also, you guys could sue him.

Seriously in Trouble… Unfortunately the Banks want the Money.. The Guy will go to Jail for fraud and the house will be sold.. There is no other Way out,unless you find a nice old Sugar Daddy paying back the Money.. I’m not putting your Mum down i put your Sister down….

might not be able to do anything about the first loan since your mum agreed to it, but you should be able to atleast about the other stuff, have you gone to the police about this?

also you might be able to sue him for the cash he stole, speak to citezens advice about this

Your mother has seriously ham-stringed herself legally by not immediately reporting this to the creditors identity fraud department (you can report it to one and they’ll report it to all your creditors). The first thing you (or your mother) needs to do is get a copy of her credit report in detail and to document all unauthorised debts incurred, calling the creditors for further details if necessary. You can get your credit report from companies easily found via a search engine for a small fee.

Then contact the company Action Fraud via the link below. They specialise in this sort of problem and will provide you with further advice - one advantage that you do have is that you know who the thief is. From the information you’ve given, there will be plenty of evidence to prove that the individual had unauthorised access to your mothers accounts, which is a matter the Police will prosecute.

These thieves are ruthless and insidious. They will prey on the trusting and the weak and they will strip assets to the bone. Above is the practical advice you need to mount a defence. On top of this you need to contact a solicitor immediately, because it is impossible to walk you through the best route to recovery without access to the finer details of your family’s situation. Lastly, take a deep breath, step back, write down in bullet points what you’re going to do about it, and act with some clarity. These people rely on emotionally crippling their victims and its working on you - don’t let it.

Best case for you is the boyfriend will be allocated the debt, and he will be charged with several counts of fraud. However the liquid assets he stole from your family are probably gone forever, if as you say, he has a gambling addiction he doesn’t have anything to repay. It was unclear from your original post, but if your mother still has access to her card and account; she doesn’t have to pay for anything on it without her permission UNLESS the company can prove that she acted fraudulently or without due care. I would not mention the specifics of how he obtained her information until you’ve spoken to a solicitor. The creditors will use that to hit you will all the debt.

I hope all that was somehow helpful but this is a very difficult area to litigate because there are so many factors to consider when allocating blame - mainly between due care and actual fraud. The main weapon you have at your disposal is the fact that you know who committed the fraud, so the creditors have somebody else to go after.

http://www.actionfraud.org.uk/

Source: I’m an Associate Attorney.

Hi there.

What a dreadful state of affairs to find yourselves in.

First off, try not to apportion blame on anyone but HIM. Your sister made mistakes, but when conmen get their grip on someone, it’s sometimes impossible to see reality even when it hits you in the face.

Citizens Advice will certainly be able to help you with good advice on staying out of debt etc.

If you qualify for legal aid, please consult a good solicitor asap. I am not convinced that the banks aren’t negating on their obligations here somewhat. It’s not clear to me whether your mother deliberately tried to mislead the bank in creating a false account on his behalf or whether she simply opened her own account and asked him to pay into it? Even if she gave him permission to have unlimited access to her account, a good solicitor should be able to at least challenge the bank over their blanket “it’s your own fault” line. After all, are they saying that any pensioner/disabled person who asks a relative to help them get their pension out is guilty of being a fool? You may want to push the bank further on this. They will, after all, be looking for any excuse not to pay up!

You do not mention what the court order was about. I’m presuming it was for defaulting on a loan? If the bank truly believed that your mother had behaved fraudulently, then you should have been approached by investigators/the police/the courts.. if they haven’t, maybe it’s because they realise that they do not have a strong case? Unfortunately I cannot guide you specifically on this as I do not know all the details.

You need to work with the police and keep insisting that they investigate HOW this man managed to steal your mother’s identity. There will be evidence somewhere. Do not give up on that.

Follow the police advice exactly. Contact each and every one of the loan companies - preferably by email or letter. The police are right. If you officially complain to the companies hounding you, the bank will have to sit up and do something about it!

It will take some time for the police wheels to turn and for them to get a case together. But even if they cannot help with a criminal prosecution, your mother can still apply to the courts herself with a civil action potentially.

Don’t panic about the debt. Yes, it all seems too much to bear right now, but Citizens Advice will help you to sort out some of the mess. You might also want to take a look at their site which has some encouraging help until you can speak to someone direct:

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/y…

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loan…

Whatever happens, do not be tempted by schemes that seem to offer the magic solution.. be very very wary as you are a prime target for rogues right now. They tend to home in on those who are desperate and you can end up in an even worse situation very quickly!

Take time to read things through, keep calm and try not to let anyone bully you into drastic action. Tell anyone who calls that the matter is in the hands of the police and that they will be contacted by fraud investigators. (Another reason to crack on and report this to company fraud departments..)

There are plenty of options available to you even if this debt cannot be resolved. On no account give up your home. Stay there and work through this. If you give up your home to pay off the debt, he will get away with his crime and you will not receive any support from your local council if you need housing help.

Dont worry. There are people out there like SHELTER who can help you stay in your home. You may wish to speak to someone there too? They have come across situations similar to this before.

so busy muddling through some kind of reply there that I failed to notice Robben had already written some excellent advice.

Thanks Robben!

That’s why we all have guns in the USA. People like this would never go to trial. They would just disappear.

He’s still living there?

You’re welcome Tester. These situations are distressing but there are ways to deal with it. I hope it works out favourably for you and your family.

The best you can do for your sister is to be supportive and be prepared. You will also need to be candid. He evidently has a strong hold over her emotionally - so anything you discuss could be passed on to him. Be careful to play your cards close to your chest so as not to upset any police investigation of him.

If he has defaulted on rent, then your sister and her children may need a place to go very soon.

Here are Shelter’s details in case you need them:

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice

Do you mean Holland?

Oh.. and did you REALLY see the OP’s email on a different site?

Methinks not.

We at help.com are not as green as we are cabbage-looking. Bye bye.

I’m so pleased that things are making some progress.

If Barclays have amassed evidence that shows he is guilty of fraud elsewhere.. then I think it’s safe to say that your mother can rest easy.

I’m not sure about the crime reference number situation.. normally that’s the number that you are given when you first report the matter to the police? I would also have thought that, since your mother is the victim of a crime, she should have been given a reference number? Strange.

Make sure that you keep a diary/log of EVERYTHING that you are told, every call, every letter, every visit and discussion until things are fully resolved.

Hopefully your sister will soon realise just what she is up against with him. It may take that knock on the door for her to come to her senses though. Unfortunately, he sounds like a very controlling person who is extremely skilled at the con game. It is going to be hard for her to acknowledge that she has been taken in as he will have woven a tight web of charm and knitted her emotions firmly into his trap.

I do wish you all the best. And yes, what a sick world we live in where people can target those already struggling with yet more evil scams. But don’t worry, they do get reported when they turn up here.

Good luck with it all and thanks for the update.

Good day larry.

Nobody needs your loans here thank you.

Good bye larry.

Ah.. but you are fibbing because I very much doubt the OP left their email address on another site for you to find, and if they did, you would surely use it to give direct contact!

Lying to people is not friendly advice. Neither is telling them to go **** themselves.

And no, you may not give email addresses out on here.

PS. Scammers are notoriously bad at spelling where they live.

omg a loan scammer ACTUALLY replied back? this is such a rarity… wow

I have my popcorn ready for the next one…