Discussion
Hi all, long time lurker on this section.
Does anybody know of a solicitor who would take on a case on a no win no fee basis against a bank?
The brief facts are-
In late 2009 we instructed our solicitor to make a £100,000 payment to legal company Y which was carried out, unfortunately a fraudster had mirrored the details of this company and set up a bank account on the basis of Mr X trading as Legal company Y. The police were obviously involved and a UK national was charged with handling stolen funds but the money went overseas never to be seen again.
Do I have an argument of negligence against the receiving bank for allowing the account in being set up and used in this way?
Thanks
Does anybody know of a solicitor who would take on a case on a no win no fee basis against a bank?
The brief facts are-
In late 2009 we instructed our solicitor to make a £100,000 payment to legal company Y which was carried out, unfortunately a fraudster had mirrored the details of this company and set up a bank account on the basis of Mr X trading as Legal company Y. The police were obviously involved and a UK national was charged with handling stolen funds but the money went overseas never to be seen again.
Do I have an argument of negligence against the receiving bank for allowing the account in being set up and used in this way?
Thanks
why are you waiting 5 years to do anything about losing £100k?
looks like its going to be difficult if the people you used are now no longer and the bank is not to blame for your situation its the lawyers.
With fraud Im surprised the bank didnt contact the receiving bank straight away and had it sent back, as that is possible.
But this really should have been done ASAP and whilst everyone was still around.
looks like its going to be difficult if the people you used are now no longer and the bank is not to blame for your situation its the lawyers.
With fraud Im surprised the bank didnt contact the receiving bank straight away and had it sent back, as that is possible.
But this really should have been done ASAP and whilst everyone was still around.
The receiving bank would not act until we had made a police report and by that time the money had gone, the criminal case then dragged on, I have over the ensuing years asked lawyers to act but they all seem to shy away from going up against a bank without me paying considerable upfront fees for them to act and I am wary of throwing away good money after bad.
That is why I have asked on here as I would be prepared to offer a generous fee split on a nwnf basis
That is why I have asked on here as I would be prepared to offer a generous fee split on a nwnf basis
V8V00 said:
From the fraudster pretending to be an established legal company
Did you google 'established legal company' then and his website came up or something?It is not in itself unlawful to open a bank account in a similar name as another, how many John Smith's are there for example, unless it's for the purpose of committing a crime. If the bank followed their opening procedure and obtained appropriate ID then I can't see they have any responsibility for the loss of your money.
Have you thought of making a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman perhaps?
V8V00 said:
My solicitors argument was that they made the payment as per my request, which they did, they are also no longer trading unfortunately
Just to get this right:You instructed your solicitors to make a £100,000 payment of your monies.
And you gave them the bank account details for the money to go to?
However, the bank account details were not the company you intended to pay, you instead paid the money to a company with a similar sounding name which then disappeared with the money?
Are we talking about Ltd Co, PLC, or sole trader?
PurpleMoonlight said:
V8V00 said:
From the fraudster pretending to be an established legal company
Did you google 'established legal company' then and his website came up or something?It is not in itself unlawful to open a bank account in a similar name as another, how many John Smith's are there for example, unless it's for the purpose of committing a crime. If the bank followed their opening procedure and obtained appropriate ID then I can't see they have any responsibility for the loss of your money.
Have you thought of making a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman perhaps?
Sounds similar to the nigerian scam and OP fell for it.
Though I would be interested to see why the OP was paying a legal company £100k without talking to said legal company directly or did OP hire said person by email, etc and not background check them with the company in question?
V8V00 said:
There was a fully legitimate legal company operating that we thought the money had gone to, the fraudster opened an account in his name and set up a "trading as" this legal company
Yes I get that, but you said you got the account details from the fraudster. How did you make contact with the fraudster?JustinP1 said:
Just to get this right:
You instructed your solicitors to make a £100,000 payment of your monies.
And you gave them the bank account details for the money to go to?
However, the bank account details were not the company you intended to pay, you instead paid the money to a company with a similar sounding name which then disappeared with the money?
Are we talking about Ltd Co, PLC, or sole trader?
Pretty much this but the fraudster had opened up the account in the exact same name of of a legal LLPYou instructed your solicitors to make a £100,000 payment of your monies.
And you gave them the bank account details for the money to go to?
However, the bank account details were not the company you intended to pay, you instead paid the money to a company with a similar sounding name which then disappeared with the money?
Are we talking about Ltd Co, PLC, or sole trader?
V8V00 said:
JustinP1 said:
Just to get this right:
You instructed your solicitors to make a £100,000 payment of your monies.
And you gave them the bank account details for the money to go to?
However, the bank account details were not the company you intended to pay, you instead paid the money to a company with a similar sounding name which then disappeared with the money?
Are we talking about Ltd Co, PLC, or sole trader?
Pretty much this but the fraudster had opened up the account in the exact same name of of a legal LLPYou instructed your solicitors to make a £100,000 payment of your monies.
And you gave them the bank account details for the money to go to?
However, the bank account details were not the company you intended to pay, you instead paid the money to a company with a similar sounding name which then disappeared with the money?
Are we talking about Ltd Co, PLC, or sole trader?
On the face of it, it seems like it is you who were defrauded.
Du1point8 said:
If the person went so far to set it all up with the bank, then thats fine in the eyes of the law... If the OP was duped by them and instructed the lawyers to pay the money and now the person has disappeared, Im really at a loss to see how other people are responsible for the OP's issue?
Sounds similar to the nigerian scam and OP fell for it.
Though I would be interested to see why the OP was paying a legal company £100k without talking to said legal company directly or did OP hire said person by email, etc and not background check them with the company in question?
My argument, if indeed I have one, is why the receiving bank allowed an individual to open up an account in an existing company name and receive funds. They would not talk to me stating data protection.Sounds similar to the nigerian scam and OP fell for it.
Though I would be interested to see why the OP was paying a legal company £100k without talking to said legal company directly or did OP hire said person by email, etc and not background check them with the company in question?
JustinP1 said:
How did you get the details of the fraudster - how did the contact with them come about?
On the face of it, it seems like it is you who were defrauded.
Initial contact was made via a referral from within the trade, we were very busy at the time sometimes making 20 similar deals per week and yes we were certainly defraudedOn the face of it, it seems like it is you who were defrauded.
V8V00 said:
JustinP1 said:
How did you get the details of the fraudster - how did the contact with them come about?
On the face of it, it seems like it is you who were defrauded.
Initial contact was made via a referral from within the trade, we were very busy at the time sometimes making 20 similar deals per week and yes we were certainly defraudedOn the face of it, it seems like it is you who were defrauded.
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